Tower House Guest House

The only good thing about the tower house is the location, very central for everything. But it goes downhill from there, managers are non existent, very difficult to get hold of by phone and extremely rude and uncaring. The photos on their sites are of the two rooms they keep tidy for publicity and even they are not great. We arrived and had to phone, took several attempts for them to answer, they gave us code to keybox, let ourselves in, totally unmanned reception so had to phone again about which room we were in as no one was there. We were told that two rooms shared a bathroom which would have been ok but in reality The only bathroom is on the top floor with four flight of stairs and shared between 6 other rooms! So as you can imagine it was terrible to try and use the shower/ toilet as it was always occupied but we didn't really want to use it as it was so dirty with mould, mildew etc. We were in The little blue room, a small double but it wasn't a double bed but a queen size one so very small. There was a sink in a very dark alcove with no light as it was broken. The room itself was very dirty, stained carpet and bedding, dirty curtains, marks on walls, holes in the walls, large mark on one wall with holes where the bed head had been fixed to wall! Overall a very unkempt dirty room. The whole house had a feeling of disrepair, neglect, dirty, as if the owners couldn't be bothered. So sad to see a grade II listed building kept in such a condition. Feel that they just wanted peoples money and are uncaring of the condition of the house. We were not the only ones with similar complaints and concerns about broken and dirty rooms. When we complained we were told that it you don't like it then leave! We are writing to Oxford council ref the state of a listed building and the owners attitude towards visitors and contacting the other sites where they are listed to make people aware.

I’m on the fence about this place. It was in a safe area in a great location for tourists. Walking everywhere was not a problem. The guy that checked us in was nice and friendly. Online we chose 2 bedrooms with a shared bathroom. My and my daughter slept in one room, husband and son in another. We understood we were sharing a bathroom but there was another room sharing it with us. Probably just an American’s misunderstanding. It was a small but comfortable room. The bedding was clean. On the bad side- I was unhappy with the shower. It didn’t drain. Someone else’s stuff was left in there. The bedroom wall plaster was cracking and had lots of holes. It wasn’t dirty but I changed socks before getting into bed. It was a million degrees inside the room and I had to sleep with the window open even after turning off the heater.

Superb location and seemed clean. But creepy vibe. It’s technically up to scratch in hotel basics, but it’s weird, dilapidated, abandoned feeling. I booked for the 17th-century appeal, but found the whole experience offputting, if not downright uncomfortable.

I am appalled by the response my partner has just had from this hotel. My husband has had this hotel booked since last year and we were looking forward to staying here in December (although after our recent call, we abruptly cancelled the booking) My husband is registered blind and has just been matched with a guide dog. Out of courtesy, as officially, it is against the law to refuse a guide dog as it is a service provider, he rang the hotel to let them know the situation and check it would be ok. He was then told by the member of staff ‘no we don’t want a disgusting dog here!’ Completely disgusted by your lack of customer service and your discriminatory approach to someone with a disability. We have reported you to the necessary authorities and hope that nobody else receives your absolutely shocking level of customer service.

This is NOT a hotel! We stayed here for 3 nights and did not see anybody working there. No one present during check in or check out. No reception. No change of towels or emptying bins in our room. No restocking of water or tea supplies. There are no lifts & you must carry your own luggage up narrows stairs. No breakfast. The fan in the bathroom did not work, leaving us with a very damp room after a quick shower. Quirky shower, loud workers outside, just centimetres outside our room, uneven walls and squeaky floor. It all sounds rather horrible, and it will be if you come here with an expectation of it being just like any other hotel stay. But if you want something different, a place with lots of charm, great location and be able to stay in a house that is 400 years old, then you have come to the right place! We had a great time staying here, kids loved it and if we ever go back to Oxford, this will be the place we want to stay at. Highly recommended! An added bonus is that they are a social business, supporting Student Hubs, an organisation aimed at supporting students. We had the Foundry and Bastion rooms, both en-suite (although Bastion only had bat tub, not shower). Please be aware that this is not a hotel. And you must be able to walk handle steps and stairs that are not up to modern standards.

Never stayed in such a bad hotel. Very expensive. None of the staff speak any English. Hotel smells damp and of sewage. Room badly cleaned. Found a used condom under our bed! Absolutely disgusting! Mould in badly fitted shower. Dreadful outlook, despite being sold as deluxe room. Owner wasn’t interested in my complaint and refused any sort of refund.

Absolutely perfect location so I’m keeping it at four stars! Very charming as well. Losing a star because it was a bit pricey, they have no shower just bath (which they communicated, but would’ve brought it up to 5 stars if it was there), and my partner is convinced it was a little spooky. Very sweet room and cozy place to stay for one night in Oxford other than that!

We arrived at the Tower Guest House in Ship St, Oxford in the early evening, not much later that we expected due to train delays. As we anticipated, the establishment was in a good position for our expected activities in the next couple of days. We were greeted at the door by a young girl who show us to the room. This is apparently a 17th century building and the narrow stairway was not the easiest to manage after a long day of travel interruptions. We were pleased to arrive. My wife was helped with her bag up the stairs, but I was left to struggle with the rest of the luggage, The room is spacious and has an en suite bathroom with a large roll top bath. It all looks very nice. However a quick investigation discovered that the supplied kettle (With Tea/coffee Etc), did not reach the AC outlet, the cable was too short by about 9 inches. I went down stairs to alert the staff and got the blank smile, indicating that the staff member was out of her depth. She did however offer me a chair to put the kettle on next to the desk, but as the chair was upholstered in what appeared to be red velvet, I indicated that I would seek out another solution. In looking at the situation and the way the room was technically set up with lighting/television Etc, my immediate thought was “amateurish”. The chair which was supplied was a wooden chair and vey old and when my wife sat in it one of the legs came apart, it was patently dangerous. So I decided to take up the offer of the chair, and remove the chair which was faulty to the side next to another plug outlet for the kettle and set up the functional chair for use at the desk. But interestingly, when I went down to get the chair, there were no staff members in view, so I just uplifted the chair which had been offered to me. But I did realise that the lack of staff and the lack of instructions in the room did tell me that this was a very “hands-off” affair. But we were tired after tumultuous travel and were happy to be there or even anywhere at this stage. The bed in the room is obviously an old bed frame and I was not of the opinion that the mattress on it was in great shape. My wife likes to have a bath before retiring, and some things were noticeable. The curtain/blind in the bedroom is noticeably grubby which is not a good sign. No actual soap but a couple on unmarked containers which one presumes contain soap. And the hot water temperature and pressure were both inadequate. The following morning (Sunday) we went out to get breakfast close to 10 O’clock and left the “Please make up the room sign” on the doorknob but noticing that there seemed to be no-one present we joked about not being optimistic. This turned out to be true. We did a second, third and fourth excursion from the hotel and in each instance, the room remained the same. Obviously there is no form of any level of service on a Sunday. So as we had run out of milk at the tea/coffee unit in the room, we purchased a small bottle from a nearby super

Tower House shows signs of the building built in 1600 only in the hallway floor, some low ceilings and narrow hallways. The room itself was light, spacious , quiet and clean, in a modern decor. We had the Foundry room on street-level floor, with a low timber in the ceiling but I estimate clearance at 6.5 feet so wouldn’t affect anyone of medium or short height. Other rooms might be ok. We had trouble with radiator not working but after awhile the space heater did well, and the towel heater in bathroom warmed the entire room well. Difficult to contact management since they weren’t picking up phone during the morning and were only on premises at check-in time mid-afternoon. But once we caught the manager the problem was rectified. He was very helpful, polite and apologetic that we had any difficulties. Note to any travelers with knee difficulties: the first step up from street into the building was very steep. Once inside, steps ste of normal height.