voco Reading, an IHG Hotel

Amazing hotel. We stayed here as a family of 5 after being unable to find anywhere nearby to fit us all in one room, we had the presidential suite which was cheaper than 2 rooms at any other nearby hotel. The room was huge with 2 large queen size beds, a single bed and a sofa bed, with air con and a stunning en suite. The hotel also had a clean warm indoor pool at no extra cost, along with steam room and sauna at no extra cost and free use of towels. Best value for money in any hotel I have ever stayed at and every single expectation was exceeded.

Lovely, spacious,clean rooms with large tv. Restaurant food delicious though children's menu rather expensive. Fantastic pool which the children enjoyed. Steam room and sauna great. Would like to commend Anastasia in the restaurant. She was an excellent host. Very efficient, friendly, attentive and personable with a lovely smile. She really looked after us. Thank you.

Excellent sized room with two large beds and plenty of space for my family. The room was extremely clean, and I was really happy to see that the bathroom had hand and body cream and conditioner. The hotel is located on the stadium grounds and very close to a handy retail park with a few places to eat. The gym is great with lots of machines and weights, the pool is large with sauna and steam room. I would have preferred not to have to book a time slot in the pool.

A group of friends and I recently bought the lunch and spa access package for £45. While the food was nice, there was only one person serving the entire Atrium and so service was very slow. When we asked what food was included in the lunch time deal, we were told everything on the menu, only to be told after finishing our starters that some of the food we had now already eaten would require a surcharge. When we tried to then cancel some of the mains we had ordered that would now also require a surcharge, we were told we would not be able to cancel, as the order had already been put through. We complained when the bill arrived and the manager was very friendly and helpful and cancelled some of the surcharges, but other unexpected charges that we had awkwardly agreed to while initially trying to be polite, were not cancelled. When we eventually got to the spa, we arrived to find that the pool was booked out all day for swimming lessons. While we were still allowed to use the pool, we felt very awkward while swimming, trying not to get in the way, as it's not a very big pool. There was no drinking water available in the spa area, even though the safety signs advise drinking water regularly with sauna and steam room use. My friend had to go out into the gym area in her bathers to get us all something to drink, which made her feel very uncomfortable. The changing room only has toilets and wet room showers, no actual private cubicles for changing, which made us feel awkward when getting ready, due to the number of people also using the facilities for swimming lessons. All in all a very strange experience, and while everyone was very friendly, it felt very unorganised and not very relaxing. I would definitely not recommend going on a Sunday due to the lack of staff and full day of swimming lessons, and would likely not recommend the spa to anyone as the facilities are not as nice as advertised. With the additional cost of drinks and surcharged items we ended up paying for, we worked out the money we saved with the deal was cancelled out, so will likely just spend a bit more money and go somewhere more relaxing next time.