Alexander House Hotel & Utopia Spa

Having had a good experience in 2023 I returned for 3 nights in May after some much needed R&R. Unfortunately the weekend was peppered with issues. Room key card consistently failed, wifi went down, my Sunday wakeup call was forgotten, room service arrived early and interrupted a work meeting, there were travellers in the hotel creating a disturbance on Sunday evening. When I raised these issues the staff didn't seem to care. No one spends £1500 on a long weekend to receive poor service. Unfortunately, the standard of service and clientele has dropped considerably.

I booked private dining for my husbands 40th birthday party. The setting was beautiful, however, the communication from staff was extremely poor and surprising given this is a 4 star hotel. We had to pre-order our meals. One of the guests in our party was gluten / dairy free but little thought was given to their menu options initially. The meal ordering process was most frustrating with no confirmation of receipt of my emails. I had to call the hotel 24 hours before arrival to check they had received my email. I then bounced around 3-4 staff members to get answers. I then emailed my final selections through including the gluten free/ childrens menu choices which were required, there was no confirmation of receipt. Once we arrived on the day, the menu choices were not updated to reflect the email/telephone discussion we had and I had asked them to refer to latest email for the gluten free choices the chef had agreed to. When the gluten free mains arrived, it arrived with a sauce which the guest is allergic to. We were offered a discount, however, when the bill arrived, we were only charged for a handful of things on the bill that we should have been charged for. We then had to chase two members of staff to correct this and wait extremely long time to get this rectified. The bar staff - I was putting up the parasol outside on the patio when bartender ran over to tell me that I would break the parasol if I continued to put it up the way I was. It would have been better if he asked whether he could assist instead of suggesting I was doing something wrong. Communication and service was poor.

Good location; great wine options; friendly reception staff and nice rooms.

The grounds are beautiful and our massages were great! However, we were disappointed with the spa facilities. The outdoor hot tub was lovely and the inside pool was nice but the sauna and steam areas being based in the changing rooms means my partner and I could not enjoy it together. The steam room in the women's cold and not enjoyable. The outside sauna was not hot either. Food was OK.

Birthday lunch ruined. We have been for lunch here several times and enjoyed it so I decided to take my partner for a special birthday lunch. Unfortunately it was a disaster. It didn’t start well, being kept waiting too long to be even acknowledged, let alone seated. In summary, the sparkling water was flat, the crab and prawn salad had no crab and was bland, the chicken main was basic at best and my lamb rump main (£34!) consisted of 3 small slices of lamb, a very small portion of potato Anna and a blob of ratatouille. I left hungry with the birthday lunch in tatters, we won’t be back.

We recently stayed at Alexander House for our honeymoon, following our wedding in May of this year. We stayed in a gorgeous room (Goodwood Suite) with a four poster bed. The room was spacious and had a comfortable sofa in it. The bathroom was lovely, it had double sinks, and a very nice shower and bath. There were several nice toiletries provided, all from Temple Spa, including shower gel, shampoo, conditioner, hand cream, lip salve, face and body cream and bath/massage oil, which were all restocked every day. There are no telephones in the bedrooms, instead they have a Google Nest. Whilst this was quite useful, contacting reception was challenging as they came through so quietly on the Nest. The only downside to our room, was the lack of a view, unfortunately all we could see was a brick wall. The spa here is absolutely amazing! The best one that we’ve been too. It is a stunning escape from the every day. It is beautifully decorated in a deep blue colour, which makes it very calming. The hot tubs, both indoor and outdoor were exceptional. There was shower gel, shampoo and conditioner provided in the changing room showers. There was also access to both hairdryers and straighteners, with several bottles of hand cream dotted around too. We had 2 very lovely massages each, and they left us feeling very relaxed and zen. Whilst the spa and massage experiences were wonderful, we believe that this experience could be improved if the staff, at the end of the massage, and also those behind the counter let us know about the beautiful relaxation room. As we were not told about this at any point, and found it ourselves, by chance. It feels a bit like an unused element of the spa, and we feel that the experience could be greatly enhanced if you were shown to this room after receiving a treatment/massage to continue the relaxation process. Special mention to Summer, who did one of our massages, who was friendly and welcoming and explained everything well. We made use of the room service menu during our stay, however we were disappointed by the lack of choice available. There were a few sandwiches to choose from or, if you wanted hot food, the only option was curry. We were surprised that a five star hotel does not have some smaller snack options available (If this is an option, it was not visible on the menu). Adding more variety and options to the room service menu would improve the guest experience. Furthermore, when we ordered our room service from the menu, there was no indication of how long this would take, or any confirmation that the order had been received. We had a lovely walk around the grounds of the hotel and down to the lake, although the start of the walk could perhaps be better sign posted as it was a challenge to locate. The food during our stay was of a very high standard. Breakfast was delicious, with a good variety of options. There were also gluten free and dairy free options available. We ate in the hotel restaurant on two oc

Excellent friendly service from the whole team. Special mention to the lovely bar staff and the young lady on check out. Our room was spotless and extremely comfortable. Hotel grounds are immaculate. Spa treatment was professional and relaxing. Looking forward to trying other hotels in this group.

Stayed here for my birthday which included a spa package and dinner. The room was clean, bright and had all the amenities that you would expect. The spa was lovely and we had massages which were brilliant. The staff were welcoming and knowledgeable. The water machine in the ladies changing rooms was not working and there was a note on it to go back up to reception if you needed water. We had dinner in the Reflections restaurant. The food was really delicious but the service was extremely slow. After waiting over 30 minutes to order pudding, I walked down the hall and complained to reception that we had to wait. The restaurant was understaffed. We also had main course items left on the table. Also some training on how to make a decent cappuccino would be beneficial (see photo). We did ask for a replacement which was so much better. We ordered breakfast to our room and it was lovely. We were asked if it was a special occasion and I mentioned twice that it was my birthday this was not acknowledged at any point during our stay. Overall a beautiful hotel but the whole experience just lacked the attention to detail that other 5 star hotels offer in West Sussex. A lovely hotel just a bit disappointing for a birthday celebration.

We had afternoon tea to celebrate my husbands birthday. We sat outside on the terrace, sun was out and the grounds looked fabulous. The afternoon tea itself was amazing! Very fresh and plenty of choice. The lemon and ginger tea was beautiful. The staff were very attentive, we were served by Corina who was lovely and very professional. Cocktails were beautifully crafted. All in all it was fabulous afternoon. Thank you.