Adelphi Hotel (Liverpool) > Reviews > SINK IT WITH THE TITANIC

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Advantages:	Some good features
Disadvantages:	See review

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

It was a birthday treat for my son to go to Liverpool, so with destination chosen we simply needed our hotel. Looking through the super break site we come across the Adelphi hotel, it was historically interesting; the hotel was built for the passengers of the Titanic and has been restored with great care (apparently).

So now to tell my tale of my visit to the Adelphi…

We arrived at Liverpool Lime street station and soon found the way out onto Lime Street, as we walked along the street our first impressions weren’t good. The city seemed dirty and run down and not inviting at all: We carried on walking and within a couple of minutes we had arrived at the hotel.

The first thing you noticed it the fact it is stand a lone, with roads running in front, and to the two sides: while at the rear another part of the hotel (bars I think) and a post office prevent the road slightly further on from making the hotel an island. The building itself is quite imposing, although there are a lot of road works right opposite the hotel at the moment in preparation for the city of culture bid 2008. Again it looks far from clean and inviting, and to be honest if outside impressions were anything to go by I would have walked past probably.

The first thing to juggle your way through is the entrance: Firstly, there is a side road (big enough for one car) that stands in front of the hotel, with a minute pathway which was certainly not big enough for my wheelchair, if a car or van is parked in the way entrance can be difficult.

Next to contend with are the steps, you go up about five initially followed by another three or four, there is no hand rail – so nothing to grab hold of for the less mobile. At the top of the stairs are spinning door, which require pushing to make them work. At the side of the door is another single door which opens for easier access, though it is sometimes shut so beware.

Once inside the hotel a feeling of dullness and old fashioned’ ness’ come into play: Looking around the reception is in the far left hand corner and not overly big or posh at that.

Glancing around you’ll see the ceiling is decorated with mirrors, more stairs lead to the breakfast room (down) and the bar and Gym, while up some stairs you’ll find a banquet room…

While waiting to book in I noticed people wearing badges saying NUS (or was it NSU) anyway it later transpired that we had booked at the same time as the student’s union! Great I thought a bunch of loud mouths making loud noise, however as this tale goes on, you will see the only real trouble we had was really not the students fault.

The key for my son’s room had snapped and they were waiting for a replacement, so we were escorted by a rather miserable looking young man whose name badge told me he was a porter. Did this porter offer to carry any of the baggage? Did he offer to push the wheelchair my wife was? Did he even speak? No comes the resounding answer to that.

Arriving at our rooms my son was let in and he deposited our bags in our room, while he sorted out things in his room.

The corridors along the way are ceiling papered making them dark, but it did bring a certain authenticity to the feel of the place. Add to this the glass panelled doors which open outwards and so far so good.

Inside the room you’ll find original features, such as bath (huge baths), sinks etc. The furniture is oldie worldie, and the marble tiles in the bathroom are a good ½ - ¾ inch thick.

The bedroom is positively huge as bedrooms in hotels go, and in all fairness relatively clean and tidy. There was no tourist information other than Britannia’s other hotels and room service etc. The windows are original sash windows and have a secondary glazed window to help reduce noise. Our room was at the back of the hotel and was positively delightful on the first night, with a comfortable double bed and quiet room ensuring a good nights rest.

In the room you have a tea tray which in our case consisted of two tea bags, two coffee sachets and four milk along with a couple of sugar sachet and kettle.

The standard of furniture left a lot to be desired though, the front of some drawers fell off whilst we were opening them (remember the key snapping already), so obviously the upkeep of the building isn’t top of the agenda. Another thing I noticed was an apparent love for mirrors, we had at least five (3 of which were fairly big) in our bedroom and another in the bathroom.

Breakfast is served between 7 am and 10 am, and is down stairs in the breakfast room, but once there you have another six or so steps to manage before finding a table. The breakfast is the usual fair selection including: fruit, Mackerel, cereals (limited selection), orange juice, and full English – all of which was included in our price.

The first evening we spent in the bar when we got home from setting our routes out. He bar was down stairs (did you expect anything else) and is open to the public whom seem to have a disregard to the residents (for example we were sitting near the TV when a local come in and switch the TV up so we had to raise our voice). A glass of wine cost £1.30 and our first three drinks (½ cider, glass wine, and ½ lager) cost just over £3.00. However the bar doesn’t sell peanuts, crisps or any other type of usual snack, instead you have to order food from the menu (i.e. burger and chips).

Next day we woke and had our breakfast which was both hot and fresh, however as the week went on it changed and the food remained fairly hot but the quality seemed to change. Another thing with breakfast which bugged me was the severe lack of tea! Each table was happily boasting a huge coffee pot (thermal) but tea was given out cup by cup upon request.
Second night was where the problems started: There I was laying in bed at around 10 pm reading (I’m getting old and had had a tiring day) when all of a sudden a mighty bang shook the room, the party had started all thanks to those wonderful students! Not that they were to blame of course it was the organisers. I left it for half an hour or so, and realised this noise was here to stay, so promptly went to reception to lodge my complaint. Now don’t get me wrong, I object not to anyone enjoying their selves, indeed as the saying goes ‘life is too short’. But when that interferes with my happiness, well that’s when I get uptight, an uptight I was.

At reception I strongly felt that I was in the right I had asked a quiet room on my booking form and now this annoying music was thumping through my walls. The girl said all she could do was apologise, and told me it was ending at 4am! Yeah right! My mind said there is no way I am staying in that room with that noise for that length of time. So I stood my ground, it was then the acting manager came out shook my hand and promptly started tapping the keys on the computer. A young girl (who in my opinion should have been the acting manager) took over to find us different rooms. She searched each floor for two rooms that were close together, and couldn’t find any (My son has special needs). So I suggested she try looking for a twin room for my wife and I and she promptly found us new rooms on level 4. So at 11pm when we should have been tucked up in bed we were actually packing up and moving room.

The girl who was assisting us offered us free drinks for the trouble, which we accepted though I felt it totally inadequate for the trouble caused. (I have wrote a letter to head office complaining as well) eventually at after midnight we were settled in our new room which was adjacent to the lift shaft, and with students using the lift until after 4am sleep was simply something I dreamt of! In addition to the noise from the lift shaft, we could still hear the thump, thump of the music, - not so loud obviously but we could still hear it.

The rest of our stay included events such as trying to get in the hotel when the carpet was being relayed, being without electric for two hours, and towels that we wanted fresh used again (A note said if you want fresh towels place them in the bath).

The staff were mixed in their attitudes, although I would say more than half were not welcoming. The breakfast room was far too cramped for anyone to be comfortable, and the lack of tea pots on tables was appalling.

MOBILITY IMPARIED VISITORS:

If you are totally reliant on a wheelchair I would avoid this hotel at all costs, although they do claim to be accessible in most places. A stair lift down to the breakfast room is sitting upright waiting to be used, while the main entrance is totally unacceptable to wheelchair users: Instead you have an entrance around the side with a button to press (surely discrimination of some sort)

Our rooms would have been a total no-no for me had I not been able to walk some steps, you have the ‘front’ door to your room, followed by another door immediately on the left and one directly in front for the bathroom. Although the rooms are spacious they aren’t really suitable for wheelchairs.

Some staff have an attitude and if indeed I had waited for that porter to help I’d still be waiting.

So overall I wouldn’t recommend the hotel for several reasons: Staff need to be trained in ‘people handling’, management need a kick up the jacksy, and the whole loud music incident completely swayed me against the hotel, along with the manager who was dealing with me going ‘walkies’: he should have stayed and sorted the mess out.

Thanks for reading – Dave

Not recommended