YMCA or VILLAGE HOTEL? (Village Hotel (Warrington, Cheshire))

Member Name: 99line

Product:	Village Hotel (Warrington, Cheshire)
Date:	06/09/06 (938 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A comfortable well equipped hotel in Warrington

Disadvantages: Mainly suited to the business traveller

We had to arrange an overnight stay with breakfast, close to Walton Lea crematorium in Cheshire, for 7th August 2006 as we wanted to be present at a family funeral service the next morning.

A quick search on the internet showed me that The De Vere Village Hotel and Leisure Centre was only five miles from the village of Walton and the crematorium.

As we spent a leisure break at a De Vere Group hotel in May, and liked the standard of the accommodation offered, I made a reservation for Bed and Breakfast in a twin room at The Village Hotel.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On arrival we parked our car in the hotel's large car park, gathered our baggage and headed towards the hotel lobby and reception where we were greeted by a rather nice smiling young lady who swiftly checked us in.

She swiped my credit card - I assume in case we decided to do a 'runner' after we'd generated a huge restaurant and bar bill - and allocated us room 220 on the second floor. This is the top floor.

She handed hubby a real key for our room door, a plastic tab to operate the room electrics and another plastic tab which would give us entry to the leisure suite and also a card with our room number on which could be used to charge items to our room account.

No discreet 'one card fits all' here, more like 'keys are us'.

We were directed to a lift and we made our way to our guest room.

Within the lobby area there is copious amounts of sofas and nice relaxing seats - it's a wee bit reminiscent of a country house library scene from many a movie.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The standard en suite twin room in which we stayed was clean and well equipped. It was furnished with very comfortable twin beds, bedside tables with lamps and telephone. There was a large dressing table on which sat a television, tea and coffee making facilities and desk top fan. A hairdryer was in a drawer along with information about the hotel laundry facilities. Two comfortable chairs were alongside the dressing table. There was adequate wardrobe space - albeit in one of these 'minimalist' doorless wardrobes - both hanging and shelved. An iron, ironing board and four extra pillows were stored here.

The room had a full length mirror as well as a mirror over the dressing table. It also had excellent lighting.

No top sheets and blankets in this hotel, lovely soft continental quilts encased in cool cotton, this all added to the comfort of the beds.
There is no air conditioning in the guest rooms and as far as I am aware the windows will only open a few inches which doesn't allow much air movement into the rooms.

The en suite bathroom was adequate and clean but would probably be improved by some degree of refurbishment.
There was a power shower over the bath, a washbasin and a W.C. A heated towel rail - which thankfully was switched off - held two white bath sheets, two white hand towels and a bath mat.

The hotel supplied basic toiletries - a sliver of soap, shampoo and a shower cap.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

HOTEL FACILITIES

116 bedrooms - 91 Double and 25 Twin.

Salingers Bar and Restaurant - This is the semi formal restaurant.

The Village Pub - A lounge Bar which serves pub style food.

Café Copra - Lounge Bar within the Leisure Suite which sells light healthy snacks.


Room Facilities

Direct dial telephone - modem compatible
Sky TV (Sky Sports, News, Movies & Children's' channel)
Tea & coffee making facilities
Iron & ironing board
Laundry & valet service

Leisure Club


25 metre pool
Fitness and Aerobic studio
Sauna
Jacuzzi
Whirlpool spa
Toning Tables
Sunshowers
Cardio Zone
Squash
Spinning Studio
Wellness Studio
Health and Therapy studio offering a wide range of treatments for both men and
women.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

MEETINGS AND CONFERENCES

Eight purpose-designed rooms fully air conditioned with blackout facility.
Total capacity up to 250.
Equipped with:
Overhead projectors and Large TV/video unit
Portable lectern / Slide projector
Fixed screens
Flipcharts
Staging
PA system
Microphone
Data projector / Back projector kit

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

OUR EXPERIENCE
We had a pub style dinner of sirloin steak, salad, mushrooms, onions in batter and chips and a bottle of 'house white' to accompany it.

The wine was lovely. Dry cool and crisp.

The steak dinners were……average….absolutely nothing to write home about.

On each plate there was a small rather overcooked steak with battered onion rings placed on top, a small salad some mushrooms and some chips.

I don't think I'd rush to repeat the food experience here.

We had breakfast in Salingers restaurant - this was a well laid out buffet serving 'full English' of bacon, sausage, black pudding, mushrooms, tomatoes, hash browns, beans, fried and scrambled eggs. As well as cereals, fresh fruit, fruit juices croissants etc. Tea/Coffee and toast were waiter service.

We thoroughly enjoyed our breakfast.

Unfortunately because of the circumstances of our stay we didn't manage to make use of any of the leisure facilities however they did look very inviting and clean.

All the staff that we encountered were very friendly and helpful.
The Leisure suite is a club and as such it can get very busy with members at certain times of the day. There appeared to be a children's swimming lesson in progress on the evening we were there.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

IN CONCLUSION

The rate for Bed and Breakfast at the moment is £129.00 for two in a standard twin/double room.

We paid £75.00 - I assume this will constantly change with the ebb and flow of customer demand.

If we ever had reason to visit this area again we would use this hotel, but in the main I'd say, because of its situation, this hotel is best suited to the business traveller.

We would probably choose to eat in a local restaurant rather than the Village Pub, but then again we didn't try Salingers restaurant so perhaps we'd have fared better there.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CONTACT DETAILS

The Village Hotel & Leisure Club
Centre Park
Warrington
Cheshire
WA1 1QA

Telephone:
01925 240000
Facsimile:
01925 445240

www.village-hotels.co.uk




Pauline 2006.

Summary: A comfortable well equipped hotel in Warrington which is, mainly suited to the business traveller