Night Away at Luton Hoo Hotel

As a birthday gift, Dann booked a night at Luton Hoo Hotel, which is a large, historical manor, with a spa! Everything that I really want in a day of relaxation. We spent a night in the hotel, went to the spa for quite a large amount of time, roamed the grounds, and ate dinner at the manor. This was quite a relaxing experience and we very much enjoyed a night to ourselves, away from work.

Luton Hoo Hotel

When staying at the Luton Hoo Hotel, you can stay in the manor or you can stay in the nearby building which is basically touching the spa. Due to wanting to make the most of the spa, we very much wanted to be nearby instead of in the main building. We did spend some time roaming the manor, which had sitting rooms, lots of different historical items, and beautiful tapestries. There was a bar here and it’s where the meals are served. You can easily take a car (they drive you the 5 minute journey down the road) to the house we were staying at.

The room that we stayed in at the Luton Hoo Hotel was massive. A lot of the architecture inside was very American feeling, with big doors and big wide areas. Our room had everything you could want; a desk, a sitting area, a huge bed with bedside tables and outlets. We had both a shower and a separate bath in our bathroom. There were lotions and soaps provided. It’s a very nice place to stay and we found the room to be extremely comfortable.

Luton Hoo Hotel Spa

When it comes to the spa, it’s a beautiful place. There is a massive pool, that’s well lit and quite deep, along with a vitality pool attached to it. A vitality pool is sort of like a hot tub, without being hot, which can be so much fun. We also spent a lot of time in both the dry and wet sauna, and there is a monsoon shower too. A separate relaxation room had some fun bubble lighting and a small selection of teas (I do wish there was more teas). These facilities were nice, though the spa did run out of water quite early on and wasn’t refilled during the day.

There was a separate area to go for the ESPA spa treatments. Dann and I both got treatments, with me getting a back massage, facial and scalp massage for about an hour. This was a great experience, and I left with glowing skin and a very relaxed back. We each got a different massage person, who walked through our skin type and was very knowledgeable. The whole thing was extremely relaxing and I honestly cannot wait to have another facial soon!

Dinner and Breakfast

After seeing such an impressive building, our fantastic room, and enjoying a very relaxing spa, we had a dinner set in the very fancy main building. The room itself was dark, but well decorated with a lot of fancy details. We were seated and our server brought over some water and a menu. The menu itself sounded impressive, with Dann and I looking to get a started, main and dessert each. We both went for a pumpkin volute to start, which was very interesting! The flavor of the soup was fun, but when it came to the bread on the side, there was some absolutely crispy, to the point of burnt, bacon. At this point, our actual drink orders were then taken, which felt a little off, and bread was brought over, which should have been there for the start.

We had ordered different mains, with Dann going for a red pepper risotto, and me going for the pork belly that was recommended by the waiter. My pork belly was extremely overcooked, and when I mentioned that, I was told that’s how it is, which felt very bizarre. Some of the skin was so hard I couldn’t chew it. Dann’s risotto was just rice and didn’t have much flavor at all. Our dessert came out a while after the main, still no drink in site for me at this point, so I asked about it. It came a bit later, with a waiter explaining nobody picked it up from the bar. At this point, I was actually done with my dessert. Dann’s dessert, which was sorbet, was ordered then about 10 minutes later, someone came out to say that there wasn’t some of the sorbet he ordered, so they replaced it with others. Dann did like the sorbet in the end, but it was just adding to the disappointing experience. My dessert was a baked Alaska with lemon curd, according to the menu. When it came, there was no lemon curd and the ice cream was clearly vanilla, so I asked about the curd assuming they forgot. A waiter came over and told me there was lemon curd in the ice cream, which I accepted, but they said they’d double check. Another waiter came out and confirmed that there was no lemon curd in the ice cream and instead said “meringue is made with lemon, so it’s a lemon curd” which didn’t make sense to me, but we had been here for absolute ages at this point and were pretty disappointed over all. It really sucked that the food was so disappointing, especially as it’s so expensive! They also add a service charge that’s quite large, for people that forgot my drink, didn’t know they were out of food, and didn’t know how the food itself was meant to be.

We went back to this food area for breakfast, which surprisingly was fantastic. I guess it’s more challenging to mess up a Full English Breakfast, but they had a buffet that had some delicious mushrooms, bacon, sausage, eggs… everything you’d expect. They also had a short menu of things you can order to be made per table, which is nice. The pancakes from that menu are clearly not made here, but the avocado toast looked good!

Luton Hoo Hotel Grounds

The grounds around the Luton Hoo Hotel are used for golf, but you can also explore the back of the area, which has a bunch of fun areas to walk around. We had a long walk along the walled garden, which had a beautiful water fountain in it. There is a path that takes you to a rock garden that’s being restored, but is quite fun. The amount of animals everywhere was fantastic! We saw peacocks, cranes, and muntjacs, all just wondering around. It was quite fun taking in the grounds and seeing what animals we could spot. After a long walk around, we headed off home, quite happy with how relaxed we were! We’d likely go again, but skip the food there.

You can check out our other Days Out to see what else we’ve been up too!