I stayed here for two nights beg of March 2008 after seeing the good reviews on line on this website - and I was not disappointed. I booked a junior suite which was located at the back of the hotel. No pretty views unfortunately (after all this is a central city hotel) but despite heavy traffic the room was quiet.
The room itself was nicely decorated, clean, and very spacious. The huge bed was very comfortable. The two seater sofa and two armchairs were not the most comfortable to sit on - but look good.
Given the size of the room the bathroom was relatively compact but had an over-sized separate shower cubicle with a powerful shower and nice white fluffy towels and robes. Excellent! Slight gripe - there was nowhere sensible to hang up a towel near the shower area, and the lighting wasn't good for applying makeup.
Good desk area for working - and free connection to wi-fi and/or ethernet. What a treat! I also appreciated the bowl of fresh fruit, bottled water, and wine that was on the desk on my arrival!
On the slightly more negative side:
I was less impressed with the spa area - as it felt more utilitarian than pampering - and it was very messy on the Sunday afternoon (with sodden newspapers and magazines on the floor and loungers). The swimming pool is a decent length and the steam room hot.
The breakfast was OK and the staff were delightfully friendly. There was a good choice on the buffet but small things could be improved (like having fresher/flakier Danish pastries and croissants).
However, overall, this hotel is excellent value for money and is so convenient for the centre of Cardiff that the minor gripes are soon forgotten!

good location for a great night out in cardiff. I live locally and the deal we had on the hotel was better than getting a taxi!
the rooms are very basic and clean but the location and facilities in the hotle are great! the laguna bar is great and you don't even have to leave the hotel on these cold nights. Having stayed in several hotels in cardiff I would stay here again because the pool and lobby and bar are all superb.

Outstanding is a word that I like to use for this Hotel - it sets a great benchmark to all other Hotels in it's class as 4 Star establishment.

I live in Cardiff and it was my 30th Birthday weekend. I booked the hotel over 4 months in advance of my stay. This hotel like so many other hotels in the UK sell their rooms off cheap if you book in advance, i.e. the first 10 rooms at £80 the next 20 rooms at £95 it's simple supply and demand sales and marketing. So, in a nut shell I got 15 rooms for my guests at £79 per room incl. vat and breakfast. As I was taking 15 rooms I got a great discount - this is something that you ought to try if staying in the Hotel and booking in advance.

I decided to stay with my guests at the hotel and was very suprised by the accomadation. It was modern, fantastically designed and in a great location, centrally located to all the bars and clubs but far enough away that your not too affected.

My guest and I made full use of the Spa facilities at the hotel, which were small but comfortable. The staff were friendly, accomadating and more importantly knew what they were doing. The pool was small, more a pool to splash around in than do laps and some serious exercise. The gym was adequate, not a great array of equipment but then I was not there to work out just relax. Business travellers might find it lacking although the facilities may have improved since I stayed.

The drinks are not cheap they are about what I would expect to pay in a facility such as this but the service was outstanding. The bar is great and a fantastic place to meet before you go out and hit the town, but we could have quite happily stayed there all night. My friends and I generally have a cocktail or too before we go out and we have created our own from Vodka and Lemon Sorbet. The Staff were most accomadating an made us our own personal cocktail despite it not being listed and just charged us a nominal amount based on the listed cocktail price.

Breakfast was nothing special, but more than adequate. It's a buffet arrangement with the option to have something made to order if you desire. Breakfast on a Sunday morning is a busy affair so be warned - as you might have to wait a while.

I'm a business traveller and have stayed at 5 Star hotels that are not a scratch on this one. I think that the hotel is modestly rated and suspect that this is a result of there being no car park. You have the option to park your car in the local NCP at a discounted rate, but for a weekend expect to pay £20 and this is pretty much the only downside of this hotel. Check out and check in could have been a little faster with more staff based on the numbers atthe hotel that weekend but overall I was very, very impressed as were my guests.

I would stay here again.

Nice hotel spoilt by noisy street facing rooms. We booked-in prior to hosting an event in one of Civic suite meeting rooms. Unfortunately, the reservations team put us in a street (front) facing rooms opposite Lloyds bar - which even on a Monday night was raving until 4am - making our event all the more challenging with only 3 hours sleep. When we complained we were told to complete a customer satisfaction questionnaire as the hotel was petitioning the council to stop the bar opening all night - so always ask for a room at the back if you want a good night's sleep.