Chester Moat House, Chester

...House, but The Crowne Plaza Chester (part of the Holiday Inn Group). Then to my dismay the website said the hotel didn't have any family rooms, so I decided to phone the hotel direct. Except I was put through to a central reservations team. I advised my requirements and said if they didn't have any family rooms did they have any connecting rooms. A very efficient, and friendly, girl took my details, put me on hold for a minute or so and came back ...
...off we set. arriving in Chester we followed the instructions supplied and arrived at the hotel without hitch (this was in the days before my shiney new TomTom as well). This is when my dissapointment hit. We arrived at 4.30pm on a Friday night (not a time I felt was particularly late) to be told that the car park was full and we'd have to park in the public NCP car park across the street, which we had to pay for (as it turns out you have to pay for ... more

This hotel has recently been renamed to the Crowne Plaza
We stayed here for 1 night during August 2006 whilst attending a family wedding in Chester. We found this to be an excellent hotel, with great facilites and in a superb location.

Our party consisted of a family of 4 (2 adults and 2 children aged 7 and 8) plus my mum and 94 year old grandma. Our priority was therefore more location than cost and we needed a hotel with easy access and very close to the wedding (registry office). I'd done some internet research and the registry office had said use the car park next to the Moat House - hey presto - that hotel sounds nearby so off I went in search, only to find that this hotel is now longer The Moat House, but The Crowne Plaza Chester (part of the Holiday Inn Group). Then to my dismay the website said the hotel didn't have any family rooms, so I decided to phone the hotel direct. Except I was put through to a central reservations team. I advised my requirements and said if they didn't have any family rooms did they have any connecting rooms. A very efficient, and friendly, girl took my details, put me on hold for a minute or so and came back to advise that if we wanted to upgrade to a deluxe room, they did have a room available that had a Double and single, plus they could put us a sofa bed in (this of course all in addition to the twin room required for my Mum and Grandma). If we opted for this option it would actually cost us less than a connecting room - result.

So the booking all came through, with good clear instructions and off we set. arriving in Chester we followed the instructions supplied and arrived at the hotel without hitch (this was in the days before my shiney new TomTom as well). This is when my dissapointment hit. We arrived at 4.30pm on a Friday night (not a time I felt was particularly late) to be told that the car park was full and we'd have to park in the public NCP car park across the street, which we had to pay for (as it turns out you have to pay for the hotel car park as well which I think is a bit off). I was a little perturbed by this, as the hotel is right in the middle of the town centre and didn't look particulary secure - I'm glad to report there were no incidents however. The receptionist gave me a card to put in the window and advised that the car park fee would be added to my bill when we checked out.

We then got to the rooms - now the hotel itself is laid out over a number of floors. Ground being nothing more than an ornate entrance and you ascend a flight of stairs to come to the first floor reception (this is also where you walk in from the hotel car park if you're lucky enough to get a parking space - I did go and have a look at the car park and it looks a reasonable size. You then walk up another flight of stairs to the 2nd floor where you find the hotel bar, restaurant and leisure suite (all of which I'll cover later). The rooms themselves then start from the 3rd floor upwards. I'm glad to report that all the floors are seviced by light airy lifts so no worry about carrying a 93 year old grandma up lots of stairs!! Firstly we took my mum and grandma off to their room and introduced them to the theory of using a credit card to get in a room rather than a key (my grandma did think I was going to try and break in at first!). On entering the room (this was a twin) there was a clean fresh smell, the room was well laid out and with plenty of room and furnished to a good high standard and we were pleasantly satisfied. Our deluxe room was on a different floor, and my girls now knowing about credit card entry were on a mission to find our room. We found our room with ease, walked in and immediately had a huge grin on our faces. The room was huge and despite having a king size bed and 2 singles didn't feel cramped at all. A large LCD TV screen adorned one wall and the decor was plush and to a high standard. The bathroom was similarly pleasing with all the usual freebies. Both rooms had complimentary tea and coffee making facilities as well as biscuits etc which lasted all of 30 seconds once they were found by the young explorers. Our room also had a mini bar, which was kept well locked once I saw the prices!!

Rather than eat evening meal in the hotel we decided to have a wander around and find our bearings - the hotel is located right next to the Bus station and a short 250m walk found is in the very town centre near the cathedral. Perfect if we'd been there for shopping. There seemed to be plenty of pubs around but nothing I would class as a nice restaurant. The girls decided they wanted McDonalds so they had some of that cradboard they serve and we went back to the hotel and had a light meal in the bar. In terms of location we also found the registry office only 150 metres around the corner - exactly as we'd hoped.

The bar area is well laid out very spacious and pleasantly priced. The food served was also of a good standard. We were then joined by the family who's wedding it was. In total there were 12 of us all sat around one table (actually we were in settees) all talking and having a joke and a laugh. There was plenty of room around and it was laid out in such a way that we didn't feel as though we were spoiling anyone elses evening and weren't even concious of the children playing, which you parents will know all too often you can feel when in public places and other people are trying to relax. I can't remember the exact prices, but to give you an example there were 8 adults all with alcoholic drinks and 4 children on J2O's (not the cheapest drinks in bars) and I was astounded when the round was less than £20 - in fact I thought this was an oversite and pointed it out to the bar tender who assured me it was correct.

The restaraunt is located just behind the bar and is actually surprising how big it is, accomading plenty of people with space between tables so as not to make it feel too impersonal. We only had breakfast in here which was the usual hotel buffet fair, with the Traditional English, Continental, fruit, yoghurts, cereals, pastries, fruit juices etc. The food from the buffett was hot and well cooked and tasted fresh. Staff were always on hand and accomodating, always offering more tea and coffee as soon as cups were drained.

After a good nights sleep - no noise from either outside or the hotel corridors, which you can sometimes get, the girls decided they wanted to try out the leisure club. As we had time to spare in the morning off we went. The leisure club is open to the public as well as hotel guests. As a guest you just show your room card and have free use of the facilities. There were plenty of attendants on hand and activities on offer include Gym, Good sized indoor pool, Jacuzzi, Sauna, and a body conditionaing suite (what ever one of those is!!) There were also notices of fitness classes.

On checking out came the painful bit (for me anyway) - paying. Check out was speedy, the bill was completely accurate with no queries and for the 2 rooms, 6 people, all with breakfast and the car parking (grrrrr) the entire bill came to £285 - in my opinion an absolute bargain for a good standard 4* hotel and a very enjoyable stay.

Would I recommend it - A resoundeing YES!

Just a quick note on my ratings - I've only rated this hotel as average for Family Friendly as they do not claim to have family rooms, and inded our children seemed to be the only ones there, but I have to say we were served superbly at all times and were never made to feel as though our children were causing a disturbance.

 

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