Malmaison Oxford

“A great place for a birthday”

Fantastic hotel. I didn't catch his name but the front of house made us feel very welcome. In fact I'd go as far as to say, he was the best front of house we've come across since Covid times. Staff are so unfriendly these days but my 7 year old told him it was my birthday and we got given some toke… more

Fantastic hotel. I didn't catch his name but the front of house made us feel very welcome. In fact I'd go as far as to say, he was the best front of house we've come across since Covid times. Staff are so unfriendly these days but my 7 year old told him it was my birthday and we got given some tokens for processo. Just a small gesture but it meant a lot. The rooms were clean and felt very homely. Breakfast was very expensive but it was nice. We had drinks the night before and there was an Asian bar man, he too was a diamond. A very nice set of staff, in a very well run hotel. Highly recommended.

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“Choosing to spend the night in a revamped prison cell!!”

Incredibly friendly and helpful members of reception , restaurant, bar, cleaning and car parking staff. Very clean and tidy hotel with great food . The rooms were very well thought out and designed keeping a lot of the original features of the old prison. Well done!!!

“Amazing stay in what was a working prison in 1996”

Stayed here for a work event overnight. What an amazing experience. The hotel is a converted prison and was still being used until 1996, thankfully the accommodation has been improved somewhat since the previous occupants. I stayed on the ground floor of the main wing, the room was 3 cells knocke… more

Stayed here for a work event overnight. What an amazing experience. The hotel is a converted prison and was still being used until 1996, thankfully the accommodation has been improved somewhat since the previous occupants. I stayed on the ground floor of the main wing, the room was 3 cells knocked into 1 which made it quite a novel stay. The whole place is full of little nooks and small rooms from it's previous life which gives the whole thing amazing character. Room was lovely, fresh, bed was nice a very comfortable stay. One minor note there are a lot of high level windows which meant privacy could be a slight issue in the bathroom if you were peering in from a nearby building.

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“Disappointing”

My partner bought a night stay at the Malmaison as a birthday gift in a standard cell room. The main reason he chose this hotel was due to the history of the prison and castle although we left bitterly disappointed. I had to book parking on the way up from South Wales and the receptionist was ver… more

My partner bought a night stay at the Malmaison as a birthday gift in a standard cell room. The main reason he chose this hotel was due to the history of the prison and castle although we left bitterly disappointed. I had to book parking on the way up from South Wales and the receptionist was very helpful in securing us a spot. Although the building itself stands out it was a little difficult to locate the correct entrance for parking. The parking is advertised as valet parking which I was led to believe was a secure car park when in fact it was just the front of the hotel. They don’t take your car anywhere, so spaces are limited, they’re effectively playing Tetris trying to fit all the cars in, hence why they keep your keys upon check-in. The room itself was fine although we had multiple issues with the bathroom. The toilet flooded which my partner had to fix as it was in the middle of the night and the shower was unusable! The temperature dial is not clear and even though we tried many times we could not get the temperature from scolding. We had dinner at the restaurant which was nice but not worth the money. There are lots of independent restaurants nearby offering more for your money. We did a tour of Oxford castle which we stumbled upon by mistake while touring the grounds of the hotel. Guests get a 25% discount proof of your booking, and it was very informative, and I’d recommend doing it. However, at the end of the tour you’re left in an exhibition centre to look around alone, this has a lot of history associated with the prison and would be great if it was free for hotel guests. My only suggestion would be to offer more information at check-in. The building and history aren’t addressed which is a shame as this is the USP of the hotel. It doesn’t need to be a history lesson but maybe a few leaflets on what you can do around the area and where in the hotel you can walk around to gather more facts as the main block is like a ghost town! I don’t thin we saw even 1 person come out of their room while we were there. Unfortunately, it’s not somewhere we’d go back too.

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