Macdonald Craxton Wood Hotel & Spa in Cheshire West and Chester

Our experience at this establishment was a bit of a mixed bag. We booked for one night, including a visit to the spa, and had high hopes based on the communication we received beforehand. Unfortunately, the stay fell short in several areas. Because of the multiple reminders to be punctual, we arrived early only to find the room was not ready. The spa treatments started late, were cut short, and the staff appeared disengaged, with minimal communication or interest in enhancing the experience. The rooms and facilities, while spacious, are dated and could use some much-needed TLC. At the restaurant, more than one plate had to be sent back, and the bar was visibly understaffed, resulting in long waits. Breakfast was satisfactory but unremarkable. For the price, it’s an acceptable option, but the overall experience lacked polish and potential. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend it. With a little more effort, it could be so much better.

Love it at craxton wood think this is our favourite choice when it comes to a spa day you can get some great deals of overnight stay with evening meal, breakfast full spa access and treatments and it is so reasonable the rooms are clean and comfortable the spa treatments are excellent and all the staff are really lovely and helpful always feel fresh and relaxed after a visit as a treat will definitely be booking again 🥰

After reading some reviews I was not to sure what to expect but from walking in to walking out I could not fault anything it was just perfect room and food

Arrived thinking we were in for a nice relaxing spa break/stopover. How wrong could we be!! The rooms were disgusting, dated, dirty and just not pleasant. Moved rooms 3 times as I couldn't stay in the first 2!!! Spa treatment was ok. Spa was very average, spa area was lacking relaxing music, chairs were ripped, staff were disengaged and children's swimming lessons taking place with floats all over the pool!! Not what we came for!! Evening meal was terrible. Lasagne came in a soup bowl, burnt and inedible, chips were under cooked. The hotel didn't have any bottled still water, unbelievable given this was supposed to be a spa retreat and were advised to drink lots of water after our massage.

The rooms have everything you need, are spacious, quiet and tidy. Warm and good water pressure in the shower. Overall pretty neat. Bed linen and towels are clean. However, the rooms need updating, the carpet is stained and the bathroom has mold. The location is more remote, but convenient, with a large parking lot. A charming garden.

Booked a couple spa package- spa staff was very inexperienced & just handed a form to fill in on the only 1 unreserved table, had to pay extra for mud treatment (said included), to be then given separate treatments even though booked a couple 2 treatment package(didn't have choice of treatments). Hotel- waited 20 mins for staff to return to reception. Booked grand room (no better than a tacky b&b), room was outdated & plastering coming of ceiling, stains on walls. Evening meal- lack of decent choice & overpriced drinks. Breakfast- 1 item cooked breakfast (no better than supermarket) with some breads & little fruit. Complaint sent to management & waited 2 weeks for a response, still awaiting a outcome over a month later. Save your money & stay at premier inn next door.

Just about everything was wrong with this stay. Overpriced and very outdated. The room had multiple issues including a blocked bath, dirty carpets, a 'deluxe' king room which i upgraded to that was actually 2 single beds pulled together, hard pillows and generally just mucky, old, rundown facilities. It's not a luxury spa stay by any means, the treatments are rushed and you can sense that the staff don't give a damn. I didnt bother complaining to the reception staff as you can tell that they are anxious just awaiting the next unhappy customer. The couple infront of us were complaining about their room and experience and you could tell that the staff hear the same issues day in day out. The bar staff were obnoxious and acted like they owned the place, when in fact they just work for a rubbish, false advertising hotel, rundown hotel. Don't book, spend a little more money for somewhere else, a real luxury spa that's worth the cost and an enjoyable experience. Would not even give 1 star if I didn't have to.

My elderly mum and myself and small dog stayed for a couple of nights for my birthday. The hotel does look a bit shabby and the place could do with a makeover BUT what it lacked in decor etc was made up by wonderful staff who were exceptionally helpful and friendly. The breakfast was delicious and we were allowed to dine in the conservatory with our dog which was lovely. The spa staff were really helpful too and were able to tailor the treatments to my mums needs as she uses a wheelchair. She had her first ever facial at 91 and was over the moon. We had a spa package which included 2 treatments o n each day and our evening meals. We felt thoroughly relaxed ,pampered and well fed by the time we left! A huge thank you to all the staff. Especially the spa team

My daughter booked for us Spa day,we both enjoyed,service was great,very friendly team.

Stayed here for a work trip for 1 night 01/09/2024. On arrival the hotel is nice from outside plenty of parking. Entered my room and was greeted by a room that has not been cleaned or seen maintenance for some time. Mould on shower 🚿 Broken locks on cupboards Broken floor tiles Windows that haven't been cleaned for a long time Staining on lampshades Breakfast was interesting the toaster machine was broke and another guest informed me that this was the case the previous days yet still no replacement. The hotel needs some general maintenance the dining area looks tired and needs attention. These points were fed back to the reception team on point of checking out. Shame as you wouldn't expect this from a "⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ hotel" carrying the MacDonald name! If you look at previous reviews from a year ago this issues was highlighted and nothing has been done about so clearly no inspection have been done or taken seriously. I shouldn't have to read reviews when a hotel is rating and carries a well respected name lessons learned on my part.

Room was slightly dated but great value for money all in all and the service was fantastic.

Sorry but this beautiful building needs a good refurbishment. Under our table at breakfast was a Rentokil box. The armchair in the room was threadbare. The windows needed cleaning. However the staff couldn't have been more helpful. In particular the reception staff. They managed to sort out our dilemma with Activity Superstore. I'll never use them again.

I don't understand how this hotel is a 4 star? It's extremely dated, it's screams 80s, 10% of the staff are friendly, the rest are rude and uninterested. There is damp in the rooms and loads in the spa area, there is damp paint in patches on the walls and ceiling in the thermal suite, with an unusual smell. Mould in the bottom of the pool, I couldn't get a coffee till 11am. So the food, was disgusting, especially for the price, really awful, no flavour, cheap, tasteless, nothing was fresh. The hotel itself has taps in the corridors which states fresh water and sparkling water, unfortunately it came out as swamp water :(

Me and two friends did a Spabreaks overnight stay with breakfast, £25 off the evening meal and a spa treatment included. What a great experience! All staff that we interacted with were friendly and helpful. The facials were excellent and we were all floating after them. Good choice for the evening meal and the breakfast was superb. We will definitely book again. Highly recommended!

Excellent venue for relaxation and comfort. It is located in an ideal countryside setting with chester nearby. The spa facilities are amazing. I enjoyed the massage treatments and leisure suite where there are saunas, steam rooms , relaxation rooms and a wonderful bar serving a great selection of beverages. It's a good place for weddings, functions and weekend getaways🙂🙂 highly recommend!

I did a mornjng retreat spa day with my mum here yesterday. It was a nightmare to book for starters. It took me an hour! Multiple phone calls trying to get through to staff & being passed around & hung up on. On arrival we were greeted by friendly staff. We were asked to fill our spa forms out on the table at reception, this was fine but the table was so sticky our papers stuck to them. This was also the table we were given for our lunch. Changing rooms were okay & you don’t have to pay for lockers. We were shown round the facilities. They have a ‘garden room’ and ‘dark room’ for you to use which are pointless. It’s a room that looks onto a small garden & a dark room to lie in. I can do both of these at home without paying. The spa facilities were very poor! The website gives the idea of state of the art spa facilities. There was a sauna & steam room, a basic pool & a ‘special shower’ and ‘foot spa’. The special shower just sprayed fragrance onto you & the foot spa was a bubbling bath for your feet. They offered an ice facility at the spa but this was literally a small bucket of ice in the corner of the room that you chuck onto yourself! There was no jacuzzi!! The lunch options were either a sandwich or salad and a desert. The Caesar salad option did not say which meat this came with - you would presume chicken or bacon or no meat? It came with anchovies, which I thought was random & should be stated on the menu as it’s a fish that not many people like. It was not very nice. The desert was good. We also had an 25min massage, the massage girls were lovely K & very professional. This was the best part of the day. Overall, I would never come back here. You’re better spending your money at a facility like Thornton hall hotel & spa who do actually have the facilities they talk about on their website. This place appears to be going very down hill.

Hotel was average, Restaurant is poorly run and expensive. Spa areas need a good clean up and renovation doing .

We had the most fabulous wedding here last Friday, after a stressful week and waiting on reply emails from Alexa (the lady I had been dealing with) I was at a loss when we arrived, However Nick on reception was a massive help to us, thumbs up for Nick, on the night before Nick introduced us to Charlotte who was very attentive and went out of her way to explain everything, on the day Charlotte was more than helpful, talking me through everything and kept popping in to check if we needed anything, a huge thumbs up for Charlotte, the rest of the team were great too, but Nick and Charlotte are a credit to Craxton wood hotel, thank you.

As you can see paying £144 per night for a room in a state below it isn’t worth it .The receptionist guy didn’t even apologise when l went down to complain and said couldn’t do anything as the cleaners had left …the gym was well equipped though but the whole hotel seems like hasn’t been renovated for a long time …toilets were disguising in men’s and women’s 🤷🏻‍♂️

Tired hotel, over priced, but set in a really nice country location, surrounded by trees and greenery. Interiors really need refurbishing

I took my mum for a birthday spa day with 25min treatment and 2 course lunch. We had a lovely time which was made that bit more special by the attention to detail and courteous service provided by Jonathan. He apologised incase he mispronounced my surname, he was attentive with our lunches and again apologetic for interrupting our conversation when arriving with any food or drinks. Thanks ever so much Jonathan for your time and your manner, it was very much appreciated and we loved our relaxing fizz lunch after a lovely spa morning and facials. If only there were more like Jonathan!

Went for afternoon tea in the spa lounge the other day and it was absolutely lovely!!! Our server Jonathan made our experience even more enjoyable, very attentive and accommodating 😊 will definitely be back!

Absolutely wonderful wedding venue! Exceptional staff, especially Kelsey!

No tv signal or Wi-Fi truly shocking in this day and age.

Stayed a few times ...the facilities are good . The room ok ...no remote control for the TV had to ask several times as I couldn't get the TV on ... eventually had to grab a member of staff going into an empty room and coming out to ask for the remote. . sorted eventually . The room was comfortable and we had a nice view ...I would definitely recommend a stay here as it's very close to Chester town centre and Cheshire oaks ....the only downside is the breakfast was either £18 or £20 per person ...I think that's very expensive. If I had booked with the booking it would have been cheaper but at the time I didn't realise and just booked the room. The breakfast better be worth it for that price ..you can go down the road to the local brewers fayre for breakfast ...other than the price of breakfast ( and fish ..joke ) it's a nice place to stay

Took my mum for a spa day. Had two gorgeous treatments, a massage and a mud rusal. The massage was nice and relaxing at my request. The therapist was friendly and knowledgeable. The mud rusal is self applied (which i prefered) and left my skin feeling new. The facilities are beautiful and theres lots to choose from. A selection of steam rooms and saunas. Staff are friendly and helpful. The afternoon tea was delicious. A few attention to detail and this would be perfect. The lockers are tricky, there were a couple of tiles missing and the hairdryers were not easy to work. The changing rooms and toilets need monitoring more regularly (rubbish and towels are left during the day)

From being woken up in the middle of the night, because people were smoking in their rooms, and the hallway stinking of smoke... to the room being incredibly dated, holes and ripped carpets in the rooms, to a carpet that is incredibly stained. I am so disappointed in this hotel, I have been here over the years and it is now in decline and needing refurbishment so bad...such a shame, it used to be such a nice hotel... The service was good on reception and very welcoming, the service for food was good too, very polite at breakfast. Just let down by the actual rooms. The sauna and steam rooms are also a let down now, they used to all work and be clean, now the herbal sauna doesn't work anymore, as the buttons to release the aroma no longer work. One of the foot spa's no longer works either, so have to wait to use it and the fragrance shower no longer works too. It used to be so good, just run down now.

Very nice place clan rooms and helpful staff would highly recomend his hotel.