Me & my hysband greeted the new year from Oxford. And what a place we chose to stay in!! Warm friendly service, incredible rooms, attention to the last detail, great breakfast & I could go on & on.... Simply d best place to stay on a budget - highly recommended

Due to the format of the site, I have to write another review to comment on the answer provided by this unrecommendable hotel.
My reason for this response is that we feel very offended by the rude and indifferent attitude shown through the response from the hotel.
If you consider to spend a load of money on this hotel you are advised to carefully read the following response from the Hotel and beneath it our original review on which they replied.

In short they claim that they would have helped us if we had notified them about or dissatisfaction. We did notify them of course but as we actually wrote in our review their responses were mostly unhelpful and they showed no regret for the service and bad advise they offered us. Regarding the parking ticked, we actually asked them twice about where we parked the car, even when WE pointed to the parking sign, we were reassured that we were allowed to park there as we were guests of the hotel. Only after receiving the ticket we were notified about the free hotel parking. Very convenient and "helpful" after just getting a 70 pound ticket. This was of course explained to us like WE were total idiots and could just have read the sign which we in fact, just an hour earlier, pointed to and asked THEM about!

Please note that this IS the kind of service that you can expect as they seemingly aren´t interested in rectifying their mistakes. Just read the other reviews which sadly confirm our unrecommendable experience with this place!

The response from the "Hotel":
OxfordKaushik, Manager hos Marlborough House Hotel, svarede på denne anmeldelse
9 maj 2011
Dear Sir,

I am sorry you got given a parking ticket on Blenheim Drive. There was parking available in the hotel which you choose to ignore. Also, you parked right next to a parking sign which was self explanatary.

We are always available to rectify our mistakes. Had you brought to our attention the fact that you were dissatisfied with our service or our establishment we would have been more than happy to put things right.

There are industry guidance notes on portion sizes which we follow and we try to avoid large sums of wastage. Once again, managers are always on hand, while breakfast is being served to the bedrooms. It would have been a pleasure to provide more of what you required had we been asked.

I wish you luck and hope you enjoy your future stays wherever they may be.

Best regards,

Kavita

Our original review:
My parter and I had the Marlborough House recommended by some friends, who had stayed there with their children while holidaying. They said it was spacious and with good service, with the fact that breakfast was included and it was brought to your room. Even though this is true, we would NOT under any surcumstances recommend that you stay at the Marlborough House!! Reading some of the other reviews and our friends' recommendation, we can't help but wonder if the staff at Marlborough House might be treating guests differently if you have small children with you, or if you travel alone/with your partner.
We arrived at the Marlborough House in our car and parked on the street. We noticed that there was a sign thar said "Permit Holders Only", indicating that we were not allowed to park there, but in reception they said that we COULD park there and that it was part of the hotels parking. As we were showed to our room, we again pointed to the car and were reassured that we could park there. We felt calm and went for a short walk, to look at the nearby scenery. When we returned, 30 minutes later, we had gotten a parking ticket... In reception the man who told us it was allright to park there, now said that he actually didn't know!! Another member of staff said that it was NOT allowed to park there, it was on the other side of the street and put the blame on us, saying it in a tone that indicated that we ought to have known better. They could and would not help us with the ticket, but now told us that we could park in front of the house, where they had five parking spaces. Had they told us this from the beginning, we would not have gotten the ticket.
We were absolutely NOT happy at this time, but luckily had dinner plans and went out. When we returned to the hotel in the evening, tired after a day of travel and a bit of wine, we turned to the bed. When we removed the duvé, we found DRIED BLOODSTAINES on the sheets and the duvécover was dirty as well. With a closer look at the room it was clear that they had not cleaned it properly after the previous guests!! The room was dirty and the bins had not been emptied. This did not help our impression of the place!!!
During the night we woke up repeatetly as the walls were so thin that we could hear EVERYTHING. When the doors opened and the other guests returned to their rooms. The activities became more frequent as morning arrived and our sleep more interrupted. We woke everytime the chef brought breakfast to one of the rooms, when the other guest showered, used the haridryer, listened to the radio, etc.... We were, in other words, very tired for the duration of our trip.
The breakfast that we were looking forward to the next morning arrived at the room at the time we had ordered it. We had ordered one english breakfast and one continental. The english breakfast consisted of one piece of bacon, one wrinkly sausage, a few scrambled eggs, one hashbrown and a few heated beans (clearly just poured out of the can). The continental breakfast was one pear, one babybell-cheese, one stick of cheddar and a burned croissant. We also recieved four pieces of toast... This was absolutely not the breakfast we were looking forward to and would probably rather have had a price reduction and eaten out every morning, than eating that breakfast!!
We went to reception to let them know about our first 15 hours at their hotel and how we percieved the cleanliness of the room. They were nice and changed the sheets right away, gave us TWO pieces of bacon and a "fruit salad" (consisting of one slice of melon, one slive of pineapple and five grapes) the next morning, but the standard of the hotel never reached our expectations. Giving the pricerange, we were expecting a higher level of standart and better cleaning (there was not one day when the cleaning had been done properly).
Our stay at Marlborough House seemed to be inspired by the show Fawlty Towers, but we did not think it was funny to be a part of!!!!
We recommend everyone to FIND ANOTHER HOTEL!!!

This friendly bed and breakfast/hotel provided us with an unusual room in a quiet side street, which benefited from its own front door on to the street. This allowed us a high degree of privacy and independence that we enjoyed, with only the daily room service breakfast reminding us that we were actually in a hotel.

The spacious room included a little kitchen area with a fridge providing more that the usual mini-bar staples.

The only minor niggles were the very poor water pressure in the shower, and the impression that some of the reception staff were new/not yet up to speed. However, neither of these spoiled our stay and so we will probably be back when we next travel to Oxford.

In summary, the value for money offered by this hotel is outstanding.

A friendly and efficient place, Marlborough House Hotel is in well positioned on the Woodstock Road, e.g. for St Edwards School, with parking at the front and on the street at the side. Our room (in the annex) was cosy and quiet.

The hotel has fifteen rooms which are well fitted-out, with TV, free Wi-Fi (very welcome), and lots of storage space – in both drawers and cupboards. Our room had a basic cooking area with microwave, fridge and sink, tea, coffee, soft drinks and snacks. Breakfast – cooked if you wish – is brought to your room.

The rooms are equipped to an above average level, and are comfortable. Our only disappointments were a rather-too-small double bed, rudimentary breakfast, and shower fittings that needed a lot of coaxing to work properly.