Staying only one night here, the main experience I have had is of dinner in the Smoak restaurant. Sat at the ill-concevied dropped bar, which has terrible lighting and uncomfortably reclined seats, the food was served too quickly and was terrible.

The chicken caesar salad was under-seasoned and the lettuce limp, un-fresh and wet.The burger was again under-seasoned and over-cooked. It was dry and lacked any real flavour.

The bar staff were terrible and after waiting 20 minutes to be served, we gave up and called it a night. We weren't even acknowledged as we were waiting.

The Smoak restaurant is terrible compared to the one it has replaced. The choice of buckets in lieu of the men's urinals really adds to the feeling that this is all one big joke at the expense of the guests.

The room was a comfortable size but was let down by poor lighting- either too dark or too light- a hard, uncomfortable mattress, and little touches such as black bin liners in the waste paper basket. There were also body hairs in the bathroom.

All-in-all this has been a bad experience and I wouldn't reccommend it, though I hasten to add this is a reflection only of this Malmaison having stayed in Malmaison Oxford and had a thoroughly pleasant stay.

I stayed here for the second time this year and I was disapointed as to how the hotel had changed over such a short period. They had changed the lovely restaurant and bar to an American style grill which just wasn't as elegant or as nice and it was still the same price. I also felt when I stayed last Febuary that the hotel was better put together and less "grubby" - for £110 a room for the night you want to feel things are quite high spec.

However there are plus points, the rooms still feel like a treat with the black and pink decor and I had a huge room compared to my colleagues! I even had a hall way, so I was pleasently surprised with my room size, although last time I had a smaller room that was better cared for. You definitely can't beat the location - right in the centre by the train station, easy to get to all events and meetings. I would chose this hotel again for a business trip as it does the job and does have a nice vibe, friendly staff and a handy location.

I stayed here last weekend and it was my first time staying in a malmaison hotel. I had heard about this chain and was looking forward to it. However I was very disappointed by the lack of service we received. On arriving we went to the bar for a few drinks. We were left waiting for about 15 minutes before someone served us. The following morning we went down for breakfast , this was included in our room price. However we were not permitted to sit in the dining room as we were told it was full and had to sit at the bar. This did not bother me, however when I was en route to the toilets I could see many empty tables that had just not been cleared away! The staff again were extremely slow, I began to think that they were working on a "go slow" for some reason or other. Other guests who had trains to catch simply had to leave the bar area and go. The manager seemed to be making an effort, my advice to him would be to start whipping the staff into shape as they are painting the hotel in a bad light!

The was our first experience of a Malmaison Hotel. We stayed on one of the deals on a Sunday night which is great value for money. We eat at the restaurant which is part of the deal and the food was very good. The room we had was a standard double and although quite compact had everything that we needed. I took home the products from the rooms (as it reccomends) and they are lovely - a nice touch without feeling guilty.