Quality Central Hotel

...found a room in the Quality Central Hotel, (3 ***) Glasgow for the paltry (cough) sum of £105 B&B. Having stayed at the Clarion Hotel Clitheroe (the big brother in the Choice Hotel chain) and received a cracking deal there through laterooms.com with good quality rooms and food, I thought it would be worth a try, but hang on, that was £45 per night through laterooms.com, so maybe I could get it cheaper.

In this instance, Laterooms ...
...WANT MORE DETAILS? (REALLY?)
Quality Central Hotel
99 Gordon Street
Glasgow
Phone: 0141 221 9680 Fax: 0141 226 3948

Website: www.quality-hotels-glasgow.com





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As some of you may be aware I have been a regular visitor to Glasgow over the last few months and have always used Jury’s hotel in the West End. In this instance I knew quite some time in advance that I would be travelling to Glasgow at the end of June, and it was sheer laziness and a hectic schedule that stopped me booking a hotel early on.

However, when I came to book, I discovered that there was a major NHS conference on in the city’s West End, apparently they were shipping in a couple of thousand people from all parts of the UK, can someone mention this to our chancellor when people are complaining about waiting years for an operation, I have always blamed misallocation of funds as the problem rather than lack of money, but back to the matter in hand – the presence of these people meant that every hotel within a stones throw of the West End were totally chocker.

So, having booked my flights months before (£54 return with EasyJet), I set about finding a hotel in Glasgow – easy peasy, isn’t it? Um a resounding no to that one, the main Hilton had rooms, £185 per night, way outside my subsistence levels and having already visited Sheffield, Manchester and Preston that week, with Ibiza the following, finances weren’t really on my side.

A continued surf on the web found a room in the Quality Central Hotel, (3 ***) Glasgow for the paltry (cough) sum of £105 B&B. Having stayed at the Clarion Hotel Clitheroe (the big brother in the Choice Hotel chain) and received a cracking deal there through laterooms.com with good quality rooms and food, I thought it would be worth a try, but hang on, that was £45 per night through laterooms.com, so maybe I could get it cheaper.

In this instance, Laterooms didn’t come up trumps, but ‘activehotels.com’ did - £45 for the room, and with the standard hotel cancellation policy, I couldn’t go wrong, could I?

Rates do vary however, according to what is going on in the area, a check on their website for a room next week produced a rate of £38 B&B, they do offer a reduction for an internet users rate but you do not get breakfast thrown in (if you want it that is)

All the websites showed the hotel, as a glamorous, victorian affair with 222 en-suite luxury rooms, outstanding cuisine and full leisure facilities, great just what I wanted after the week I’d just had, but as they say, the best laid plans and all that……..

I gave a presentation at a local university and set off for Bristol airport, only to discover within 10 minutes of checking in that my flight was to be delayed for one hour, later to become three, the temptation to scurry off home was tempting, but not one to run away from things, I waited, and waited…...

As there was no way I was going to make the planned curry, I felt it only wise to ring the hotel and check what time last orders were for meals, this transpired to be 9.15pm, somewhat early for a superior hotel, and further exploration established that there was no late room service as the chef was going home, so it was a case of simply hoping that I arrived in time.

LOCATION
The hotel really is in the centre of the city with numerous eateries within spitting distance, and probably far cheaper than the hotel. The various websites describe it as:

“This grand, Victorian hotel is ideally placed for enjoying the attractions, shops and nightlife of Glasgow.”

It is about 6 miles away from the Convention centre and there is a direct rail link alongside the hotel.

The hotel apparently provides a courtesy car from the airport, but this was never offered to me, and a taxi cost me £17 one way. I spent another £15 getting a taxi out to the West End.

If arriving by car you will need to use the NCP car park adjacent to the hotel as there is no on-site parking. The hotel has apparently negotiated special rates but does not publicise what these are.

CHECK-IN
I finally made it to the hotel with 20 minutes to spare for food (£17 for a taxi from the airport), needless to say check-in was speedy requiring the customary swipe of the credit card, luggage was to be dumped in the bedroom, at least it would have had I been able to open the door, the key-card needed to be jammed firmly into the door so that the holes in it lined up with the lock, access required the assistance of the night porter.

FOOD
EVENING MEAL
Arrival in the restaurant established that my food wasn’t ready as the receptionist had provided incorrect instructions on what I had ordered from Bristol Airport. The staff were very friendly and extremely apologetic, cooking my well done steak in record time. Whilst the food was quite tasty the location was extremely hot and uncomfortable and I am afraid it didn’t go down too well, at this point I was near breaking point and just wanted to go home. The restaurant is no smoking for all meals. What they also omitted to tell me is that you can obtain bar snacks in the bar adjacent to the restaurant, all evening, there, half a lager will set you back £1.20.

BREAKFAST
As would be expected of a hotel with 222 rooms, the breakfast was served buffet style, but much as I usually enjoy this aspect of my stays, in this instance I ended up having a piece of toast and a cup of not so pleasant coffee. The service area around the fruit & juices was filthy, the bacon and sausage were barely cooked and the soda-bread must have been hanging around for a few weeks as it was rank and spongy. For this privilege you will have to stump up £11.75 if it is not included in your rate.

THE ROOM
My room was on en-suite with a double bed, high ceilings and had standard equipment such as hairdryer, tea and coffee making facilities, with trouser press, TV with games console, radio alarm clock, work bench, and telephone. The bathroom was spacious, with no curtains or blinds, deep cast iron bath, old electric shower and very old fashioned sink, the whole place was ingrained with dirt but more about that later.

There is internet access in the room via the TV, but you can also connect through the telephone using a standard modem/telephone connector directly into the socket (which in this case meant physically moving the bed), but be sure that they have set availability on your line first - this will not be done if you have not swiped your credit card for extras.

IRON & BOARD
I have a number of ‘non-crease’ clothes, but with the amount of travelling I had done that week, needed an iron. I called reception who advised me they were all out and they would get me one as soon as possible, alternatively, I could use the ironing room on the 5th floor. I wasn’t keen on that option and elected to have breakfast and then chase up the iron. On the way back to the room, I tried to obtain the iron and board from reception, only to be advised that they were all broken – WHAT? In the space of ½ hour, hence I had no choice but to use the ironing room, the boards were stinking, the room cold and impersonal – this trip was going from bad to worse.

LEISURE FACILITIES
My intention had been to make this a leisurely break, fat chance by the time I arrived. The hotel apparently has a full complement of swimming pool, Jacuzzi, sauna and gym, but judging by the state of my room, goodness knows what I would have picked up.

There is also apparently a hair salon, sun loungers and beauty parlour.

CHECK-OUT
This is where the fun really started. My bill for a £45 room came to £84! When I queried it I was advised that breakfast was not included in my rate, needless to say I could not remember which hotels had included what my this stage, but did vehemently state that I was not prepared to pay £11.75 for the appalling dross on offer, and made it quite clear it was the most expensive piece of toast I had ever eaten. After keeping me waiting for some 30 minutes, making me late for my meeting, I finally left the hotel without paying for breakfast – RESULT? READ ON.

The taxi driver told me that the hotel really was the lowest of the low, and offers bargain basement Christmas dinners to local businesses as one of its mainstays, I felt I had a narrow escape.

Until three days later when I received a really snotty unsigned letter from their financial controller advising me I had indeed been charged for breakfast. At this point e-mails started flying everywhere, their head office, the hotel itself, I was absolutely fuming, and clearly stated the state of the room and the appalling level of service I felt I had received there.

THE OUTCOME
I received a letter back from the general manager advising me that the charge for breakfast would stand, however, they had inspected the room and that agreed it was inferior in cleanliness and made a goodwill credit to my card of £22.50, half the original room fee. They also advised me that as a result, there would be a re-training programme with their cleaning staff, and that they hoped it wouldn’t put me off using the hotel again – UH! Are they kidding, this place should be shut down.

SUMMARY
Would I stay there again? I would rather sleep at Glasgow airport, I didn’t arrive in a good mood, and left in a foul one with a very bitter taste in my mouth, hot, tired and hungry. With the exception of the evening restaurant staff, they were unhelpful, liars and in the low state I was in, I am just lucky I didn’t pick up some infection from the ingrained muck in my room.

And to top it all, I left my meeting for the airport with the wrong suitcase and I had to pay £32 taxi fares to switch them back over, luckily I had left early for my flight, but basically the end of a very sorry trip.

WANT MORE DETAILS? (REALLY?)
Quality Central Hotel
99 Gordon Street
Glasgow
Phone: 0141 221 9680 Fax: 0141 226 3948

Website: www.quality-hotels-glasgow.com

 

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