Member Advice on Chain Hotels: Moat House Hotels

Needing a hotel room for one night I trawled the internet options found via google and found the site for Moat house hotels.

Two on offer in Nottingham area - Royal Moat is in city centre and very convenient. the other seem a bit of a way out of the centre.

Found the website booking service to be a bit confusing, especially as there were so many diffrent price options for what seemed to be the same type of room! All ...
...from about £100 to £58. Needless to say I eventually opted for the £58 option which provided a room for 2 including full buffet breakfast. (I did check the central reservations phone line and got a response that only one room was available at a price in excess of £120 - they could not answer how it was that the website was showing lots of cheaper options) I also phoned the hotel direct to check out prices and they were about £15 more than the web ... more

Needing a hotel room for one night I trawled the internet options found via google and found the site for Moat house hotels.

Two on offer in Nottingham area - Royal Moat is in city centre and very convenient. the other seem a bit of a way out of the centre.

Found the website booking service to be a bit confusing, especially as there were so many diffrent price options for what seemed to be the same type of room! All were described as mini standard double and yet prices ranged from about £100 to £58. Needless to say I eventually opted for the £58 option which provided a room for 2 including full buffet breakfast. (I did check the central reservations phone line and got a response that only one room was available at a price in excess of £120 - they could not answer how it was that the website was showing lots of cheaper options) I also phoned the hotel direct to check out prices and they were about £15 more than the web booking option.

The hotel access was a bit awkward - via a multi storey car park. (The lift was not working!) and the displayed parking price for 7 -24 hours was £12.50... fortunately you do get a reduction if staying in the hotel, but it is still a bit steep to charge for parking if residing in the hotel. The stairway was a typical multi storey carpark concrete affair, but clean. I did however wonder what the hotel was going to be like if that was the main approach form teh carpark to the reception area!

The interior was however very plush and clean. The booking in was extremely efficient. A couple of bars and restaurants to choose from in an interior courtyard area - none of which can be seen from the street. All was very peaceful and nice to walk through.

Hotel location for the city centre could hardly have been been better. A 2 minute walk and you are virtually in the life hub of Nottingham. Restaurants are numerous and very close(including Loch Fyne...) Saturday night is VERY lively to say the least - a spectacle to be witnessed by all at least once in a lifetime! But when back in the hotel we were blisffully unaware of the hundreds of party-goers outside.

The room was a mini double - but was more than adequate fro one night. Bed comfortable with extra pillows, TV with in house films (two or three to choose from including adult if that's your cup of tea), subtle lighting, drink making (although I discovered only one sachet of coffee plus lots of sugar -not what we wanted at 7 in the morning!)

I did enquire about a family room and therea re some larger suites (quite expensive) or up to two extra beds can be put into rooms - I do wonder how that would work as there didn't seem to be much space for these. If you have young children this might work out quite expensive.

We tried the gym (no charge) which though compact had the standard machines and we were welcomed with a smile and teh offer to assist if needed by the trainer in attendance. We didn't go inthe pool due to lack of time but it looked pleasant - a typical pool with jaccuzzi - a bit small maybe. The only negative was there was no natural light anywhere in the gym complex

Breakfast was a highlight - buffet with fruit cereal, toast, eggs, bacon, sausage, tomato, mushroom, hash brown, beans and more - some greedy types really do abuse this type of facilty though and pile up their plates and leave half of it! The cooked food was hot and freshly cooked and regulalry topped up, juices were cold, fruit was fresh for the most part. Th eonly difficult bit was gettnig a hot drink - two machines which dispensed a range of drinks but when 10 people crowded round it meant that there was a bit of a wait! All in all though breakfast was very good value ( I think it was available to non-residents at a charge of £8)
Overall I felt the hotel offered very good value but I would have been miffed if I had paid a higher price than the internet offered scuh a good deal - it pays to hunt these deals down! 

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