We had a mixed experience at the hotel but it was still mostly positive.
Pros
- Great location: Lots of green area and even a little river nearby, just 20 min from Clacton-on-sea
- Beautiful place: historical building, beautifully decorated
- Large bedrooms
- Brasserie in the hotel
- Room service for food available 24 hours
Cons
- No air con: the bedroom was very hot and hard to sleep at night with the heat
- Wasps: our window had to always be opened because of the heat and in total more than 10 wasps came in the bedroom during our stay. With a little one with us, it was panic every time. There must have been a nest close by. Reception told me "it is nature, nothing we can do" - which I thought was a bit rude. You can either add aircon so that we don't need to open windows or deal with the wasp nest.
- Wedding guests: drunk, loud and rude guests partying just below our windows made it hard to sleep on Saturday night. They were very rude to my partner, acting like they owned the hotel. In previous hotels we've been, wedding guests and regular guests were staying in different areas of the hotel (both inside and outside) to limit as much as possible the disturbance. Very little effort had been made for that here.
- Cold welcome: the lady at the reception wasn't particularly friendly. Barely smiling and saying the bare minimum. I felt she did not care about the guests, just about performing her series of tasks.
Overall, I'd still recommend to stay at the Wivenhoe hotel as it is a lovely place.
Just avoid going in hot summers or Saturdays (weddings)...