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MACDONALD BEAR HOTEL - Updated 2024 Reviews, Photos & Prices
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Formerly a 13th century coaching inn, The Bear Hotel sits serenely at the centre of the charismatic market town of Woodstock. Full of period features, oak beams and rich interiors, it's a hidden gem where the combination of history, culture and exceptional facilities make it one the finest 4-star hotels in Oxfordshire.
Star ratings are intended to indicate the general level of features, amenities, and services to expect. This property is classified according to Giata.
HOTEL STYLE
Quiet
Family
Languages Spoken
English, Spanish, Lithuanian
Location
Park Street, Woodstock OX20 1SZ England
Macdonald Bear Hotel
2,420 reviews
Getting there
Good for walkers
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I was fortunate enough to find this beautiful hotel near Oxford and booked for one night as was on business in Oxford. I was greeted at reception by friendly reception staff who were extremely attentive and made me feel very welcome. This hotel has so much charm and my room was extremely comfortable with a lovely bathroom with a great standard of toiletries. A robe in the wardrobe is always a nice touch but this one was really soft and actually fit me for a change. The Nespresso machine and tea and coffee facilities were also great to have in the room too. On to the food and service. Well! Wow! What luck. A 7 course taster menu was on offer and it didn’t disappoint. Wonderful food beautifully presented and well served too by very attentive staff. Each dish was well explained and tasted amazing. The chef came out and served 2 of the courses and I really hope that they continue with this menu as I felt it was reasonably priced. You can certainly see why they have 2 AA Rosettes as the food was very well executed for such technical dishes and the balance between the flavours was superb particularly the rabbit course. Room service breakfast all the way for me and again I was not disappointed with the food or the service. I will return, thank you for such a lovely experience.
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Date of stay: March 2020Trip type: Travelled on business
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Bear Hotel, General Manager at Macdonald Bear Hotel
Responded 19 Mar 2020
Dear jonathany840, Thank you for taking the time to write your excellent review. I was so pleased to read your comments regarding the welcome you received and how your room and amenities were to your liking. I was delighted to hear about your dinner and breakfast experience. Our tasting menu really is a treat; I am so glad that you enjoyed all the courses. I have passed your comments on to the team and we look forward to welcoming you back on your return. Thank you once again. Kind regards, Raj Chakraborty
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We stayed at The Bear Hotel for one night in the charming little Oxfordshire town of Woodstock. This is a perfect base from which to explore the beautiful Cotswolds and Blenheim Palace. The hotel itself is a centuries old coaching inn but has been beautifully done inside and well-looked after. On arrival, we were able to park our car easily and received a warm welcome at the Reception. We had booked two rooms for our family which were adjacent. These bedrooms were spotlessly clean, well-appointed and stylishly decorated and furnished with comfortable armchairs and beautifully made beds. Dressing gowns and slippers are provided and very nice toiletries are by Elemis. Rooms also have tea/coffee making facilities including fresh milk. In the evening we ate a very good meal from the restaurant and the bottle of Italian chardonnay wine we ordered was fabulous. The service at dinner and at breakfast the following morning was friendly, attentive and not intrusive. In these Covid times, this hotel has clearly taken more than sufficient precautions and leaves you feeling very safe and reassured. The staff were hardworking and clearly committed to doing their very best to make all guests feel welcome and enjoying their stay. We would recommend the Bear without hesitation to anyone wanting a relaxing getaway, whether couples or families and would love to stay there again.
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Date of stay: October 2020
Rooms
Cleanliness
Service
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Bear Hotel, General Manager at Macdonald Bear Hotel
Responded 5 Dec 2020
Dear Edward F, Thank you for such a lovely and positive review. I am so pleased that you enjoyed your stay at The Bear and delighted to read your comments regarding the product and service you received. The team have worked tirelessly to make sure that the hotel is safe and also welcoming for our guests. Since being closed for the last four weeks we have decorated the communal guest areas and I hope that we can welcome you back in the near future so that you can see the further improvements we have made. We also have some fabulous Christmas decorations! Kind regards, Raj Chakraborty
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We've been coming to Blenheim for over 15 years once a year for the triathlon. We've been to the hotel many times for coffee and drinks and this was our first time staying. It's expensive so we treated our two nights stay as a staycation and I'm pleased we did.
Plus points. Central location, lovely old and quirky hotel full of character & history, beautiful courtyard, great staff and it felt very safe (this was our first hotel stay post Covid happening), lovely bar area and compact but well equipped room.
As it was expensive, I had expectations of what I might get for the money so a few things did not quite meet the expectations.
*I was surprised the car park was £10 a night extra. *There was a rip in the top of the duvet cover. This is something that I'd really expect a hotel to be on when trying to create the best guest impression. *I added breakfast to my booking before I arrived and there was a mix up at reception on check in, compounded when we arrived for our breakfast booking and they said they did not have a record of us. *The breakfast itself, at £18pp per head, was something I was looking forward to - a real treat. It was nicely presented, tasty and small. I don't eat a lot so it was fine for me however two doors down you can get a full English for a fraction of the cost. I also was surprised that a capuccino came with a £3 additional cost. £21 for brekkie is top end prices, in my opinion.
We got over all these little things and had a very pleasant stay but these small things had a bit of a multiplier effect on our overall experience and I think I would have prefered an all in approach so I felt a little less like it was all about the extras.
We will be back to Blenheim next year. The overall experience at The Bear was good and I would recommend it, I just feel it's worth sharing an honest view of the plus points and what, for me, would improve the guest experience.
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Date of stay: September 2020
Rooms
Service
Sleep Quality
Room Tip:Keep the windows shut if you're noise sensitive. It's peaceful but there are church bells...
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Bear Hotel, General Manager at Macdonald Bear Hotel
Responded 14 Oct 2020
Dear BettyBoo2u, Thank you for your detailed review and feedback. I have looked into the points you raised with my team as we are always striving to improve everything we do here at The Bear. I do hope that we can welcome you back again next year. Kind regards, Raj Chakraborty
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Please if anybody reads this review DO NOT ,I say DO NOT stay at this hotel 4 star a joke . Our experience from start to finish was a nightmare . Turned up Monday afternoon they did not have us booked in until Wednesday , that’s the start . The young lady made amends and gave us a upgrade to a feature room ( four poster ) that we could only just about sleep in as it was so small , feet hanging over the edge . Checked in at 14.00 and had pre booked afternoon tea for four of us for 14.15 , on offer at the time of booking . It was absolutely terrible no selection of teas my sister in law asked for jasmine tea and they looked at her vaguely . When the bill came it was £112 , my wife pointed out the discount while booking and they reduced the bill by £40 , still far far to expensive for what it was . I’ve paid up to £40 per person for afternoon tea in the past at other hotels and I have thoroughly enjoyed it , so money was not the problem . After this experience we decided we would not be eating there again with the exception of the breakfast which had already been paid for , what a mistake . My full English consisted of 1sausage, 1bacon which you could have snapped on the plate , half of the smallest mushroom you would ever expect of seeing , a tiny potato cake , half a piece of black pudding , and a poached egg. The following morning , as the menu was very very limited I decided to go full breakfast again but asked the gentleman who looked as if he was the restaurant manager if I could have 2 sausages 2 bacon , he wrote it down and guess what , yes exactly the same breakfast as the day before . My wife ordered poached egg on toast both days , the first day a tiny piece of sourdough with 1 poached egg , the second day 2 pieces of sourdough and 2 poached eggs , how inconsistent was this . The first morning restaurant staff serving without and masks or PPE . The second morning some of the had it . Our room was in a courtyard build with four room using the same two access doors to the building but no hand sanitisation anywhere in sight , good job we brought our own . When we arrived our room had a tape seal across the room for COVID reasons , the first morning we did not want our room entered again because of the COVID situation plus the young cleaner boy had no PPE on at all . We left a do not disturb sign on our door , when we got back in the afternoon the room had been entered and the sign removed off the door . Our whole 2 day experience at this 4 star Macdonalds hotel was a nightmare . I would never stay here again even if you paid me too. So so disappointing , and people wonder why families want to go abroad . Would not even give it one green spot but it would not leave me complete unless I filled this field in .
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Date of stay: September 2020Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Bear Hotel, General Manager at Macdonald Bear Hotel
Responded 12 Sept 2020
Dear Rogerp123, Thank you for your review. I have investigated all your points and would like to respond to them. I am sorry you felt your complimentary upgraded room wasn’t suitable for you. Due to the character of the building our four poster beds are unique in size. We would have certainly changed your room again if you had asked but as you wanted to be near your friends you were given that room. Regarding your afternoon tea experience, we have a large selection of teas and certainly Jasmine tea. I am sorry the £40 was not taken off your bill straight away as it should have been. Regarding your breakfast experience, I apologise for the inconsistency of the food, I have spoken to the kitchen team regarding this to ensure this does not happen again. We do have a standard English breakfast size but we should have given you the extra bacon and sausage that you requested on the second day so I am sorry this did not happen. My Operations Manager served you on the first morning and asked how your breakfast was so it was unfortunate that nothing was mentioned to her so that we could have rectified the situation on your first morning. We have hand sanitizing stations on all entry and exit points from the hotel and all frequently used touch points are regularly sanitised. We advise that all staff wear PPE but it is not a legal requirement for staff to wear them just as it is not for our guests to wear masks on our premises. It is a requirement for our Housekeeping team to wear PPE on entering guests bedrooms and I can ensure you that they all certainly do. I do apologise for the mistake on cleaning your room. Our Housekeeper was incorrectly informed to clean your room, he did wear PPE but I am sorry that this error was not communicated back to you. I am sorry you do not feel you would return to our hotel in the future. Kind regards, Raj Chakraborty
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We have stayed at the bear hotel on a few occassions, and decided to stay there again for a few days this weekend and it really wasnt good, the cooked breakfast was brought to the room in a box, my wife does'nt eat cooked breakfast so opted for the porridge which was oats in a tub with hot water pored on them. we was on the dinner bed and breakfast rate but if you was not this would cost you £5 there is no kettle in the room now because of covid 19 but there is an iron and hair dryer you can get tea and coffee brought to your room in a cardboad cup free of charge, but when we rung for tea at 10.30 pm on our first night we were told it was too late. Our room was not cleaned during our visit due to covid 19 so because everything is brought to your room in bags and boxes and cardboard cups the room soon gets filled with rubish, we did leave some outside the door before we went out but it was still there when we got back. i really didnt enjoy walking through bags and boxes to get to my room or sitting in a room filled with rubish i completely understand that all hotels have to follow govenment guidlines following covid 19, but im sure the Mcdonald group could do better than this.
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Date of stay: July 2020Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Bear Hotel, General Manager at Macdonald Bear Hotel
Responded 9 Jul 2020
Dear Sherpa691963, Thank you for your feedback and I am sorry to hear your comments. As you are aware, due to government guidelines we have to do everything to keep our guests and staff as safe as we can and although I would like for our hotel to be up and running just like it was before that unfortunately is not possible at the moment. We are serving a selection of food and beverage items but they do need to be in packaging that can be disposed of. I understand that this creates a certain amount of rubbish, however, if you had left this outside your room and notified us we would have taken it away immediately. I do hope that you will return again in the future and you will find your stay more comfortable next time. Kind regards, Raj Chakraborty
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We arrived at the Bear around 2.00 pm. and our room was ready. We had travelled 170 miles down the motorway in almost incessant rain.It was also cold but the room was warm, comfortable and had a four poster bed. Check-in was straight forward and took only a few minutes. with the helpful staff. We opted for the £10 per night parking fee - important as there is very little free parking near the hotel (if you have a blue disabled badge it is free). We went into the bar for a snack and drinks which again was comfortable and welcoming. We dined in the restaurant both evenings. The food was excellent, highly priced and the service slow. Breakfast was serve yourself with juice and cereals whilst the main course was waitress served. The 'full' breakfast was the smallest I have ever come across. We visited Blenheim Palace and the hotel was excellently placed for this being less than 5 minutes from the hotel to the gate but 10 minutes walk to the Palace from there. There is a shuttle service from the Palace car park to the hall but not from the entrance adjacent to the hotel. Overall we enjoyed our stay but only used the Bar the once. The pub across the road is a third less in cost.
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Date of stay: February 2020
Value
Cleanliness
Service
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Bear Hotel, General Manager at Macdonald Bear Hotel
Responded 18 Mar 2020
Dear JeffreyT533, Thank you for your review. I am glad that you enjoyed your stay with us and had a smooth check in after your difficult journey. I am pleased to hear your comments about your room and the quality of the food but sorry to hear that you experienced slow service in the restaurant as this certainly should not have been the case. We look forward to welcoming you back on your next visit to the area. Kind regards, Raj Chakraborty
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We had a Sunday stay which included Sunday lunch and breakfast. We stayed in the clemey suite. The room was very spacious and very tasteful in in keeping with a Majestic 13th century coaching inn. The bed was a fourposter was a lovely touch. The bathroom was also very spacious and tasteful. The staff were friendly and the only issue we had was when we came to pay the bill upon leaving. Our deal that we booked on their site , first of all the staff member said it didn't included the food and drink which we knew it did. I pointed this out strongly as the staff member on reception didn't seem to know about the deal which was on their own website. It wass eventually clarified that we were right but it wasn't pleasant being presented with a lot of extra charges when these were part of the deal that we had booked. So other then that we enjoyed our stay.
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Date of stay: March 2020Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Bear Hotel, General Manager at Macdonald Bear Hotel
Responded 27 Jul 2020
Dear SimonW4366, Thank you for your review and for your delightful comments. I am so glad that you enjoyed your stay at The Bear. I must apologise for the error with your bill upon checkout. This should certainly not have happened and I am extremely sorry you were put in this situation. I have looked into the matter so that we can rectify this happening again. I do hope that you return to The Bear in the future. Kind regards, Raj Chakraborty
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We stayed with a large group booking of 20 on the second weekend of October.
First the good things. The building itself is very unique and a nice place to relax and appreciate. It is extremely close to a side entrance of Blenheim and right on the Main Street of Woodstock which gives it a great location as a base for a weekend in the area. Parking is expensive at £10/night but nonetheless very valuable. Most of the staff do seem to be keen to give a good service and be helpful.
Now the not so good. Almost all of these issues seem to stem from the fact their team had what appears to be a very large overhaul shortly before our stay. Our bill was almost consistently wrong, and if I hadn’t been constantly on top of this, we may have been charged almost double what we should have. There were erroneous charges, and sometimes it seemed like they were just making up numbers for the bills. We had to keep on recalculating. This is especially surprising as we had clear communications and contracts in all the weeks leading up. The private dining dinner - food was decent, but service was very underwhelming. It was extremely slow, almost none of the different orders came out at the same time, and many came out at room temperature. Breakfast service had a similar issue, but particularly in that the quality of the food was very low - not at all reflective of the price. We heard this complaint mirrored by other guests too. For this level of service and food, the price is just far far too high. It is unfortunately not reflective of a 4-star establishment. We did raise and discuss all these issues during our stay.
Hopefully the issues can be sorted, and perhaps either the price is adjusted to reflect the current quality, or the services and food are raised to match the quality the establishment aims to provide. It could be something very nice, but when we stayed the issues soured what would have otherwise been a nice stay.
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Date of stay: October 2021Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Bear Hotel, General Manager at Macdonald Bear Hotel
Responded 9 Nov 2021
Dear antonkahlil, Thank you for your review and please accept our sincere apologies for the short comings during your stay with us. We have taken on board your comments and thank you for your time to raise these concerns. Once again thank you. Regards Nick J General Manager
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My wife and I had the misfortune to stay here for 1 night only ( thank the lord ) and found the whole experience to be underwhelming at best. When checking in there was no offer of assistance with luggage and a highly entertaining game of find your room. On finally locating the room, we wished we hadn’t as it was ice cold, last occupants towels still in situ and numerous electrical accessories not working ( bed side lamp and coal effect fire ). Site advertised Elemis toiletries however we had approx 30 ml shower gel. Sadly we made the fatal mistake of having a drink in the bar and paid £57 for the pleasure ( 2 large gins at 18.50 each, £6 for the tonic’s, £4 for a small ramekin of olives and £4 for a small ramekin of vegetable crisps and to add insult to injury £5 service charge !!! ) sorry forgot to mention that we had a small ramekin of popcorn on the house👍🏼 . You would assume that things could only improve, alas not as we had decided to eat at the Bears Award Wining Restaurant in which the starter was average, with the Lamb Main being inedible. To the restaurant managers credit he struck this from the bill. After a fairly decent night’s sleep we checked out to face the final insult of been faced with the bill which included £4.50 for soft drinks we hadn’t consumed and £10 Car Parking charges despite the fact at the time of checking in telling them I had found some on street parking 😩. On the plus side bedding was clean, bed reasonably comfortable albeit slightly short, and all staff we encountered were friendly. Not much more to say other than if you choose to stay here YOU WILL BE DISAPPOINTED.
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Date of stay: March 2022Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Bear Hotel, General Manager at Macdonald Bear Hotel
Responded 29 Mar 2022
Dear Ian, please accept our apologies for the short comings during your stay. I would like to be able to speak directly with you if possible to discuss your stay with us. Please do contact me at the hotel. Regards Nick J General manager
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Booked a night away after a very stressful few months of hard work and bad news, and my husband and I needed sometime to just relax as am sure alot of people do right now. This hotel unfortunately did the opposite and we left just wanting to get home and forget about the experience. Considering the amount of money spent, we decided to complete a review. We had booked this hotel on a package deal which included breakfast and dinner. On arrival to the hotel, we were surprised with a £10 car parking fee which seemed slightly high as it didn't look like it was a partially secure car park. Our room was OK, it looked quirky and had a lot of character, although on the small side. That was fine though, no problems with that. We went down for our dinner and were quite surprised to see quite alot of hidden costs! Bearing in mind it was £129 to stay with breakfast and £169 with dinner, we had technically already paid £40 toward our... What we were expecting included dinner. On arrival to our table we were asked if we wanted water for the table, with out thinking I said yes, I was asked do you want still or sparkling and responded saying still. I then saw another waiter ask a table the same thing, but offered them tap, still or sparkling. I didn't think too much of it at first as it's only water it can't be that much. However 1 glass of wine, a bottle of beer and a bottle of water came to £24. Basically we attempted to be good to not increase the cost too much, but in total our dinner would of come to £64 for a very basic meal with quite small portions. You had to pay extra for side's or particular food, but the price of the extras were quite extortionate. Following this we went to reception to order our breakfast, we ordered two veggie breakfasts, this came a little late, which was no bother, however it was the wrong breakfast, we were given the full English (non veggie). We attempted to call down to room service and reception but no one was answering. My husband has to take the breakfast down stairs for this to be changed. Due to the now lateness of breakfast, when it did come we had to rush it down and couldn't enjoy as we needed to check out and we had parked our car away from the hotel which we needed to get to by 11am to not endure the £10 hotel parking fee. On check out we were asked if the extras were to be put on the card given at the start of our trip, my husband said yes, however asked them to remind him the amount, they advised it was £33 he had to pay in extras when in fact it was £24. I just felt this hotel at every opportunity was trying to get extra money, which made us feel on edge and we couldn't relax. I understand they have likely had difficult times recently, but our experience put us off staying again.
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Date of stay: September 2020Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Bear Hotel, General Manager at Macdonald Bear Hotel
Responded 14 Oct 2020
Dear 783abip, I am extremely sorry to read your review and the way you felt about our hotel. I can only apologise for the errors you experienced during your stay. I have looked into your points with my team so that we can rectify these issues happening again. We strive to give the best possible service and hospitality. Once again, please accept my apologies. Kind regards, Raj Chakraborty
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Bristol, United Kingdom35 contributions46 helpful votes
5 minutes to entrance through car park and then 15 - 20 minutes to the actual palace entrance along a long driveway (depends on how quickly you walk and if you stop to admire the view across the lake.)
There are more places to choose from in the Woodstock area.
PRICE RANGE
£112 - £211 (Based on Average Rates for a Standard Room)
ALSO KNOWN AS
hotel macdonald bear, macdonald bear woodstock, bear hotel uk woodstock, bear hotel woodstock
LOCATION
United KingdomEnglandOxfordshireWoodstock
NUMBER OF ROOMS
54
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