Will I go back???? (Best Western Ullesthorpe Court Hotel (Ullesthorpe, Leicestershire))

Member Name: Coxy1974

Product:	Best Western Ullesthorpe Court Hotel (Ullesthorpe, Leicestershire)
Date:	22/02/07 (411 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Peaceful location, good staff, comfortable stay

Disadvantages: Food a little inconsistent

I encountered this hotel through work as we use it as a conference centre and also to entertain guests and delegates for training courses.

A bit about Best Western

Best Western is a brand name. It is one of the worlds largets hotel chains boasting over 4200 hotels in 80 different countries.

The majority of the hotels are individually owned and use the Best Western brand as a branding tool to attract more people to them.

To view more information about Best Western visit their website at www.bestwestern.com or www.bestwestern.co.uk.

The homepage is attractive and boasts many offers such as becoming a member of the Gold Crown Club to earn miles to receive free hotel nights.

I have visited 3 different BW hotels and will write separate reviews about each.

Ullesthorpe Court Hotel - Frolseworth, Ullesthorpe in Leicestershire. This is a 3 star hotel.

I first used the facilities here a few months ago and it was recommended by a friend. The hotel has recently been modernised and extended to add additional rooms and provide greater conferencing facilities.

The hotel boasts

72 bedrooms
1 restaurant and bar
4 conference suites and meeting rooms
18 hole Golf course
A leisure centre equipped with
- swimming pool
- spa pool
- solarium
- sauna & steam rooms
- air-conditioned gym.

There are also 2 full size snooker tables along with outdoor all weather tennis courts.

The hotel can be difficult to find being tucked out of the way down a narrow lane but once found there is ample parking at the front and rear of the hotel.

The reception is small but comfortable and looks smart and reception staff are friendly and professional. There is a board to the bottom of the stairs which are on your left. This tells you about the conferencing events that day along with the conference room that it is taking place in.

I'll tell you about the conferencing facilities first and then move onto my stay there.

After identifying myself to the reception staff I was asked to confirm details for the day such as when we wanted 'breakfast' served, Coffee for breaks and lunch in the restaurant downstairs. The receptionist then took me upstairs to the Magna Room.

The room was a good size and decorated in a soft peach colour with nice pictures on the walls. Comfortable and soothing surroundings are always best when you are conducting a training session with people.

The receptionist confirmed that I was happy with the room and that I didn't want a different layout of anything and then left me to it.

The room had been laid out in Boardroom style with a pack of paper, pen and pencil for each person and fruit juice and water in the middle of the table. Glasses were also provided for the drinks. I always think that this makes a nice touch for when you're training as people are not constantly waiting to get a drink.

The hotel will provide a television, video and projector at an additional cost but at £50 per item this is costly so I took my own. There are plenty of plug sockets around the room in central places so that you don't have wires trailing everywhere.

We went down for lunch at about 12.30. We were slightly late but this was not an issue for the restaurant staff and the food was laid out buffet style. There was a huge amount of choice with hot food ranging from jacket potatoes, chilli and spaghetti bolognese to vegetable curry and chips. A selection of cold meats were situated to the left of the hot food along with a variety of salad vegetables, fruit and cold desserts.

On the whole the staff and facilities were brilliant for the entire day. The lunch was excellent with there being a choice for everyone, including the vegetarians. If I wanted for anything all I had to do was pick up the phone and it was provided.

The day delegate rate for conferencing is £30 per head which includes -

Room
Danish pastries and coffee on arrival
Coffee mid morning and biscuits
Lunch
Coffee mid afternoon and biscuits
Fruit Juice and Water in the room


Moving onto my experience of staying at the hotel

I booked a double standard non smoking room. I live a good distance away from the hotel venue and the second time I trained there I was actually coming down from another training session in Lancashire so decided I wanted to have a lie in on the morning of the training!

Checking in was easy as I had booked in online and paid with my company credit card. I just had to produce my card at reception for them to swipe and confirm my additional items were to be charged to it and away I was with my key card and even had someone to carry my laptops whilst I grappled with my suitcase up the stairs.

The room was light and airy. Muted colours everywhere. What I parciularly liked was that my room had a view of the golf course so it was completely silent at night which made for a decent nights rest.

The double bed was fantastic, being firm but you still had that 'sink' feel when you laid down so it was very comfortable. Best of all was the decent pillows. There was a standard dressing table, side table with lamp, chair and television in the room. Each room is ensuite so I checked out the bathroom next. I always do this when staying in any hotel because I've been to some horrors of hotels where in one there was actually mould growing in the bottom of the bath.

However, I am so pleased to say that this one was sparkling clean. A basin, toilet and bath with overhead shower. Excellent. I tried the shower out first as just having driven 200 miles I felt a bit worse for wear. Power shower - yippee!

Feeling invigorated I went down for dinner and elected to eat in the bar rather than the restaurant. What a let down. The food was terrible. I had a steak and I like mine to be cooked well on the outside with a little pinkness in the middle to tenderise. I cut into it and blood poured out of the steak. Immediately wanting to puke I sent it back but no matter what they did they couldn't get it right. I had a chicken burger instead.

I enjoyed my stay and got a very decent nights sleep but that tiny thing really let the hotel down for me. I would stay there again and I will definitely use it again for the conferencing facilities, especially as the new extension is now open and looks very nice and modern.

I didn't partake in the breakfast as I needed to set my room up for the training and neither did I use the leisure facilities but I understand that the room rate covers the full use of the facilities with regards to the gym, sauna etc but the Golf is extra.

Room rates are around £60 - £90 for Bed and Breakfast and this depends on whether you have negotiated a special rate with them, whether its a weekend or mid week or whether the charges are to a company that has a special discount.

I mentioned the hotel has a Golf Course. Many people visit Ullesthorpe Court just to play golf as you can do this. They also offer golfing days, lessons, club hire and buggy hire.

For more information on the Ullesthorpe Court Hotel and Golf Course visit their website at www.bw-ullesthorpecourt.co.uk

Summary: Good value for money and I will go back if I find myself doing that kind of trek again!