International Hotel

“Cheap but dated and tatty”

I had a pretty terrible start here, with long queues to check in and being allocated a room on floor minus two. This room had no windows, was lit rather dimly and had zero mobile reception or wifi coverage. Reception offered me an ‘upgraded’ room for an additional thirty pounds a night, and instead… more

I had a pretty terrible start here, with long queues to check in and being allocated a room on floor minus two. This room had no windows, was lit rather dimly and had zero mobile reception or wifi coverage. Reception offered me an ‘upgraded’ room for an additional thirty pounds a night, and instead I stayed on the top floor with nice views of the waterways below. It’s fair to say the whole hotel needs a refresh. There was a bit of a stuffy smell in the room, paint needs touching up and wallpaper is peeling in areas, the white fixtures in the bathroom have long turned yellow / stained and features like the air-conditioning control unit were no longer functioning. Saying that though, everywhere was clean and the bed was super comfortable. Electric sockets were next to the bed along with USB ports and a separate fan was available with the hot weather. Iron and board were in the wardrobe along with some biscuits with the drink facilities. The TV is a bit difficult to see from the bed and the toiletries are in small bottles which are a bit of a pain to use, given they’re not squeezable. However the sleep quality was great, no noise from outside and the room was fairly spacious. I went for a pizza one evening in the Italian restaurant on the ground floor. Service was pretty slow and expect to have to call waiting staff over whenever you want something, and the pizza was served exceptionally quick after around five minutes. The toppings didn’t taste the freshest, with the ham on the Hawaiian seeming to be the wafer thin processed variety squeezed together, but it was a good size. Bottles of wine were presented in a bucket and stand next to the table which was a good touch. There’s some nice seating in the bar area, overlooking the water. Sofas and individual armchairs are comfortable and there’s a really relaxing atmosphere. While there’s no table service, the staff behind the bar are super friendly and happy to engage in actual conversation, but annoying it all closes at 11pm. Overall it was an okay stay for the price. I can imagine it was fairly grand back in the day but could do with some attention now. Even cleaning the gold chrome around the lobby would help, since it’s covered in year’s worth of finger prints. If the price was right I’d stay again, but I fear it does depend on the room you get allocated.

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