I have spent three years of my life as a student in Nottingham, and therefore walked/stumbled by the Crowne Plaza on many occasions. The hotel also played a part in my graduation as this is where we collected our gowns.

But despite this I had never stayed in the hotel until this summer when I was invited for an assessment day for a grad job at Boots.

The hotel has its own multi story car park, but this is open to the public. This meant when I arrived on a very warm weekday afternoon the carpark was pretty busy and it was pretty difficult to find a space and quite a walk into the actual hotel with my heavy holdall.

The receptionist was very helpful. Making pleasant small talk with me and telling me everything that the company had paid for on my behalf. This was very useful as I had never stayed in a hotel paid for by a company before so was unsure what I'd be entitled to. After I had checked in a porter came and helped me with my bags up to my room.

My room was what I would now call a 'small double'. There was a dressing table/desk in the room, a small table and two chairs, a wardrobe, overpriced mini bar and a safe. There was a couple of towels and a robe folded up on the bottom of the bed.

The bathroom was spacious with a full sized bath and a shower, and lots of complimentary smellies.

All in all the room was pretty good, it was very clean. But the room was quite gloomy, my room had what looked to be a large plastic bus shelter attached to the window, blocking out quite a lot of light. The room also looked pretty overcrowded with furniture. To sit at the dressing table you needed to move one of the other chairs. This qot pretty irritating by the end of my stay.

When I travelled down to the pool and steam room I was impressed with the hotel. There were four lifts, meaning that I never had to wait. The decoration was very modern with shiny marble floors which looked very nice but probably wouldn't have been good for those slightly unsteady on their feet!

The pool itself was lovely. It was only small but perfect for a central hotel and very much welcome on a hot day. There was also a small jacuzzi off the side of the pool, although I didn't use this as I felt a little self concious being on my own. However, I did dip into the sauna and steam room and again these were small but perfectly adequate.

The changing rooms were spotlessly clean. With plenty of towels, toilletries and a couple of hairdryers. They were communal though, which could have been a problem for shy people.

On returning to my room my key wasn't working, after trying at least a dozen times I found a courtesy phone and rang down to reception, resulting in someone bringing me up a new key. Apparently if you keep it close to your phone or credit cards this 'wipes' the room card. It would have been nicer to have been warned about this on check in.

I decided to have room service for my evening mean. I ordered a steak sandwich with chips and side salad, a large glass of pinot grigio and a chocolate fudge cake. Yes, I'll happily admit, I wanted to get the most out of my expenses!

The food took a while to arrive but I was warned about this when I placed my order. When it did arrive the waitress was pleasant. The food itself was fine, but nothing amazing, the steak was slightly fatty.

I spent the remainder of the night watching the LCD TV and relaxing prior to my assessment day. The air conditiong was fantastic and kept me cool throughout the night.

The bed was very comfy and I awoke feeling refreshed, if slightly bloated from my huge meal!

Nevertheless I went down for my breakfast and was very impressed with the quality. It was the typical buffet style, and as my nana would say 'there was plenty to go at', and it certainly wasn't quantity over quality.

Check out was very smooth, no problems at all.

Although I didn't go out into Nottingham during my stay the location would have been excellent for doing so, for shopping or a night out.

In conclusion, I would definitely stay at the Crowne Plaza again. The small problems that I had were quickly resolved by the friendly and efficient staff.