The Willows Training Centre - Bedford

450gilliant

The room was spotlessly clean. It had a lovely shower, with plenty of hot water. The Cricket Kitchen serves a hot buffet in the evening. 4 or 5 choices, with a small salad bar. In the morning, cereals, fruits, yoghurt, pastries, and a serve yourself hot breakfast. All the food we had was very good. All staff encountered was friendly and professional. Would definitely stay again.

Stuart D.

No kettles in the room! But FREE coffee machines in the corridors which is possibly the best idea I've seen in recent years. I would much rather a freshly made coffee or hot chocolate than a sachet of instant while faffing with a kettle. Well done on a great idea.

Rooms are spotlessly clean, Standard room a little small but adequate for a couple of nights stay.
Staff helpful and friendly.

Hannah W.

Really wonderful place. It feels like a little oasis. We travel all over the country touring, so to find a place to stay which is so welcoming and doesn’t feel like the machine of a usual hotel - which is also so sustainable - 100% renewable, has a nature reserve, actually recycles everything and doesn’t use any single use plastic. GREAT breakfast. Wonderful staff. Thank you

N W.

The Willows Training Centre is laid out as a little city. My room was on an 'Avenue' which was a nice touch. The corridors have quotes on canvas, some witty, some mindful, some with advice. I enjoyed reading them - it made walking the corridors interesting. Room service was optional. For example, for room service on a short stay, if you didn't have room service daily, a tree would be planted on your behalf. The sustainability is excellent e.g. no plastic on site solar powered driveway lights etc. The food was excellent with enough choice for all dietary requirements. The Willows made a business stay much more pleasurable than others I have had at chain hotels.

Voice

I stayed at this hotel as part of an agreement between them and the course provider, as many others do when attending this and other providers' courses.

I have a few complaints and observations:

Staff: The staff is very kind and helpful.

Rooms: The rooms are quite small but moderately cozy and clean. A small sofa would be a great addition, but given the limited space, I understand why additional furniture isn’t feasible. Perhaps make the table shorter and add one next to it? I also wonder why there is no hand lotion in the bathrooms, requiring guests to go all the way to the reception area to find some. This was especially inconvenient given the distance between my room and the reception, which brings me to my next point.

Hotel Layout: The hotel is spread out horizontally rather than vertically. It consists of a single floor but has hundreds of rooms. If you are assigned a room near the outer edges of the hotel, as I was, be prepared to do a lot of walking for anything outside your room. At some point, I was so thirsty but preferred to remain so rather than walk what felt like a mile to the only vending machine. A mini-fridge in the rooms would greatly improve convenience.

Sleep Quality: The pillows and duvets were hard, heavy, and uncomfortably hot, making sleep unpleasant. Many others in my course shared similar complaints and struggled to get a good night’s rest. The mattress, however, was decent.

Food: The food was hit or miss—mostly miss. Even when it was a "hit," it was mediocre at best. I didn’t expect restaurant-quality meals, but the selection, quality, and taste were often disappointing. The meal on the last evening gave me an upset stomach. I was relieved to find that I wasn’t alone in my opinion, as many others in my course agreed that the food was subpar.

Breakfast & Dining Room: One major issue was the lack of lactose-free or non-dairy options in the coffee machines. It’s 2025—why isn’t there an oat milk or lactose-free option? I can understand the absence of soy milk due to allergy concerns, but many people, including myself, needed an alternative and were left disappointed. Perhaps these options were available upon request, but even so, there was no way to heat them for coffee. Wouldn't it be simpler to have one of the machines include a lactose-free or dairy-free option? Or just add a third machine for this purpose?

Additionally, there were no napkins or tissues available throughout the dining area. The only ones I found were wrapped with the cutlery at the center of the tables. But what if I needed an extra napkin? The only option was to take another cutlery bundle, wasting clean utensils that then had to be washed—defeating the presumed environmental purpose of limiting napkin use.

In Summary:

Positives: Decent environment and kind, helpful staff.

Negatives: Uncomfortable sleep and disappointing food quality, taste, and variety.

jimN263EL

I stayed with my partner on a trip wehere we were arriving late and leaving early, so just needed somewhere to sleep. We did not eat any meals there. I chose this location because it was very reasonably priced at the weekend. This is because it is a training centre and not a hotel. You need to be very clear about that.||The location is great, parking easy and the room and bathroom were clean. You get a double bed, which is small compared to most hotels. The room is tiny, There are 2 feet between the bed and the wall on either side. The bed was not comfortable and it was very hot in the room. It is for people on a training course with single occupancy rather than somewhere suitable for a couple. There was only one towel for the two of us and we arrived late and were too tired to make a fuss. The shower gel is very basic, as were the in room facilities.||I booked it on hotels.com and I don't think it should be listed there, because it is not a hotel experience at all.

Donna F.

I have visited St Neots often and this is the first time I have stayed here but it won't be the last. Firstly the staff that work here are incredible, so warm and friendly and nothing is too much trouble. The whole place is set up to be easy and comfortable for the guests from the luggage storage rooms, clear signage, easy walking paths between buildings its just a really pleasant place to stay/spa/golf/SUP. There are also epic tea and coffee stations which are really high quality and included! Finally, I really appreciate the amount of work they are putting into sustainable initiatives. Highly recommend a stay here and I will be back.

Ordinary_Guy_3

Ok for a midweek business stay but not as cheap as others are saying at £135 a night without breakfast. Needs modernising in a few places such as including USB ports. This is a sprawling complex which can be confusing to navigate at times. The WiFi is generally good throughput. Some questionable maintenance repairs in my room.