We took our first trip to England in Nov 2007 and planned to spend our first night in Canterbury. After reading many online reviews, we made a reservation in advance for the Abode Canterbury hotel. I called the hotel several weeks before the trip to reserve our two rooms (4 people traveling).
Our two days and one night in Canterbury was the highlight of our trip and a great introduction to the UK! We were so happy with our choice of the Abode Hotel. It was a bit harrowing getting there as we were still getting accustomed to the car, and once we got to Canterbury we had to drive into the center of the city on these narrow crooked streets to find the hotel. It barely seemed like we could fit through some of them and it was pretty stressful. We used our sat nav system to find the way. We found the car park for the hotel and fortunately there was one space left. The lot was impossibly small but after a 90-point turn we were able to squeeze into the parking space.
We hauled out all our luggage and walked up the street to find the entrance to the hotel, and, upon hitting the street where the hotel is located, immediately turned to each other with a big "woohoo, we're in England!" grin. The hotel is situated right on the main pedestrian shopping street, closed to cars; there were tons of shoppers and some street musicians right outside. You could not ask for a more charming and convenient location.
The hotel lobby was modern, elegant, and the front-desk staff very friendly. There is a tiny elevator (lift) that only fit two of us plus luggage at a time. Our rooms were clean and adequate, the beds very comfortable. With the exchange rate for US dollars being what it is, it was much more expensive than we are used to paying for hotels - about $500 for the two rooms.
We passed the entrances to some of the other hotels that we saw reviewed on this site, and we remain convinced that the Abode was the right choice for us.

Canterbury is one of my favourite places in the UK. This was our 2nd visit here and we wanted a no nonsense, convenient, safe hotel to accomodate my wife and baby. Happy to pay a bit extra for luxury, we chose the Abode. On arrival we were not disappointed. The location is fantastic, and has a lovely, modern, contemporary style, really fitting for the location and city. The bar looked great, and the restaurant inviting - so much so we decided straight away to book a table. The restaurant thankfully accepted young infants, and the meal was the highlight of our trip. We had an 8 course Taster menu, sampling the delights of a top chef, absolutely fantastic and worth every penny. The service too was out of this world. Really an experience of a lifetime, not to be missed.

The hotel was perfectly positioned for exploring Canterbury by foot, very hassle free. Especially with a baby! After the impression from the evening before, for lunch we choose the Tavern Bar adjacent to the hotel. Again a lovely atmospheric bar, yet modern, and with a fanastic menu of food to choose from.

For breakfast, we again dined in the restaurant, and again the food was just amazing. Being from the UK, I really enjoyed their take on the English fry-up, but I'd recommend foreign visitors to sample the more traditional style breakfasts served by any good B&B.

Its difficult to fail to have a good time in Cantebury, and we were overall very content with choosing the hotel.

So, all great? Perfect? You got to be kidding!

Firstly, when trying to book communicating with the foreign staff was not easy. Then they were not able to help with me trying to book a room, and ended up having to call me back. Next, the car park holds about 20 cars, and even though we arrived very early, all spaces were taking, and the nearest car park is 10min walk away, although we read about this before arriving so dropped luggage off beforehand. Upon arriving, they'd spelt my name wrong, and couldn't find my details on the system "... computer says no ...", so for a troubling few minutes, a 3hr drive, car park hassle, we stood worrying with our crying baby whilst they sorted it out. We'd booked a 'Comfortable' room, but after seeing we had a baby, they said we'd never get in there, so they put us in the next grade up 'Desirable'. Expecting something special, it really wasn't. We did have a bit of extra space where we could better navigate around a cot, but even though the room indeed had all the obligatory boutique trimmings, it was still just average. There were many small touches that I really did enjoy though: the bedside lighting, the real kettle, the bathroom styling (but it was really small), the fact that the hot water temperature was always just right. Its not that there were many faults, it just wasn't great. The bed just wasn't practical. When in a small hotel room environment you use the bed for putting things onto, or lounging on, but the mattress was very very soft, so much so that you'd just sink deep into it, and had to resort to sit in the chair. Sleep wise, it wasn't too bad, but personally I prefer a harder mattress. On the first night we experienced loud music. We were very surprised thinking that we couldn't be near a nightclub. We had to complain in morning since it was just not acceptable especially considering the price. The front desk staff were very accomodating, and agreed to find a better room. Although when we returned later that day to change, they said that the noise couldn't have been coming from outside, but was from an internal function going on elsewhere in the hotel!!!! Did they not have the courtesy or intelligence to inform us, either when booking, or on arrival, especially seeing we had a baby? So much for their guarantee of having a perfect nights sleep. My wife spent most of the night awake. They gave us £25 off the room rate for that night, and a free breakfast for the Sunday morning (that should have been free in the first place). I forgot to mention the TV: the room had a plasma TV and DVD player. Now, firstly, there was only about 6 channels since Film4, and the remaining Sky channels were all off. Then the TV was strangely situated at bed height ie. about 80cm off the floor, so was at an awkward viewing angle. Next, there was a shelf protruding outwards where the DVD player sat. Why go to all the trouble of buying a flat-screen TV, when a DVD player is going to be left sticking out, right in the middle of the through-way to the bathroom?? Tesco's sell flat-screen TV's with DVD's integrated into them for £150. Lower quality DVD maybe? Who cares, its not like 5.1 cinema sound is available in the room!

We paid £125, the Comfortable room rate. Its grossly overpriced, and I'd say £80 would be fair. If you're in the £60-£100 price bracket, I'd recommend staying at one of the many lovely B&B's in Canterbury. You'll be much more satisfied and have an equally good time. You can always book the restaurant separately. If you've got money to burn like me then this place is for you. Would I stay again? Yes! I'd fork out the extra and book a Fabulous room, cos paying the extra would seem more worthwhile (I did try beforehand but it was booked up).

Like other users, I did not get a response to the constructive comments that I sent to the Abode following our stay. Consequently, I now feel the need to make these comments public! I took my partner to the Abode for a birthday treat but nothing felt special, despite the high price paid. Parking issues are covered elsewhere - basically, you have to find your own! We arrived at 3pm having been told that we could check in at 2pm but our room wasn't ready. We had some lunch in the Champagne Bar - (very sub-standard sandwiches with hard black avocado and a 'complimentary' cup of coffee) as we waited. We were charged for the coffee although this was supposed to have been on the house. We whiled away the hour that we had to wait by reading the very many self-congratulatory publications scattered around the hotel, describing their new hotel 'concept'. We never really understood what was so innovative about their approach -our room was tiny, gloomy and very average. Quite nice shower gel and biscuits in the hospitality tray but otherwise, nothing special at all. But it was the catering that really disappointed us. The receptionist said that she could 'squeeze us in' to The Tavern for dinner at 6pm due to a last minute cancellation. We were surprised therefore to find that the Tavern was empty when we arrived. No wonder - we were served a dry burger, cold, raw chips and a decent bottle of white wine was brought to the table warm. We didn't even stay for desert. Horrid atmosphere and disgraceful food. Breakfast next day was just as bad - our order was mixed up with our neighbours' twice and the toast and coffee were both cold - and very expensive! And all of this from a 2 Michelin starred chef? He needs to get back to basics. We had to wait ages to check out the next day as there was literally a queue of people in front of us complaining about their stay. I wrote to the manager on my return pointing out these deficiencies and I received no response. I would suggest that you avoid this over-priced and very sub-standard hotel that does not know how to provide the basics and ignores the comments and opinions of its customers.

The Abode is situated in the centre of Canterbury and is ideally located for the numerous restaurants and bars and of course the cathedral.

From the moment you enter the hotel you sense that this hotel is going to be very luxurious. Our room was very contemporary and had a wall mounted LCD TV and DVD player. The bathroom was very stylish and the bespoke toiletries were a nice touch. The room was spotless and the bed was possibly the most comfortable bed I have ever slept in.

Unfortunately we did not get to eat in the Michael Caines restaurant (which I have heard very good things about). We did however begin and end our evening in the Champagne bar which was very nice. The tavern around the corner which is also part of the hotel was also very nice for an afternoon drink.

We did decide to order breakfast which was brought to our room in a basket and consisted of a bacon baguette, fresh fruit, yoghurt and juice. A very nice breakfast as you would expect from such a classy hotel.

The only thing I would say about this hotel is that if you are intending to park in the hotel car park get there early as it is very small and was virtually full by the time we arrived at approximately 2pm (check in time).

This hotel was lovely and I would definitely like to stay at the other Abode hotels around the country.