Just had a one-night stay. The hotel is in a nice quiet location near Magdalen Bridge and College. The reception staff were very friendly and helpful. The room was very slightly cramped but had everything you needed-tea/coffee-making facilities, iron and ironing board etc. It was very clean and the bathroom was spotless with an excellent bathtub that filled very quickly. The only complaint was that both the breakfast and parking were very expensive at £14 per person and £12.50 per night respectively. There are at least 3 very good places to have breakfast within 100 metres of the hotel and they were all much cheaper. Parking would probably be a problem if you didn't use their car park though as there aren't many nearby alternatives. All the major sites are within easy walking distance so why not take the train? Overall this was a good choice and I would stay there again because of the location,friendliness of the staff and the cleanliness.

Spent one night here on a sort-of girlie weekend away. The room was confortable and a good size. The bathroom was very clean and everything worked properly. The lift/elevator was a bit of a problem as my friend is heavily pregnant but it's an old building and you have to take these things into consideration in a town like Oxford. It was very quiet, with no traffic noise so that is always a plus.

The reception staff were all very helpful and pleasant. Parking was unusual as you have to give in your car keys in at the desk. As we pulled into the hotel car park, a man approached us and asked for our car keys. He didn't introduce himself and he didn't have a name badge on so we didn't give them to him. We later found out he did work there but it seemed a strange way of doing things especially as the reception staff said they'd had problems with people asking for car keys in the car park and pretending to work at the hotel.

The hotel is ideally situated and breakfast is available at a number of cafes and restaurants opposite for a fraction of the price of the hotel. The Rose cafe comes highly recommended.

This is a bad choice of hotels. The staff while nice are confused and disorgainized. Most of the rooms (and I saw alot of them) are quite small- some actually really tiny. Beware that many rooms are not accesible by the elevator which was a real problem for a member of my group that is disabled. You may have to climb 5 flights!

The confirmation I had recieved stated breakfast was included but upon arrival they said it was not included (14 pounds per person). As I did not have a computer with me an could not produce the confirmation email from their main booking site I did not get the breakfast. I asked that they check with their own booking site and repeated that it was not included. I then forwarded the email to them when I returned home and no response.

All around not a choice I would make again.

The hotel itself is a chain but still quite cosy, with an excellent location on one side of the central area, 10 minutes' walk from the dead centre of town. The staff were reasonably helpful and friendly, and our double room was a reasonably size - not huge, but not overly cramped. The bathroom was very nice - modern and gleamingly clean; there was a fair amount of chrome in there, which I imagine most hotels try to avoid due to the cleaning it must require - but here there were no such reservations, and everything was spotless.

There are nice touches, such as a bowl of Red Delicious Apples* on reception (*may change with season ;-) ), and the attached bar downstairs was also nice enough to have a couple of drinks in, and was open into the small hours, which was handy.

Our only complaint was that they had no record of our reservation, which was made through Active Hotels. I did phone ahead by chance, so it was at least less of a shock when we arrived, but fortunately they did have one spare double room, and they agreed to charge the price quoted to us by ActiveHotels, rather than the standard rate (which was £40 higher). ActiveHotels told us they fax and email the hotel automatically, and any error would have been the hotels'; if so, it implies some inefficiency - either way, it could be worthwhile confirming your reservation before arrival.

Overall, we did enjoy our stay at the McDonald Eastgate, and would recommend it.