My wife, daughter and I stayed Sunday and Monday nights in October, in a family room (a normal room with the sofa-bed deployed).
The room was of sufficient size but the decor was drab, with a very tired feel. The bed and sanitary surfaces were clean but the (small) bedroom window and two bedroom mirrors were filthy. Door handles were grubby.
The provision of toiletries was scant, sufficient for just one person, not three. When we first checked into the room, one pair of (face and bath) towels was in the bathroom, one was on the desk in the bedroom and one was in the wardrobe! Apparently, this is normal.
We had breakfast both mornings. Tea and coffee on the first morning was brought to table; my coffee was cold. On the second morning guests took tepid tea and coffee from flasks on a bench. The cooked food was okay but wasn’t kept sufficiently topped up (the serving staff were rushed but managed to remain friendly and polite). The small pastries were cold and chewy.
We had intended to use the pool but decided against this as the pool was very busy both mornings, not helped by scheduled children’s swimming lessons.
We parked our car in the hotel car park and paid £12 per night for the privilege. I challenge the reader to go to this hotel’s website and find reference to this specific charge. To pay for parking, in what is ostensibly a motel, is ironic.
In reception there were refreshments set up for ‘conference delegates’ only, alongside the gaming consoles area - you can look kiddies but you can’t touch. Maybe, locating these refreshments in the vacant space between the bar and the breakfast area might be more appropriate?
Our discounted room rate of £162 for two nights, including breakfast would have been very good had it not been for the niggles outlined above - oh, plus £24 for parking.
On the plus side, the hotel is well located for a stroll into the city centre. We will be returning to Cardiff regularly (family ties) but I doubt we’ll stay here again.