My wife and I stayed at the Queens Hotel on a Saturday night, in mid-May.
The hotel is quite modern, having been converted from an old warehouse in recent years, and is only 4 storeys high. It is right in the heart of the city centre, within the city walls, and is on the riverside overlooking the River Ouse. It stands directly opposite the Kings Armspub, which is famous for getting flooded after prolonged periods of heavy rain. The Queens Hotel stands on Queens Staith, however because it has been fairly recently converted is designed not to be adversely affected by high water. As it is in the city centre there are loads of pubs, bars, clubs and restaurants, as well as 2 theatres, 2 cinemas, various museums, including the Jorvik Centre as well as the Minster etc. all within a few minutes stroll.
I know my way around York quite well, however the hotel is located off well sign-posted streets and can easily by found by anyone
new to the city. It is within easy walking distance (5-10 minutes) from the Railway Station. My only criticism of locating the hotel would be that its signage is low-key and therefore has to be looked-for, as opposed to being obvious and jumping out at you.
Parking in York city centre is a bit of a problem. It tends to be quite scarce and if you manage to find somewhere it tends to be pricey. The hotel has a small car park below the main building, however it can only take about 20 or so vehicles. They only quoted £10 a night to park, but the spaces are on a first-come first-served basis, so if you want parking you need to book early. There are some local car parks but they are a bit of a distance from the hotel
On entering the hotel at street level there is a short set of steps, or wheelchair/pushchair-friendly lift, up to the reception area. This is relatively open and has plenty of space. We found that there always seemed to be at least 2 reception staff on duty during he day and evening, and never had to wait to be seen. Registration was quick and simple, and within a couple of minutes had our room keys (swipe cards).
The rooms are laid out around a central courtyard area, the floor of which is above the reception area and restaurant. This courtyard is decorated with plants etc, however we did not see that it was readily accessible. Because of this design the rooms either overlook the courtyard, street, or for a small additional cost, the river. If staying for more than a couple of days then the river-view may be tempting, however it can be enjoyed from the lounge area balcony just as easily (see below). The only downside of the rooms overlooking the river are that on the opposite bank are a number of pubs, and part of the back of one of the citys main nightclubs, so it has the potential for being a bit noisy. However we did not have any such problems whilst we were there.
The room itself was comfortable and had all the usual amenities. Although we booked a double room, there was a further pull-out 3/4 mattress under our bed, so the room could take a family of 4 quite easily. The decor was quite conservative, with no garish or bright colour schemes! Our room had both a bath and shower in the en-suite, and there was always plenty of hot water. The room curtains were full length and were lined with black-out material, meaning even on the very light spring morning it still remained dark in the room, letting us have a lie-in! there are tea/coffee making facilities in the room (plus biscuits!). The bed was confortable, clean and well made up, with plenty of pillows available. If I had to pick a problem with the room it would be the small 14" screen tv - but who goes away to watch TV??
The room did not have a fridge, not normally an essential item but as my wife needed to express her breast-milk for our son it was important to us. Although the reception staff could not provide a fridge for the room they were more than happy to seal it and place it in one of the staff fridges. Very helpful, and alleviated some concerns for my wife.
The room deal we took had a hot buffet breakfast included. This was taken in the restaurant on the same floor as reception. The breakfast service was laid out in a large open plan seating area, with just a couple of supporting pillars in the middle. The breakfast food ranged from individually boxed cereals, through fresh fruit, to bacon, eggs, sausage, mushrooms etc and toast. There were also cakes and danish pastries to tempt the morning pallette. There were fruit juices, tea and coffee. All the hot food was fresh, hot and continually replenished, and was even enough to sate my appetite. The waitresses and manangement staff on duty were friendly and helpful, eager to assist bringing freshly cooked fried eggs etc. The breakfast service could not be faulted. We did not eat in the hotel on an evening, so cannot comment on the quality of food/service at that time.
The really pleasant part of breakfast had to be taking a coffee from the dining area into the adjacent lounge/bar area. This lounge overlooked the river through full length windows, many of which could be opened to allow access out onto a narrow balcony area outside. From here we watched the morning activity on the river, a few pleasure craft plus quite a number of boats from the local rowing club (there's something quite nice about watching others exert themsleves whilst you relax!)
All in all a pleasent, reasonably priced hotel, bang in the heart of the city, with friendly staff, and a good breakfast. I would stay here again.
Booking tip - if you want to book just one night on a weekend then DO NOT go directly through the hotel itself to book. I tried to make a reservation via their own website www.queenshotel-york.com , but it stated that single-night weekend bookings were not allowed. I then tried to ring the hotel, and was told that although they had rooms available on the night I wanted to go their policy was not to book just Saturday night stays, they had to be either Friday to Sunday or Saturday to Monday, effectively costing twice as much. This can be circumvented by the use of a 3rd party booking agency. I used an internet based hotel booking site which quoted me less than the hotel were stating on their website, and allowed me to book just the Saturday night!
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