I stayed at Great Ex for just one night, while I was attending a training course. I was familiar with the pub having lived in Reading for few years and spent few enjoyable New Year's Eve at Great Ex. The hotel experience couldn't have been more on the other side of the scale - truly horrific. There are no lifts.... more

We were under the impression it was a 4* hotel with stunning ensuite bedrooms. However, despite our expectation the room was basic (complete with broken bedside lamp) and far below that of a 4* standard. We opted for a special offer that was running, but this was not honoured by the hotel, despite having it confirmed a number of times... more

We recently stayed in Reading for the Beer Festival and someone recommended we try Great Expectations. We stayed in the Four poster room, which was very comfortable. We were impressed with the size of the room, the decor and the massive, comfortable bed! The staff were friendly and heipful. The cooked breakfasts were delicious but slow to arrive, there was... more

Foolishly I left it till the last minute to book hotel accommodation for a conference i was attending at Reading University. Predictably there was hardly any rooms left anywhere and most places had pretty bad reviews on trip advisor - so Great Expectations seemed the best and cheapest of a bad bunch. In fact though, because i didn't have "Great... more

I stayed in this hotel in Oct 2005.... I arrived at 12.30pm and given my room key, the room had not been cleaned. I went downstairs to report it and instead of an apology was rudely interupted and told the cleaner had not finished. Still with no apology I had to say I really dont care as I have just... more

This is a decent hotel above a pub. The building was obviously something else originally and its renovation into a hotel left some interesting rooms: we had a pillar in ours, but the decoration and furniture was pleasant. I think the furniture was new and it seemed to be pretty good quality. There was some traffic noise, but that is... more

Very pleased with this hotel. It's close to Reading town centre without being right bang in the middle of it, which particularly at night, might be a safer thing. Great Expectations has a bar that though not too busy on the Tuesday night I was there, had a few local punters. Oddly enough you check in at the bar but... more