| Product: |
Quality Hotel Newcastle |
| Date: |
03/08/01 (346 review reads) |
| Rating: |
 |
Advantages: Good location, good bargain package
Disadvantages: Awful breakfast, Medicore room, Too expensive for what you get
Next month, I am moving up to Newcastle-Upon-Tyne to become a postgrad student ? the other week, I rather unfortunately heard that I had not got a place in halls, so I needed to take a trip up there to go house hunting. During my days away, I stayed at the Quality Hotel in Newcastle; my choice of accommodation was guided more by what was available at such short notice (3 days!) than anything else. The Quality Hotel chain is a nationwide company that also owns the Comfort Inn and Sleep Inn names (I believe they also have a number of hotels on the continent too), but I had never stayed with them before. To be perfectly honest, I am never likely to again unless forced to by a lack of rooms elsewhere!
LOCATION
The Newcastle Quality Hotel in situated on Newgate Street, at the south end of the city centre near St James? Park ? it is about 5 minutes walk from the central train station, and roughly the same from the heart of the shopping centre. The two universities in the city are about 15 to 20 minutes walk away, and the nearest tourist information is only a few streets from the hotel. The hotel does have its own car park, but I wouldn?t like to comment on what driving is like in the city as I took the train! Overall, a good central location and not to far to carry your bags from the station, although you may need to ask for directions as I discovered it is quite a hard hotel to find, not being especially large ? it is also quite a busy, noisy street being city centre, but as my room was on the fourth floor, this didn?t bother me. 4/5.
THE ROOM
Easy to find, as all room numbers are clearly displayed and signposted, but a very temperamental lock meant it sometimes took several minutes to let myself back into it! Twice, the lock jammed on me and I had to get the manager to let me back into the room, which was quite embarassing! It was quite small for a twin room, but was en suite and provided a colour TV, travel size hairdryer, i
roning board & iron, and tea & coffee making facilities (it was classed as 3 star BTW). The TV reception was watchable if not brilliant (though BBC1 was really fuzzy), and the beds were reasonably comfy. They would have been comfier if adequate pillows had been provided, of course.
In the bathroom, I was very disappointed by the range of products provided (just a couple of sachets of shampoo and one of shower gel) which was far less then I have had in hotels of a similar price ? and just how exactly are two people supposed to be able to share one (very small) sachet of shower gel? In other hotels of this type, I have had miniature bottles of shampoo, conditioner and even moisturiser, along with shower caps and tissues. The shower was more of a drip as the water pressure didnt want to work on this floor, but even so there still managed to be a surprising amount of mildew on the tiles (yuck).
The room was good enough for a short stay such as this, but for the £35 per person per night we were paying, I would have expected something a bit better to be honest ? a distinctly average 3/5.
THE REST OF THE HOTEL
Reception was a long way from the street entrance, located on the first floor on he opposite side of the building, and took some finding. The décor looked old fashioned and a bit worn in places, and the business conference bit of the hotel hardly inspired me, although to be fair there was some redecorating going on while I was there. Only one of the three (very small) lifts was working, so there was usually a wait of several minutes for one, longer at breakfast time when more people were about. I?ve been to better presented and laid out hotels, and wasn?t too impressed by what I saw. Oh, and the roof leaked. 2/5.
THE STAFF
I noticed the quality of staff varied greatly ? the receptionists were excellent, very friendly and helpful and nothing was too much trouble, while the restaurant staff were careless a
nd disinterested. With the exception of the girl who was on reception when I first arrived that is - I had to wait a full 10 minutes to be served while she ignored me in favour of gossiping on the phone. When I asked for extra bedding for my room it was provided the same day, and a change to my booking (I left a day earlier than planned as I had sorted out what I needed to do) was made without any problems. I suppose that averages out at 3/5 overall.
THE BREAKFAST
I have spent quite some time searching for the words to describe the breakf
asts at this hotel and can?t seem to find the right ones; ?disappointing? just doesn?t seem to do it justice. I always look forward to hotel breakfasts as they are usually plentiful, varied and enjoyable, so perhaps I felt doubly cheated by the standard of this one. The breakfast room was understaffed by largely disinterested employees. The queue was long, tables took ages to be cleared (and even then were not done at all well) and the selection on offer was quite frankly pathetic (many of the things on the menu not being available). The promised ?chilled orange juice? was warm, when stocks ran low they were not replaced, and service was so slow that you actually had to get up and ask to have your order taken. Easily the worst hotel breakfast I have ever had, and certainly not worth the £11 advertised. 0/5.
THE DINNER
I'll admit that I only took dinner in the hotel as part of a bargain offer that made it better value than eating out. The package included three courses (started of soup or salad; main of bacon steak, lamb, pasta or fish; whatever pudding was available) and a side order if desired (chips, potato wedges, salad). Service was incredibly slow, but once you eventually got your food it was most enjoyable, even if the choice wasnt brilliant. Excellent value as part of the £35 package, but I wouldnt have paid the £18 for it alone. 4/5 methinks.
OVERALL
>Thank goodness I didn?t have to stay here long! A very mediocre hotel, saved only by virtue of a good central location ? I don?t think I would bother with Quality Hotels in the future if there were an alternative. :-(
See http://www.qualityhotelnewcastle.activehotels.com/ SMH
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nwmadden - 03/09/03 Interesting review. My flat is very near this place, and I see so few people going in and out of it that I've often wondered what it's like. Anyway, thanks for the opinion. |
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