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Review rated by 42 Ciao members on average: very helpful
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Must have looked pretty silly.......................
Eek, I am doing it again, writing about hotels just down the road from home, although there was a good reason for it. Organising a major two-day conference at the University of Glamorgan, we needed somewhere for delegates and presenters to stay overnight.
Unlike previous years, the University couldn’t accommodate us as they had a summer school with 800 guests imminent, and none of the ‘local’ hotels had enough rooms to meet our needs, that is, 40 in total.
Booking was direct with the hotel to secure preferential rates, although, as with most chains, rooms are bookable on-line at www.moathouse.com or through websites such as laterooms and activehotels to secure single discounted rates.
We did have a few hairy moments early on with room reservation as numbers kept changing, but the hotel came through for us in the end.
LOCATION & ACCESSIBILITY Not central, but easily accessed from Junctions 29 or 32 of the M4 on the A48(M) a stones throw away from the University Hospital of Wales. A taxi from Cardiff Central will set you back £9 and from the airport, around £25.
There is ample parking on-site, and the hotel is what I would consider accessibility friendly up to a point. How do I know this? Because, there were ramps and lifts throughout, and one of my colleagues was blind. We told the hotel early on and he was kindly placed in a room close to the lift. A noisy talking lift I might add that told you everything bar your dress size, ‘shouting’ loudly when the doors were opening and closing and providing the floor number. All door numbers were reproduced in Braille as was all hotel signage.
I do have some doubt of the benefit of the latter, as those capable of reading Braille, of which there are very few, wouldn’t be able to find the signs to start with.
CHECK-IN This was exceptionally prompt, and I was impressed to note that everything was prepared for our parties’ arrival. There were no complicated check-in procedures or rummaging around for room availability
and allocation accuracy. Each guest was issued with an envelope containing their room key (swipe card of course) and a credit card swipe was only needed for those wanting to charge extras to their room.
RECEPTION A medium sized affair sporting a large seating area and bar, leading into a restaurant and various function suites. It also has the long-awaited Wi Fi access through Eurospot, a company I believe who are monopolising public Wireless access in hotels, restaurants and airports. Plugs are provided for guests to charge up their laptops, and it is very much an area designed for the business traveller, although just as relaxing for a spot of midevening socialising. There is a pool table and some games machines and a one-armed bandit.
Internet access can be bought direct from Euro-Spot, £3 for half an hour, or through cards bought at reception, £2 for 15 minutes, or £5 for 2 hours. Access is almost instantaneous, providing your machine is set up to work with Euro-Spot, and if you don’t know how to do this, leaflets are provided throughout the hotel to tell you how.
I was assured by the hotel manager that 99.1% of the hotel is covered by the Wi Fi access, and not just reception, we shall see.
THE ROOM I was assigned a Lady Executive room on the third floor, as far away from hotel reception as anyone could possibly imagine. The room was spacious and sported a double bed, small workbench, a blanket chest, wardrobe, (all in a nondescript MFI light oak), portable colour TV, wardrobe space, a small table and 2 chairs, and was, as you would expect en-suite. The bathroom had a toilet, sink, bath and shower over. Here lay problem one, the shower had a fixed position and was unmovable, the type of spray couldn’t be changed and the direction of the head was static and not very effective. Soap in the form of Lux dispensers was provided over the bath and alongside the sink. The towels were definitely for midgets, although to be honest, I was so busy over the two days that I didn’t get much time for luxurious relaxing baths, it was definitely ‘bath and go’. A hairdryer was provided, but the damn thing was thermostatically controlled and kept stopping every few minutes because it got too hot.
The room provided an Ethernet and modem port, but the ether didn’t work, and my cable got stuck. I think the young gentleman who finally disentangled it was a little confused as he thought the port was used for dial-up access.
It was at this point I decided to test the 99.1% Wi Fi covered, and discovered that my room fell into that 0.9%, as I could not detect a network for love nor money. However, on returning to my room after an entertaining evening in the bar, I did discover that I could just about pick up the wireless signal if I positioned the laptop up against the window. It was a weak signal, but enough for me to collect my e-mails.
A WORD OF WARNING: the bedding was a quilt, and the pillows a mixture of synthetic fibre and feather, with the emphasis on the feather. Reception couldn’t change my pillows on the first night because the hotel was full, thus I slept with my head on a rolled up quilt. My colleagues in a twin room had sheets and blankets and a mixture of pillows, so little consistency here.
I should also say that the windows had limited opening capacity and the rooms were HOT, probably the hottest I have stayed in, public areas were not much better.
THE LEISURE FACILITIES As I was host and mistress of all for the two days, I didn’t get much chance to sample the leisure facilities. There is a swimming pool, sauna, and gym at the hotel, which were invaded by 50 American kids each time I walked past, so probably quite good that I didn’t have time.
FOOD Our first night included Dinner, Bed and Breakfast for £70 which was reasonable considering a single course in the restaurant was £11.95 rising to £16.95 for the full Monty (laterooms are quoting the rack-rate as £140 a night).
Dinner was buffet style and offered a superb salad bar with fish, cold meats, various salad stuffs and egg mayonnaise. Main course was pork chops, beef, chicken, veg, potatoes, veggie pasta, followed by various sweets washed down by coffee. It was all serve yourself eat as much as you like and even at £16.95 represented value for money, although the potatoes could have been a little softer.
On the second night, dinner was Table de Hote and selected from a choice of about 12 menus. Starter was tomato and basil soup (which I am assured was tasty) or melon (the hotel confirmed the soup contained MSG and kindly gave me egg mayonnaise instead. Main course was chicken in pink peppercorn sauce, with veg and potatoes, again I had to skip the sauce and my chicken did look a little worse for wear because of it. The veggie choice was a vegetable risotto with veg and potatoes and, I am assured, very nice. Desert was fruit salad or hot chocolate fudge cake served with cream, house wine (red and white) was £12.95 a bottle.
BREAKFAST Definitely one of the best I have had in a long-time, although this may have had something to do with the fact that I was there at 7am when the restaurant opened. On offer were the usual fruit juices, an amazing array of fresh fruits, cereals, and hot options including scrambled and fried egg, hash browns, fried bread, beans, bacon, sausage and toast. Tea and coffee were provided fresh to the table. Group tables were organised for us, and staff were marvellous in helping my colleague in getting food for him.
SERVICE Whether it was because I was the organiser I don’t know, but the staff were helpfulness personified, and have to win the gold star for being the most helpful, friendly and patient hotel staff EVER. I wanted an iron, one was brought to my room within minutes, despite being the furthest room away from reception. When I complained about my cable getting stuck in the socket at reception, someone was there BEFORE I got back to my room, my quilt pillow was with me within 5 minutes, my early morning call was on time. Newspapers are not delivered to the rooms because they disappear; reception even reminded me to take mine. They couldn’t do enough for me, whether this was because we had 40 guests staying over one night, and 12 the other I do not know, but it made a welcome change.
DRINKS I can’t vouch for the Gin and Tonic as there was no time, but lager was £1.30 a half, and red wine, £3 for a small and £4.30 for a large. Being host I managed to run up a £40 bar bill, but what I got for my money is anyone’s guess. A large bottle of mineral water was £3.00 and the pool table a £1 a game, a little on the pricey side.
SUMMARY The hotel has a large capacity for meeting space, and the wireless internet access would make it appealing for many businesses. They are obviously used to dealing with large groups and this came across loud and clear throughout the stay. QMH are struggling financially, as the recent press and sale of a few their outlets shows, yet they are still working to improve their outlets, this is promising, as most companies do exactly the opposite in difficult times.
Occasions when I need to stay in Cardiff are few and far between, but on service and food I would give them a second shot. However, hot rooms take their toll on my eczema, so my message to them would be, do something about the heat in your outlet, and sort out your wireless access to 100% coverage and I will think about it.
TO FIND OUT MORE: Cardiff Moat House Circle Way East Llanedeyrn Cardiff CF23 9XF Tel: 029 2058 9988 or visit:
28.12.2004 18:19
nice one
11.07.2004 21:09
Hairdriers in hotels are usually rubbish, great review. Susan xx
10.07.2004 23:28
Taht is good especailly when one is disabled. avril