The future of hotels is here (Future Inn Cardiff)

Member Name: Hellraiser77

Product:	Future Inn Cardiff
Date:	11/04/09 (37 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Has everything you would expect and more. Good value

Disadvantages: The inedible breakfast

I stayed at the Future Hotel with my girlfriend at the end of March and it has to be said that this is one of the best value, modern hotels I've stayed in in quite some time.
Firstly let's look at it's location. Situated in the fashionable Cardiff Bay, the hotel is a couple of minutes walk from the bustling Mermaid Quay where you will be spoilt for choice for independent or chain bars and restaurants.
The rail link into Cardiff City centre is also very close to the hotel and situated inside the "Red Dragon Centre" where the hotel itself is located is a nightclub, casino, bowling alley and some more chain bar and restaurants amongst other things.
Back to the hotel itself and as you would expect from a hotel so new everything is in pristine condition. The main lobby and adjacent bar and restaurant are warm, inviting and comfortable.
But where the future hotel really shines is its rooms. We booked a standard room, including breakfast for both of us for £85 and we certainly weren't disappointed (by the room at least - more about the breakfast later).
The spacious room contained an equally generous-sized double bed plus a comfy sofa-bed (at least to sit on, there was no call to make it into a bed!) a spotlessly clean bathroom and toilet (ingeniusouly either/or - the door swings right round so someone can be in the bath/shower while someone is in the toilet or you can have the whole place to yourself!), and an ETV.
What's an ETV I hear you ask? Well it is a TV which gives you limited internet access, plus all your normal Freeview channels. On top of that it has a radio function, and the real clincher - a jukebox. I created a playlist from the thousands of songs available and believe me there was something for everyone. It was fantastic feature I felt and one that more hotels should offer.
Also, obviously, you can have the premium movies etc that you would expect in an hotel.
Of course the room provides all the other little basics such as tea/coffe making facilities but we were also impressed by the provision of an ironing board and iron and an ice bucket with two wine glasses. Ice can be aquired, for free, from a vending mention on the first floor.
Basically, the Future hotel provides everything you would expect from a hotel of this standard, but quite often don't get, plus a few little luxuries on top.
A good indicator or what the hotel is all about is it's Businessman's Deal (or something like that!) which offers, for an extra £15 a night - a two course meal in the Thomas Restaurant and bar, plus a drink beforehand. Access to broadband and as many pay-per-view movies as you want to view. I think there may have been a couple of other bits and bobs but that was the crux of it, which is exceptional value in my eyes.
Finally on to the aforemention restaurant and bar. As the whole point of the trip was to explore the bay, we chose not to eat in the hotel and going solely by the standard of the breakfast it's sad to say it might well have been a wise choice.
Now I used to work in the catering industry and so I know how frustrating it is when a guest saunters down to breakfast with only 5 minutes of service remaining. But guests are what my partner and myself were, and so we expect to be greeted with a smile and some indication of where to sit etc.
Once we'd figured everything out by ourselves and managed to wrangle some tea out of the waitress we went to the self serve bar and came back somewhat disappointed. It could be argued that we'd left it too late to get the best food available, but that's not stopping me write a bad review now is it? The food was quite frankly of a poor standard, cold, hard and generally inedible.
Which is a shame, because everything else about the hotel is appealing and welcoming.

Summary: Future hotels do everything so well and I hope the breakfast was an exception not a rule