Have just returned from this hotel and Blackpool and here are my thoughts on some of the features of this hotel:

ROOM (room 305): No mini-bar in the room. You have to request one with at least 24 hours in advance. I rarely use the mini-bar, but sometimes need the occasional bottle of water, and like to leave some yogurts there overnight.
Tea making facilities, with Tetley tea, Nescafe, cookies, milk and sugar. I assumed it was complimentary since there is no price guide.
No air conditioning from what I could tell.
Bathroom: modern bathroom, no bidet. 5 toiletries only (gel, shampoo, conditioner, shower cap and ONE soap). The hairdryer is a small one which you will find in the desk in the drawer.
It is a quite modern room. Do notice that some of the photos posted by other travelers were not from standard rooms but suites (and particularly not from the non-refurbished room – check the note at the end).
WI-FI internet: there is internet in the room but it costs £15 per day, or £6 per hour. We ended up buying a 3-network modem in a mobile phone store. Check that before you go there, if, like us, you can no longer live without internet.

BREAKFAST includes really basic stuff. We ordered a cappuccino (which we normally do in hotels) but were told we would have to pay extra for this, since it is either tea or coffee (black). Just one type of small baguette, which you can get at any convenience store. And they bring toast with the coffee.
No cheeses, hams, cold meats, smoked salmon.
No cakes, just small pastries and croissant, but not crispy at all.
Small cereal selection.
Fruit salad with mostly apple (!!), cut apples and prunes.
Tomato sauce beans, bacon, mushrooms, 2 types of sausages, fried eggs.
Fruit juice is from the packet, even though it has been poured into a glass jug.
If you want anything fancy, they charge you a £5 “modest” supplement (according to their leaflet). For example a cheese and ham platter will cost you £5 on top of the breakfast price, which is around £14 per person.
Overall, it looks like just English Breakfast. It is funny how elsewhere in the world you get English and Continental, and in the UK you just get British breakfast.
You have to wait to be seated, so at popular times, you need to wait 5-10 minutes, since there is only one person allocating tables. Of the breakfasts we had there, only once were we seated with a sea view despite the fact that those tables were mostly empty. Saving the tables for someone else, perhaps?

Parking: you have to pay £2.50 per day if you use the parking outside the hotel.

LOCATION: it is a 15 minute walk to the north pier and £4 taxi ride to the centre near the North Pier and the Tower. There is nothing of interest to the left of the hotel. There is a bus and tram stop in front of the hotel. The Reception does not sell bus/ tram tickets. You can buy day travelcards from the bus driver for £5.95 and single tickets as well.


PROBLEMS ON ARRIVAL: when we arrived we were allocated a room in the 4th floor (room 402). To get to it we had to use the lateral lift (not the main one), which doubles as a service lift!! This is an old lift, carpeted all over. The 4th floor has really low ceilings and no foyer as the other floors, and very dark contrary to the other 3 floors. The room was tiny and old. Everything was depressing about it. It was dark, the furniture was old, the bathroom looked old fashioned and the window was tiny and high, the ceiling was low. Check the photos for an idea, though the ones I took don’t really show how small the room was! We did have a lateral sea view, but I had to stand on my toes to see the sea. We were staying for 6 nights and had paid £109 per night and decided to complain at the reception.
We did this after we had visited the other floors and noticed the high ceilings, the large corridors and the huge foyers in all the other floors. We had also learnt that our lift was a service lift. We called Hotelopia which had made our booking about the type of room that “STANDARD ROOM” involved, especially if they get the worst rooms in the hotel. They said it involved the best available rooms, so we could ask to move as long as there was availability. So armed with this information we headed for the reception. There, there was a different person from the one who had allocated the room initially. We complained about the room and just mentioned we would be staying 6 nights (!) and the young lady immediately offered to show us 2 alternative rooms in floor 3. After inspection, we asked to be switched to room 305. Both rooms were refurbished, bigger, with new bathrooms and a big window. It faced the back of the hotel, but who cares?? But don’t get me wrong, we were not upgraded, this was also a standard room, but it was refurbished recently.

GENERAL IMPRESSIONS: As soon as we entered the hotel I was not impressed by the period features, instead by the fact there was rubbish in the entrance (coke can, paper Kleenex on the floor) and bags of rubbish and dirty dishes near the lift exit on the 4th and 3rd floors. Also, there was only one person at the reception at any time I went past, so queues tended to form.

VERDICT: our final room was a fair 4-star standard room which was refurbished recently, still given the price of £109 per night, it is overpriced. The other hotels in Blackpool look much worse, so if you really need to stay in Blackpool, perhaps this is a good choice. However, given that we were staying for 6 nights, why were we allocated a bad room, especially since they had other rooms available? If we had paid a really low price, I would understand, but we paid the same price they would have charged in their website. What was their criteria? If we hadn’t complained this would have been a really disappointing stay and I hate to think that I need to complain to be treated fairly after having paid £650 for this stay. I’m giving this hotel 2 stars, because for the price it is overrated and I have stayed in much better 4 star hotels in Continental Europe. And since everyone seems to have loved this hotel, I think future guests should be aware of the problems with the 4th floor. So I gave it the stars I would have given if we had not complained and moved.

PS: apparently there is a loyalty card for this chain of hotels you can buy for £20 that involves a free upgrade in case of availability. I read about it in their brochure, so if you’re staying for a few nights in Paramount hotels it might be worth it.