I was really excited about staying in this hotel having read all the reviews. Firstly the cost of the weekend was taken from my credit card and couple of weeks before the stay and without any notification, not a good start. We asked to stay in a 'Victorian' room rather than an art deco room, we were located on the 3rd floor down a side corridor, and the room was small..........well small for the price of our stay. The bed was wide but slightly short, there was a desk and two arm chairs in the room also and a small closet. The closet was cramped; there was a safe and tea making facilities in it which meant I couldn't hang my dresses easily. Huge bathroom with a lovely bath/shower. I'm not a big fan of standing in the bath for a shower and have stayed in other 5 star hotels where bath and shower are separate, just a small point. We had a huge wall of windows which was great but all the blinds had to be let down by hand. The room was slightly 'worn'. I noticed one side of the blind was held in place with black tape, the throw on the bed was bobbled and there was a big heating unit (?) behind the desk that was quite ugly. I know this all sounds like I'm a crazy princess but it is an expensive hotel to stay...I was really excited about staying in this hotel having read all the reviews.
Firstly the cost of the weekend was taken from my credit card and couple of weeks before the stay and without any notification, not a good start.
We asked to stay in a 'Victorian' room rather than an art deco room, we were located on the 3rd floor down a side corridor, and the room was small..........well small for the price of our stay. The bed was wide but slightly short, there was a desk and two arm chairs in the room also and a small closet. The closet was cramped; there was a safe and tea making facilities in it which meant I couldn't hang my dresses easily. Huge bathroom with a lovely bath/shower. I'm not a big fan of standing in the bath for a shower and have stayed in other 5 star hotels where bath and shower are separate, just a small point. We had a huge wall of windows which was great but all the blinds had to be let down by hand. The room was slightly 'worn'. I noticed one side of the blind was held in place with black tape, the throw on the bed was bobbled and there was a big heating unit (?) behind the desk that was quite ugly.
I know this all sounds like I'm a crazy princess but it is an expensive hotel to stay in and is meant to be 5 stars. I have stayed in other 5 star hotels that had a nicer finish with bigger rooms. Maybe the interior was just not to my taste.
Another point was that there seems to be no 'sitting room' type areas in the hotel, rooms with big couches and fires where you can read the paper etc.........So while the hotel is nice I did not find it overly restful or relaxing but yes it is a city centre hotel.
One more negative, no swimming pool.........We had access to the gym which looked amazing, views over the city etc and my boyfriend did use it and really like the set up. It looked very modern and the staff was very nice. In the same area were the sauna, steam room and hot tub. To use the hydrotherapy facilities in the spa you had to book a treatment (as standard) AND pay a supplement of £15, I really think that is crazy.
On a positive note, the food was great. We had a snack in the bar on Friday and dinner in the great room. The great room is really atmospheric and my boyfriend commented that the food was the nicest hotel food he had ever had, I would agree. We had pate and smoked haddock to start, both delicious. I had duck l'orange to follow and was delighted that it was a really modern version of this dish. It was light and tasty with green veg and segments of blood orange in a light dressing, I loved it. Breakfast was amazing too. Loads of choice and no waiting at a buffet!
We had a few drinks after dinner on Friday in the cocktail bar which is nice but not much atmosphere, very friendly staff and cucumber added to my Gin which I love!
We were told on checking in that a paper would be left at the door the next morning and was there any particular paper we would like for Sunday, we asked for the Times and then were charged for both papers although I assumed they would be complimentary. You also have to pay for parking per day, it does say this on the website but it is £15 or £20 per day which just seems insane considering the price of the rooms.
Over all the stay was ok, not what I was expecting. I did not feel very relaxed in the hotel. Unfortunately I would not revisit this hotel. I did note most of these points on my feedback card to the hotelMore