Hotel with fantastic city view (Park Plaza Leeds)

Member Name: alliei80

Product:	Park Plaza Leeds
Date:	06/08/09 (30 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: View, location

Disadvantages: Food was so-so, service was patchy and room tired

I stayed at the Park Plaza in Leeds last night as I was on business in Leeds the next day. My overall impression was good but could be better.

Booking
I booked online directly on the Park Plaza website. The website was easy to use and detailed the different room rates with clear explanation of what each rate included. I chose the entertainment package offer - £89 for bed, breakfast, a bottle of wine, four bottles of beer, free movies and (had I got there before 7pm) a food platter from the bar. This seemed like fairly good value to me.

Location
Excellent location, right in the centre of the city. Parking was at the Q Park in Criterion Place, which is discounted for Park Plaza guests (ask for your voucher when you check out). The car park is secure and only about a 5 minute walk from the hotel. Finding the entrance to the hotel is tricky though, it seems like the back entrance whereas the Chico Latino bar (part of the hotel) is at what seems like the front? Slightly odd but I got there in the end!

Welcome
Less than inviting! The entrance is quite "modern" and had loud music playing (which seemed somewhat at odds with the fact that The Telegraph was the only paper available in the lobby area?) and was quite impersonal. There was a queue at the reception desk so I waiting about 10 minutes before I was served. There was no smile and no apology for the wait - in fact there was barely even eye contact. I checked in and was given no information about the hotel, breakfast, check out time or where my room was located. I discovered the lifts and assumed my room was on the 15th floor as my room number was 1506.

Room
The first think I noticed when I walked in to the room was the huge window, which I immediately went to and look out. What an absolutely FANTASTIC view!! Could see out over the city and into the countryside. The room itself was nothing to write home about - carpet and furniture was a bit tired but it looked clean. A bit of updating would be nice - big LCD TV , DVD player, Freeview channels (only got channels 1-5 plus the sky sports and news channels) and some new furniture would make this a fantastic room with a view. I also noticed the carpet was wet by one side of the bed - I suppose at least this means they have cleaned but did make me wonder what had been cleaned up? The toiletries were fairly basic - would have been nice to see something branded or at least with less basic packaging and more luxurious feel. The mini bar was very basically stocked but there was no price list for it and I didn;t use anything from it.

Food
I called for room service (the line was terrible and the woman could hardly hear me!) and ordered a chicken liver parfait with ciabatta followed by an Aberdeen Angus burger. It arrived in about 30 minutes - the parfait was really quite horrible but the burger and fries were tasty.

I hung out my breakfast card to have it delivered to my room and it arrived in the timeslot specified. I ordered beans, scrambled eggs, sausages, sautéed potatoes, toast and orange juice. When the man arrived with it he told me they had no sautéed potatoes so he had given me hash browns instead. When I actually took off the cover though the scrambled eggs were also missing. The rest was present and tasty though.

Check out
Check out was quick and efficient.

Overall the quality was a bit patchy but would stay again just for the location and view though. Recommend it for a city break - but perhaps eat out!

Summary: Could be fantastic but is only adequate