Had an absolutely awful experience - one problem after another - would certainly NOT recommend! 5+ years ago, I used to visit Greenwoods once a year and loved it. After some time away, I finally revisited with my mum on Friday 18th September for an overnight break. We has also contacted the hotel to book two treatments each and pay extra to arrive early to use the spa in the morning and have lunch. We spent over £300 - what a complete waste of money. We're gutted. In a nutshell (though I could easily write an essay!): - Hot Stones Therapy massage is NOT as described. I've had three hot stones massages at other places and every time, stones are placed on your body (palms of hands, feet, base of back etc) while you're being massaged. This is also how it's described on their website. But when it comes to it, both my mum and I were just massaged with the stones, they were never placed anywhere, so what was the point. She also left the towel off my leg when she moved to the other etc so I got cold. The massage was also like a deep tissue massage and my back physically hurt for 4 days afterwards and felt bruised. However, this is completely my fault as I did not say anything at the time (suffer from anxiety so confrontation is hard - my problem not theirs though in fairness) - Two treatment rooms are right next to the waiting room. For my 70min facial, the first half of it was spent listening to a group of women (could have easily been hyenas or screaming banshees) and no one ever asked them to be quiet. Certainly NOT relaxing - From 3pm onwards, the spa was completely full of above mentioned women/hyenas. There were no loungers available, no space in the jacuzzi, or space in the sauna on the three seperate times I checked between 3pm and 8pm. Lucky we had a room to go back to! When I did decide to just leave my things and go for a swim, I was out again in 5 mins as the noise was unbearable. I wanted to relax, not feel like I was in a busy pub. - Relaxtion room is relaxing if you have your ipod on loud. Otherwise, it's just lots of slamming doors which wake you up and make you jump every time you drift off - TV reception was awful so we couldnt watch anything. Chose not to complain about this as we'd ordered room service and didnt want someone fixing it while we were eating - At 1am, the hyenas returned from the bar very drunk and rowdy in the hallway outside our room. Unlucky for us, they were staying next door and decided to carry on the party. By 2am, we complained to reception. The noise reduced for 10mins then continued. By 3am, I was banging on the wall and went for a walk. I ended up getting 1 hours sleep. - On checking out, she asked if we'd enjoyed our stay. in the politest way, we explained the issues and handed over our feedback forms (which included our contact details). We received no apology and the receptionist just did not care. - Their customer service is APPALLING! We never heard back from our feedback forms (when all we wanted was an apology). So I sent an email of complaint. I chased twice and only got a response after leaving bad reviews. They offered an overnight stay worth about £110. We spent over £600 in total! When I asked for a treatment as well or just a partial refund, they said it wouldn't be in their interest to do that so no. Theyve also lied in their response to my trip advisor review. Absolutely disgusting. Have reported them to trading standards.

Definitely not recommended!!!
I booked a package from lastminute.com thinking of having a beautiful week end but it wasn't. Beautiful hotel but the staff is unprofessional and rude. I had lunch in the restaurant, nice restaurant and food but the waitress were talking all the time instead than taking care of us. Eventually someone took our order in two second and go back to chat. This is definitely what you don't expect from a 4 starts hotel. The service was slow in general, then I had a afternoon tea and they left us on the sofa for 20 minute before the tea and cakes arrived, we couldn't ask to anybody about how long for our teas since weren't staff in the lounge/bar for 20 minutes, really annoying. Unfortunately is not finished yet, I had a "pleasure" to talk with the manager. Her attitude is arrogant and unprofessional. While I was explain to her my overall experience (included lateness in the beauty room and restaurant service) she seems not interested, she keep saying sorry without mean it, looking somewhere else and treat me like I was in the wrong, as it is something that happens everyday at Greenwoods. I don't understand how this beautiful hotel with lots of potential are manage like a pub!

We spent 2 nights at Greenwoods Hotel Spa and Retreat, Essex this month. I have to say we weren't expecting much as when I tried to book I was told no one could take my booking so I was to phone back. If we hadn't been attending a wedding I wouldn't have bothered. When I did get through and said we had a baby I was told they would have to check with the manager whether that was allowed and then was told, rather rudely, they had no cots and no baby facilities. When we arrived the room was on the first floor with no lift so we couldn't get our pushchair upstairs.The room was tired - eg splintered skirting boards and furniture and the window wouldn't open. Their idea of mints on a pillow was 2 Fox's glacier mints ( in a 4 star hotel that costs £200 a night?). On Saturday morning we found our TV didn't work, phone didn't work and when we complained via our mobile was told we would have to wait for the manager to come in before anything was done - we did for an hour then we gave up. Breakfast in the room was £18.50 which seemed ludicrous. There were no complimentary toiletries apart from 1 tiny pot of body lotion. This was once probably a very nice place but not any more.

As Greenwoods Hotel Spa and Retreat advertise spa breaks you would imagine at least some to be available - but no! And then the attitude of the Duty Manager when we asked to speak to someone about it was unbelievable. She twice alluded to the fact that because we'd booked through lastminute.com she didn't care if we were disappointed! I've written a letter of complaint, if I get a response I'll update this review.

We booked Greenwoods Hotel Spa and retreat in Essex for our magical wedding night. what a joke!After struggerling through the doors with my beautiful wedding gown on, gifts and bags the receptionist didnt even look up! congratulate me or my husband or even offer to help with our bags. He told us our room number and that was it. we got to our room and after several attempts with the card the door wouldnt open, so i was left holding everything so my husband could go back to reception and sort out the problem, when he returned he said we had been given wrong room number and that was why we couldnt gain acsess. when we got into our room it was freezing, no bathrobes, in a spa hotel? had to phone down for that and again the next morning as heating didnt work. heating worked but every 15 mins it cut off and so did tv. Breakfast came which was lovely but had no salt or pepper or ketchup so had to phone down again! when we left reception didnt thank us for our custom or even look up for that matter. Really upset with the treatment recieved and the fact that we payed £200. The room just seems unjustified for the service we recieved. I did call greenwoods and spoke to a manager who said she would call me back and never did, so i called back and left another message and guess what no one called me back, so i called again and was told that they never recieve complaints and if we book again we will recieve 10 -15% off.Big deal!dont book this hotel save your money.

We recently visited Greenwoods Hotel Spa and Retreat in Essex. The room was tired and awful, cluttered small, tiny wardrobe. We were attending a wedding nearby and couldn't hang our clothes up, toilet seat wouldn't stay up. Bath had no handles, making climbing over high sides to shower in a pathetic stream of water, very difficult. We had to repeatedly ask for more pillows as they were so sparse. Lovely selection of cakes out but with flies around them, a total turn off! Small gravel outside we got bogged down in the stuff every time we went out and had to keep emptying our shoes. There is no lift to the rooms and some have loads of very narrow stairs. This hotel in no way constitutes a four star rating in my opinion. The service and the quality simply is not good enough for me.

If you are planning a spa break i have been to far better, although if you are just looking for a hotel this is ok.