My husband and I decided to go to York for our wedding annivers... we prefer boutique places rather than corporate shells to stay in so found Marmadukes on the web. It looked great so we booked up for the weekend. after booking we did of course see people's reviews on here, but were not put off, rather amused by the hotel's responses to behonest! we stayed in 516 which was by no means a small room, even having large funature in it there was still plenty of room the ensuite was large as well, and we were delighted with the penhaligons products (I love Blenheim Blossom!). We ate in the restaurant on the friday night and it was lovely, expensive, but we had no complaints about the food at all... breakfast was pretty standard on the first day - hot english, tea coffee etc.. no complaints - filled us up until dinner! The second day however we got the bedroom bento boxes and they were fab! Our bed was comfy and the room was clean, when we checked in we were told that some people found the mini bar noisy so to feel free to turn it off (it was fine) we had a bit of trouble getting the tv to work but the staff soon helped us with that... all in we had a great stay, it is clean and modern, but still has quirky charm to it. Simple touches like having face cloth hand towels and l'octaine cosmetic in the ladies toilet even showed attention to detail.
Boutique does mean you don't get a sofa and coffee table in your room, or whatever like a big hotel, but who really needs that? I don't know what people's expectations of rooms sizes are who have posted on here ... we were more than happy, easy to find and walk to from the city centre as well, and the bar / lounge is cosy as well. Definately recommended to young professionals like ourselves visiting york for the weekend..

We stayed just one night at Marmadukes and my husband and I were very impressed with the refurbishments. Yes the rooms are smaller than you would get at a chain hotel but it's a Victorian building so expect this. However, our bathroom was very large and nicely decorated with a roll top bath and period style sink. The thing I most love about staying in a hotel is breakfast in bed, although Marmadukes do a Bento Box they don't bring a full English to your room. This was disappointing as my husband wanted a full english so we had to go to the dining room for this. After a late night out at a party the last thing I wanted to do was parade my blood shot eyes to the world! The breakfast was lovely and we loved the organic (?) bacon and sausages. The waitresses were polite and unobtrusive as were the other staff. The only slip up was when we requested a tea tray to be brought to our room, room service brought us just that, a tray but without anything on it!! Maybe cross communications??! We liked the tin of teas in the room and the DVD Player. Our bed was wrought iron with pristine white bedlinen and a wonderfully squishy matress - I slept very well!
Overall a nice stay in York and Marmadukes is in the poshest part of town and very close to gorgeous shops.

My friends and I stayed for two nights in a twin and single room. We booked directly with the hotel some months ago, and were looking forward to our stay even though some of the Tripadvisor reviews haven't been all positive.

Two of us arrived first of all and the confirmation of rooms was met with total confusion, but we took it in good humour. However , when we were shown to our room (by a man who denied that it had ever been a gentlemens club) we were very disappointed with the size and at one point when unpacking both got caught behind the wardrobe doors - too much amusement and laughter but just confirmed our view of its size of the room, it would have made a perfect single room. The fittings really are luxurious and the room was spotless and it was apparant that a lot of time/money and taste had been invested in the hotel, but the size of the room was a big letdown. We had a nice drink in the comfy lounge waiting for our friend who then experienced the same confusion at check-in. We went to see her single room and thank goodness we all had a good sense of humour because we couldn't believe how small it was, there is no way a tall person would fit in the bed. We complained about the size of the rooms to reception who agreed with us but couldn't move us due to refurbishment. We had supper in the dining room which was ok. but the waiter had no experience at all of waitering which was a bit cheeky for the set menu price charged. Noisy room bar which we had to turn off. Breakfast wasn't very nice but as we had mentioned the size of the rooms as we passed reception we didn't feel we wanted to complain again.

I fully understood that the hotel which only opened in the summer would have teething problems. However, we sadly cannot recommend our particular rooms as value for money and we didn't want to spoil our stay with continued complaints. The staff were very friendly even though Friday/Saturday they didn't give an air of professionalism. The fixures and fittings did live up to the website and I do hope the managment take on board these comments to make what will be a fantastic hotel.

First impressions of Marmadukes are great, situated on leafy avenue 10 minutes walk for York Minster. Decor and general ambience were great, the room we had was decorated and furnished very much in the style of a Victorian ladies bedroom - lovely reproduction furniture, fantastic roll top bath in a huge bathroom. However the impression of luxury flattered to deceive. The room temperature on the first night was stifulling causing me to wake sweating at 4.00am, the hotel thermostat was set at 30 degress Centigrade!! The English breakfast was priced at an extraordinary £13.95, we ordered sandwiches at the bar area and had to wait 20 minutes whilst a member of staff went to the local deli to get some beef (why didn't a luxury hotel have basic food available?). On our second night we were with no hot water for 30 minutes, causing my partner to have to wash her hair in cold water and me to have to shower in the adjacent fitness centre. The duty manager arrived at the door of our room to check the temperature of the hot water (after the bolier had been fixed) and looked very upset when I told him he couldn't as my partner was in there at that particular time, he returned a few minutes later insisting he went into the bathroom to check it and then confirmed what I had already told him - that is was scalding!
All in all not a great experience and certainly not what I would expect for a hotel that has the cheek to put luxury in their name.