Claremont Hotel, Blackpool

Author's product rating:   

Value for Money	Excellent
Quality of Rooms	Good
Standard of Service	Excellent
Quality of Facilities	Excellent

Advantages:	Lovely staff, great location, Facilities, Cost !
Disadvantages:	Ummm .  .  . oh, parking .

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

We have stayed in both the Claremont Hotel and their Motel apartments, both of which we had a great time. A group of us decided that we would take a trip down to Blackpool during the summer for a weekend stay from Friday - Sunday. We browsed through loads of hotels with one thing in mind - PRICE!

For the 2 nights staying at the Motel it cost £75 each - but check the website to get an up to date tariff. The £75 was for the room only - we didn't want to pay for bed and breakfast, we just get breakfast if we fancy it, or are awake when it is being served! The hotel has a Motel in a separate building to the back of the hotel, which is laid out like a block of flats. Pricing of food and drinks from the bar is very fair, but you would be cheaper in a pub (as with most hotels).

We went to Blackpool in August, and were lucky to have nice weather - sadly the window in our room wouldn't open fully so it was rather toasty at night. There wasn't a double bed in the room as expected - two single ones. To be honest it wasn't much of an issue, because it was so warm we preferred the single beds after all. Each room has a colour TV, en-suite bathroom, tea & coffee facilities, a phone and cool buttons at the bed side for the lights at TV - we didn't leave the bed for a good few hours!

We stayed in the main body of the hotel next time, as some of the party this time wanted breakfasts. By this time they had refurbished parts of the hotel, including building the new front entrance which gives a brilliant new look to the hotel. For the rooms in the main hotel you have a direct dial telephone, colour TV, tea & coffee facilities, and hairdryers along with en-suite bathrooms.

Facilities at the hotel were brilliant - they have a function suite called the Adam room where they had a disco while we were there the first time and cabaret the next time which was a great laugh. The room connects straight onto their bar/lounge which is quiet, comfortable and you can look out over the sea from there [which is gorgeous at night!] They have a kids club downstairs which looked great fun, but sadly I'm too old to go in! The kids were having a riot anyway! Their leisure facilities were also really good - small swimming pool with Jacuzzi and a small but great wee sauna. As the pool is fairly small, when the kids all came down it was a splash arena so we left! Before they were there it was really good to just relax. There is also a fitness centre, but I'm ashamed to say that I don't exercise at the best of times, so I certainly didn't do it on holiday!!

Location-wise this is a really good hotel. Short walk from bars, clubs and restaurants but you don't hear all the noise and rabble from them when the drunks are finished partying. Well apart from one couple arguing at 4am when they were off their trolley, but they don't count! Literally in front of the hotel is the tram line, where you can get the tram straight to the pleasure beach. I have no idea what tram number or how much it was...couple of quid tops! We walked along to the North Pier and town centre for lunch, gambling, fair rides etc and easily strolled back to the hotel, so the location is definitely a plus side for the hotel - and it is right on the coast so we could walk across the road and onto the beach.

We drove to Blackpool, and found it rather difficult to park. Granted that it was slightly later at night we arrive - around 8pm and the car park was jam-packed. We found a space not too far away and were able to re-park the next day but I would advise checking in as soon as you can to avoid that problem!

Additional Information.

• The Claremont Hotel is part of the Choice Hotels group. They always send me brochures to let me know what is available, and they send me an annual news letter to keep me updated on changes and staff news which is lovely.
• The website: http://www.claremont-hotel-blackpool.com
• WATCH OUT: When we first tried to get the AA Routemaster for the journey, we nearly ended up with the wrong directions! There are 2 Claremont Hotels in the Blackpool area. There is one with the address 1 Derbe Road and post code FY8 1NJ which is much further outside Blackpool. The correct address is 270 North Promenade, Blackpool, FY1 1SA!

Overall I loved staying at the Claremont, and when we go back to Blackpool [hopefully this summer] we will be staying at the Claremont again!