Voco? Nope, not in my dictionary either, but it’s a name to pay attention to for a hotel stay that weighs in way above standard offerings, but won’t leave your wallet needing a sabbatical (rooms from £107, vocohotels.com).
Welcome! The hotel chain aims to be sleek but never stuffy
Launched back in 2018, in just seven years the hotel chain’s sleek but never stuffy charm has made it one of IHG Hotels & Resorts’ fastest growing brands, with over 100 Vocos globally, including 19 in the UK. At its less-than-a-year-old Winchester offering, two miles from the city centre, that stepped-up experience which, while not five-star certainly nails upscale, is very much in evidence. It also lives up to its name. Voco, since you ask, is Latin for ‘inviting’…
Rooms and facilities
Pull up a sofa in Voco’s Open Lobby
Check-in is swift, smooth and, as well as a room key, will furnish you with a locally inspired treat. When you cross Voco Winchester’s threshold it’s hard not to rubberneck the Open Lobby’s lounge first. Vast, airy and, yep, inviting, this buzzy ground-floor area is the beating heart of the hotel, where the brand’s ambition to seduce you really begins. Boasting break-out sofa and chair areas, all looking the part thanks to a mix and match of mid-century-modern furnishings and vibing happily together via greys, blues and pops of teal, the feel is kickback yet classy. The mood? While-away-the-hours-here-for-as-long-as-you-like, hell, why not pull up a chair and watch some TV? Or, scrub that, with an all-day dining menu available courtesy of the hotel’s Kitchen 21 restaurant, stage left, and the 24-hour bar, stage right, order some eats and drinks…
One floor up, my super-king boudoir has much to seduce, too. Greys, blues and the occasional piece of modern art feel considered and chic, while clean lines and fuss-free furnishings give an already decent-sized room something of the Wembley about it. The bed is sprung to perfection, the sofa plump and beckons you to spread while you enjoy the Nespresso machine and wide-screen TV. As for the chair and desk… others might want to WFH, but I’m thinking more vanity table.
The bed is sprung to perfection…
While no cats are in danger of being swung in the more functional than fabulous en suite, there’s still plenty of luxuriating factor to be had down at the ANA adults-only spa. Here five treatment rooms offer all manner of pamperings using Elemis products, plus there is a Himalayan salt sauna, crystal steam room, sensory shower and bubbly foot spa. There’s also a manicure bar and lounge where lunch – plates include butternut squash soup, crispy calamari, Caesar salad – I discovered, is best enjoyed after not before a body wrap or deep muscle massage (treatments from £45). Quick tip: before you wander down to the spa in your hotel robe, sessions need to be booked in advance (from £10 person for a two-hour slot).
Five treatment rooms offer all manner of pamperings using Elemis products
Food and drink
At Kitchen 21, all metro tiles, copper pendants with an open-kitchen nailing slick, breakfast comes set – continental or full English, from £16.95 – or a la carte, such as scrambled eggs, £9. Park yourself on a velvet banquette or sit outside on the terrace and enjoy your flat white as a wild pony passes. Here lunch and dinner is ‘a modern take on traditional British cuisine’, or, in our book, crowd-pleasing stuff: from burgers, fish and chips and a showstopping 21-inch pizza to slow-cooked lamb shank, pork belly and pumpkin ravioli, with mains around the £18 mark. Whatever you pick, get a side order of truffle fries!
It’s Kitchen 21 offers a ‘a modern take on traditional British cuisine’
The bar, meanwhile, just yonder in the Open Lobby, is all metro sexy beneath a cascade of plants and statement pendants, and never sleeps. It’s open 24/7 – as is the nearby vending machine – your one-stop-shop for midnight snacks.
Make mine a…. Voco’s open 24/7 bar
Hotel highlights
Forget ‘inviting’ in Latin, I want to know what ‘relaxed’ is – as Voco nails it on the kickback front. Then there’s that lounge, where you can watch the world go by – or rather the guests (which during my stay included Jeff Brazier) from the comfort of a squishy sofa.
Despite being just off a roundabout by the A31, the location is just the sort of peaceful spot you need after hauling your cookies through the streets of Winchester, checking out the cathedral, Jane Austen’s house et al and its car park means no having to road-rage it into the city – it’s five minutes away in an Uber or there’s a bus stop right outside the hotel.
What to do nearby
Did I mention Winchester, once the ancient capital of England and seat of King Alfred the Great? Buying a property here might be hard – it’s one of the UK’s most expensive cities – but finding things to do in it isn’t. Well-known for its 11th-century cathedral, it’s also the resting place of former resident Jane Austen, boasts the country’s oldest continuously running school Winchester College (which has appeared in films such as Harry Potter and Les Miserables), and thanks to its bustling shops, pubs and restaurants scene, fabulous architecture, riverside walks and prime spot on edge of the rolling South Downs National Park, it attracts around four million visitors a year.
Best for… anyone, even pets are welcome.
