The booking was made through the hotel website, making use of a special offer. So far so good, but the £5.00 per night parking fee was, in my opinion far from warranted. Upon check in, we were asked to pay despite having already paid in full at the time of booking. Not a good start. Up to the room, which was a good size, clean and comfy with nice modern contempory styling, and, as has been mentioned before, a seperate w.c. and bathroom. Bathroom was fine, but the w.c. had a faulty extract fan and smelt like a damp musty basement - not at all pleasant. We had a few hours to kill, so decided to utilise the in-room internet access at £10.00 for a 24 hour block, and were informed by reception that they would pre-authorise my card for £50.00 to cover this. Your guess is as good as mine as to why this should be, hence I declined this method of payment, and a crisp £10.00 note was dipached to the rear of the desk forthwith. Upon returning to the room, and attempting log in, the 'service unavailable' screen duly appeared and a phone call to reception resulted in a maintenance chap being sent along to see the message. He then informed me that this was a known problem and wouldn't be sorted out for a few days. It's good to talk.
The crisp £10.00 was returned after a short rest in the till.
So off out for an enjoyable night out, returning at about 12.15 a.m.
Feeling a bit peckish we spied the note in the room about room service and the 24 hour menu, but after searching, failed to discover the afore mentioned document. Back down to reception to be informed 'Sorry, we don't do that, but can let you have the Yellow Pages if you want to ring for a take-away'. Hmmm.
Any how, at check out next morning, we had to point out that we didn't request or indeed partake of the keenly priced breakfast at £12.00 per head and it was duly removed from the bill. Only the £5.00 parking fee to go and the infamous £10.00 was sent on it's way, back to it's former, breif resting place. As two members of staff tried to work out the concept of 'cash' payment, I stopped them from continuing to count out £5.00 worth of 20p pieces, and mustered up 5 shiny gold coins. Once again, the now not so crisp £10.00 was returned.
To conclude, they are desperately trying to be something they are not. It's a two star hotel in the centre of Ipswich. If it is approached with that in mind, it will live up to expectations if you get a price deal, otherwise you may be disapointed. They're not on my list of places to stay at again.
Oh, and I've still got the tenner........

Stayed at the Novotel in 2006 for a xmas celebration, looked at previous reviews and couldnt beleive some that I was reading! Have stayed there before so knew roughly what to expect. A double room was £89 for the night. The room was very clean and modern, reception area, bar and resteraunt were very spacious and welcoming, as were the staff. Very nice hotel in central location, close to Ipswich Town FC, (although I am a canary!). Close walking distance to centre for good shopping and bars.

I have stayed here twice as could not book in anywhere else.

They charge for parking, I asked for non smoking and got a non smoking room that smelt of smoke.

Food is average and the reception can take ages.

I would book elsewhere for the price- if you are stuck for a place on my travels I have stayed at a Salthouse (bit more pricey) and the Chequers b&b which is superb

We recently stayed at the Novotel Ipswich for one night and really enjoyed our stay. Having read the other reviews we were expecting basic motel style accomodation, but were pleasantly suprised: the room was clean and spacious and well decorated. We were particularly pleased with the bathroom - the bath was huge. We didn't have dinner in the hotel in the evening as we ate out, but we opted for room service continental breakfast and were impressed by both the choices available and the quality of the food.

As two harassed parents on a rare break from the kids, it was nice to have a few little luxuries such as the latest blockbusters available on the television service. We both totally chilled out and relaxed. Certainly if your budget allows there are more romantic and luxurious locations, but we felt this hotel offered good value for money.