Majestic Hotel, Harrogate

We have just returned from Harrogate after spending a lovely 3 nights at this hotel in lovely spa town of Harrogate in North Yorkshire and thoroughly enjoyed our stay, so I will try to review this hotel and the town as accurately as I can and would advise others to visit this place as it is a lovely way to spend a few days of relaxation and retail therapy!

The hotel is easily located at the Northern edge of the town on a hill above ...
...the grand old style of hotel, large and imposing and very Victorian in character.

We opted for a "leisure break" booked through Paramount's own website. The deal was for a premier double on DB&B board including access to the "bodysense" pool and gym.

On arrival we were greeted by the head porter who took our luggage as the rooms are not available until after 2pm in the day, however, I would have ... more

We have just returned from Harrogate after spending a lovely 3 nights at this hotel in lovely spa town of Harrogate in North Yorkshire and thoroughly enjoyed our stay, so I will try to review this hotel and the town as accurately as I can and would advise others to visit this place as it is a lovely way to spend a few days of relaxation and retail therapy!

The hotel is easily located at the Northern edge of the town on a hill above the exhibition halls. It is very imposing and hails from the grand old style of hotel, large and imposing and very Victorian in character.

We opted for a "leisure break" booked through Paramount's own website. The deal was for a premier double on DB&B board including access to the "bodysense" pool and gym.

On arrival we were greeted by the head porter who took our luggage as the rooms are not available until after 2pm in the day, however, I would have liked our bags to be put into the room as soon as it became available only to find that we had to bring our own bags to the room without any assistance whatsoever, not the mark of a luxury hotel I am afraid!

Next our room was billed as a "premier" double, however it was ratty tatty in decor and not as clean as I would have liked, there was dust on the tables and previous residents' detritus found under the bed! The room was large with a big window overlooking Harrogate and the bathroom adequate, however again there was a lack of finishing touches. The tissues in the bathroom were branded "economy" on the base of the box and the smellies were alright but uninspiring.

The bed is huge but there is a lack of storage space for clothes, there is no mini bar. The television is a good size with inhouse movies (at a price) as well as 1 satellite channel for free (SkyNews).

Overall the premier room needed a bit of a spruce up to make it up to scratch and the decor is cheap and a bit tatty I am afraid!

The facilities of the hotel are good! The bodysense gym and pool complex is good and there is free membership for residents. There is a large bar and snooker room (again free use for residents), there is acess to an outdoor tennis court and there is a beauty salon onsite. There is however a lack of places to sit ouside and enjoy the lovely grounds and this is an unfortunate deficit of the hotel as when we were there this week the weather was fabulous.

Parking is £7.50 per day!!!!! This is a rip off and is not mentioned anywhere when booking and left a bad taste in my mouth when settling up at the end of our break! Be warned therefore! Our electronic keys failed twice while we were there as well as our car park pass necessitating repeat visits to the reception to get the cards reissued.

Food is excellent however, breakfast was lovely and dinner fabulous if the menu was a little limited in variety, the quality of the food was very good indeed, I can thoroughly recommend their soup!

Harrogate is a great size of a town to manage on foot and I would recommend walking as parking is not that easy or cheap down town. The town is an easy 5 minutes walk from the hotel!

Excellent shops everywhere, lovely food establishments and lots of antique emporia leave you spoilt for retail choice.

Bettys is a MUST visit! A lovely cafeteria located on Parliament street and has the most exquisite cakes and fancies and coffees.

Around Harrogate you are spoilt for day trips and we enjoyed Harewood house and Ripon cathedral as two easy visits.

As a short break loaction, this town is ideal, the hotel needds a little money spent on it however. It does seem to be more suited for the business delegate clientelle rather than holiday makers and that is unfortunate. Please Paramount do not extract the last penny from your guests by charging them to park at your hotels! Also please spend a little of your money on more up to date decor and ensure your rooms are spotless before allowing clients to arrive.

We paid £133 per night for a double DBB package for 2 people and I consider this to be good value, but it could be better and that is a pity. The staff are EXCELLENT, friendly attentive and helpful and this is one of the hotel's strongest points in its favour. Thank-you for helping make our visit so pleasant to all the staff working this week! 

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