A Long Weekend in Blackpool @ the Grand Metropole (Grand Metropole Hotel (Blackpool))

Member Name: anonymili

Product:	Grand Metropole Hotel (Blackpool)
Date:	11/08/09 (60 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Clean and generally friendly hotel, very reasonable prices

Disadvantages: Rooms need ventilation

Are you seated comfortably? This is a long review of my stay at Blackpool's Grand Metropole.


WHAT AND WHERE?

The Grand Metropole Hotel, Blackpool, boasts that it is the only hotel in Blackpool located between the sea and Blackpool promenade which is no untruth. From the hotel there are fabulous views of the Irish Sea. The hotel is fairly close to both the North Pier and Blackpool Tower and is within walking distance from many of Blackpool's attractions. There are numerous bars, restaurants and nightspots within a few minutes walking distance of the hotel, some even less than a minute away.


BOOKING PROCESS/RECEPTION

We booked in for 3 nights in late June 2009. The booking process was easy enough by telephone and although I asked for a confirmation email to be sent and was advised they would do send one; no confirmation email was received. The email address given on the hotel website does not work which was rather worrying and I made sure I kept a note of the reservation number given over the phone. I was also advised at this stage that the check in time was 3pm or after and checkout time was 10am.

On arrival on a hot Friday afternoon, we found that the car park was full to capacity and on asking at reception where else we could park locally, the very loud receptionist shouted at me that there was alternate parking nearby and started giving me directions. Another member of staff approached and interrupted saying that there was somewhere much closer to park and I asked if it was free at which he chuckled and said nothing was free around Blackpool. I was somewhat annoyed at having travelled for 5 hours to be then told there was no parking as it was on a first come first served basis - a hotel with nearly 300 rooms and only 80 parking spaces (although the website says the hotel has 209 rooms)! I thought arriving before 5pm (considering check in time was 3pm) would mean there might still be some available parking spaces. We unloaded the car and I went off to find the alternative car parking space, was not best pleased to see that it was a pay and display car park (which wasn't by any means cheap) but luckily before I put any money in, my husband called (who I'd left standing at the front of the hotel with our luggage) saying that a couple of cars had just left so I got back there pronto and found a parking space towards the rear of the car park.

When I mentioned above that the receptionist was very loud, let me explain. There were a large number of elderly guests booked in at the hotel. This particular receptionist was shouting out instructions to them about how to get to their rooms and where to go for breakfast and dinner. When we first arrived, she was serving an elderly guest ahead of me who was wearing a hearing aid. I thought she must be shouting for his sake. It was rather startling when she started shouting at me. The only thing I could assume over the next few days seeing her shouting at everyone was that she herself might have had a hearing issue as the other staff I saw at reception during our stay did not shout at the guests.

The directions we were given to our room made no sense and we wandered around for 10 minutes trying to find our 2nd floor room which was actually between the 2nd and 1st floors and the room numbering made no sense as it jumped from 248 to 252 (252 being the room we were in). This was extremely frustrating especially after the hassle with parking and the extreme heat - by the time we found our room, we weren't in the best of moods. Another couple who checked in just after us were wandering around for quite a while after us looking for their room and we had a chuckle with them later about how difficult it was to track down our rooms. Overall I didn't find the reception staff particularly friendly or helpful during our stay. We were not made to feel welcome at all when we checked in.

When we checked out we were not even asked if we had enjoyed our stay or if we had any issues with our room. Maybe they just don't care?

*rating for booking process and reception: 3 out of 10*


A BIT ABOUT THE ROOM

When we eventually got to our room we were quite hot and bothered. The hotel has no air-conditioning (well not in any of the parts we ventured into, including the bedrooms) and the weather was extremely warm. As soon as we walked into the room we cringed at how poky it seemed. It was very clean and on first appearances we were quite disappointed at the size of the room, the bed didn't even seem to be a double bed and there was a thick quilt on the bed and no covers or sheets to use instead of the quilt.

There was a rather old fashioned but fairly spacious wardrobe in the corner of the room with a spare pillow and blanket and a very small TV on a small table (only 5 terrestrial channels available). A small dressing table housed the complimentary tea and coffee with barely any room for anything else here on the dresser aside from the table lamp. It was handy to have a light switch by the door as you enter the room as well as separate light switches by the bed to turn the lights on or off.

The 2 windows in the room would only open out about 2 inches which we knew would just not be enough. So hubby set about undoing the screws so we could open the windows right out to let some fresh air in. This was to be an issue all weekend as there was no form of ventilation in the room and we could barely sleep at night let alone spend any time in the room due to how uncomfortably hot it was. The rooms might be comfortable in winter or autumn or spring but in summer, most definitely not.

It is worth noting that there are no telephones in the rooms, so if you run out of anything and need to get in touch with housekeeping, you have to wander down the corridor to find a phone to call reception. There was not one evident close to our room and the only time I asked housekeeping for something, it was not provided for 2 hours or so which I felt was rather poor.

*rating for room: 4 out of 10*


THE BATHROOM

The bathroom was clean and new and the power shower was fabulous with an adjustable temperature gauge which was very easy to control. A couple of downsides about the bathroom was that the floor mat for the shower was quite dirty so we just picked it up and put it on the floor in the corner as we had no intention of using something so grimy. There were 2 hand towels and just 1 bath towel available with 2 small bars of soap and 2 body/shampoo gels. Hubby was promptly sent off to find another bath towel as we'd passed a housekeeping cart on our adventure trying to find our room. I'd also note that the bath towels in the rooms in The Grand Metropole are the size of hand towels I've seen in other hotels.

*rating for bathroom: 8 out of 10*


RESTAURANT/BARS/COMMUNAL FACILITIES

Breakfast and dinner was included in the price we had paid for our rooms for all 3 days. We found the Promenade restaurant a delight to eat in on each morning and night of our stay and really felt we were sat in the lap of luxury as the restaurant itself was superbly decorated and a pleasure to have our meals in. The waiting staff were extremely polite and very friendly and nothing was too much trouble for them. They really deserve a special mention as the weather was so hot - the restaurant had a very high ceiling with a handful of ceiling fans and especially on the first night we stayed it was swelteringly hot and for the staff to keep a cool head and serve the diners so efficiently with smiles on their faces was definitely something they should be proud of.

Breakfast was served from 07:30 to 10:00 and was a buffet style which included sausage, bacon, baked beans, hash browns, scrambled or fried eggs (one or the other, not both), tomatoes, toast, a variety of cereals and orange juice as well as tea/coffee. The food was plentiful and the only time I noticed anything running out was on one day when people ended up queuing for toast for 5 or 6 minutes which wasn't exactly efficient and must have been annoying as they'd already put their breakfasts on their plates. Some people went back to their table and came back a few minutes later to queue again for toast whilst others just stood waiting. This queuing I only noticed on one day when I went down for breakfast at about 09:30, the other 2 days there was no queuing evident whilst I was dining.

Dinner was served from 17:30 to 19:45 - timings about which I was not best pleased with when I was initially advised. I felt that finishing dinner at 7.45pm was rather early but over the 3 days we stayed we didn't really have an issue with this. On one day we went in for dinner at 7.15pm and noted that all the food was being cleared away by 7.50pm so we did feel slightly rushed and hubby didn't have a dessert as we didn't want to keep the staff waiting (although they didn't hover near us to make us feel rushed at all).

The dinner menu varied on all the days we ate there but there was a good enough selection to cater for most tastes. Starters usually consisted of soup, pate or fruit juice. There was usually at least one type of meat or poultry with one fish dish with 2 types of potato and 2 other vegetable dishes and gravy for the main course, with choices of spare ribs, spaghetti bolognaise or chicken curry and rice as additional dishes as well as cold meats and salad items such as lettuce, coleslaw, potato salad, cucumber and tomatoes. There was a varied selection to suit all tastes for the main course and what a splendid selection of desserts available every day. Cheesecake, chocolate gateaux, toffee cake and different flavours of jelly were just some of the choices available, absolutely mouth-watering and some people had enough space left after dinner to have more than one dessert (not me, I behaved myself)!

If I had to fault the restaurant for any aspect it would be that on warmer days it would be very difficult to sit through a meal comfortably with just 2 or 3 ceiling fans in the whole restaurant and the early times for the end of dinner. Sometimes one would just want to eat dinner slightly later in the evening.

There were 2 bars in the hotel; one was the Metro bar in which there was live entertainment on every evening, including a live singer, cabaret dancers and bingo on some nights. One of the live singers referred to the bar as the Metro Sauna jokingly one evening as it was very warm on stage with all the spotlights shining down on the performers. The bingo seemed popular and prices seemed reasonable. The live singer was pretty enjoyable to listen to and she sang a variety of songs from different styles of music - although from what I understand they have had the same entertainers at the hotel for quite some time now and people who stay there regularly mentioned it would be nice to have a change. I can't comment on this as I personally found the singer very entertaining and enjoyed the rapport she had with the audience. The Metro Bar opens from 17:30 each day and is open till late for residents.

There's also the Coastal Bar from is open from 11:00 till 17:30 which serves soft drinks and alcohol as well as hot and cold light meals which were very reasonably priced. Pizza for £1.60, chips for £1.35, pies for £1.60 or so - just a sample of the prices. Lager was about £2 a pint and spirits were about £2 for branded spirits and cheaper for non-branded - such as £3 for a large non-branded vodka. The prices were the same in the Metro Bar too. I would add here that I found the service in the Metro Bar rather more efficient and friendly than in the Coastal Bar. I don't know if this is because the Metro Bar is only available to residents and the Coastal Bar is open to the public but we found that there was a noticeable difference in the service levels.

The Coastal Bar has seating inside and outside (outside for those who want to smoke and/or get some nice fresh sea air). The tables inside are all nicely positioned - well spaced out and there was a fresh flower in a vase on each table every day which just made it that little bit more pleasant.

The main lounge area was really peaceful and luxurious to sit in and we found ourselves wanting to spend quite a bit of time relaxing here (even though there was a snooker table in the far corner - this cause no disturbance when people were playing). With very comforting colours of blue, gold and white the wall décor was very eye-catching and we imagined what it would have been like 50 or 60 years ago to attend a ball here. It was very grand indeed. We also found the décor in the Promenade restaurant to be very interesting and along with many other guests we found ourselves inspecting the walls very closely to admire the paintwork.

There were several toilet facilities in the communal areas and we found these to be of a high standard although the ladies toilet in the lounge area could have done with the bins being emptied more often - I noticed on all 3 days of our stay that the bin for hand towels was full to the brim and overflowing at varying times of the day even first thing in the mornings. One would hope that they could send someone along to empty out the bins and check the toilets throughout the day.

Internet access is available near reception costing £1 for 10 minutes which I felt was rather steep.

*rating for restaurant/bars/communal areas: 8 out of 10*


WAS IT DISABLED FRIENDLY?

I would add here that on the ground floor of the hotel there are quite good facilities for disabled guests. There was wheelchair access evident everywhere on the ground floor and we did see quite a few wheelchair bound guests over the 3 days we stayed. I would stress though that the hotel only seemed disabled friendly on the ground floor. If your room is on anything but the ground floor I imagine it would be quite awkward to get to your room as the fire doors seem to open the wrong way when going from the lift to the rooms. Also I imagine you'd have to specifically mention you are wheelchair bound when booking a room so that you don't even up in a room like ours which was between two floors and there seemed to be no way to get to the room without going up or down a flight of stairs. I saw several people in wheelchairs using the lifts but it did seem rather cramped in there getting in and out.

I also noted that of the 2 sets of ladies toilets on the ground floor, one had 3 steps to enter which was not exactly disabled friendly and the other didn't have a separate cubicle to allow wheelchair access.

*rating for disabled friendliness: 5 out of 10*


PRICING

We booked our stay by telephone having been sent an email from dealcheckers.co.uk with an offer to stay 3 nights for the price of 2 at £99 a night. This worked out at £66 a night for the 2 of us or even £33 a night each - which is a fabulous price if you consider that breakfast and dinner were included in the price for the duration.

Even though we got such a good price, we saw various adverts up on walls within the hotel offering even cheaper rates! So it is definitely worthwhile calling to check what the best current rates are before booking quoting any promotion codes.

When wandering around Blackpool we noted other hotels in the area seemed to offer cheaper rates but they seemed to be mostly B&B rates and the hotels looked nowhere near as "Grand" as the Metropole.

*rating for pricing: 9 out of 10*


OVERALL

Aside from the issues of there being no ventilation in the rooms and some rather noisy hen night groups staying in the hotel and being overly rowdy at all hours of day and night (which isn't the hotel's fault) we did enjoy our stay at the hotel. We would be happy to return there should we be visiting Blackpool again and I must add here that of the people we chatted with during our stay most of them had stayed at the hotel several times before - there was a couple who had stayed there shortly after their marriage 35 years previously and 2 sisters who had been to the hotel 3 separate times during this year alone having stayed there for many years in the past. If it's good enough for them, it's certainly good enough for us so I'm happy to give the Grand Metropole a positive 7 out of 10.

*overall rating: 7 out of 10*


OTHER INFO

The hotel is situated on Princess Parade, Promenade, Blackpool FY1 1RQ and the contact number is 0871 222 0032. If you want to fax them their fax number is 0871 222 7270 and their email address is res727@britanniahotels.com although I wouldn't bother with the email as I've tried several times but it always bounces back as failed to send.

It might be of interest to readers to know that the Metropole was previously a Butlins hotel and that the photos available on most sites advertising the hotel do not show the regular bedrooms but seem to be premier suites as the room we stayed in was definitely not anything like the photos I've seen on various sites.

You can look up further info about the hotel here: http://www.britanniahotels.com/hotels/blackpool

Summary: Somewhere I'd probably stay at again if I'm in the area