The Arden Hotel

“Mostly great”

There's a personal feel to this place. The people who greet you are quirky but authentic. The people who take care of the rooms are extremely professional. The rooms are surprisingly big and comfortable. One side of the hotel gets all the sun, so choose accordingly. It's a friendly place. Though th… more

There's a personal feel to this place. The people who greet you are quirky but authentic. The people who take care of the rooms are extremely professional. The rooms are surprisingly big and comfortable. One side of the hotel gets all the sun, so choose accordingly. It's a friendly place. Though there's no sound proofing - you'll hear people using the hallways as they stumble in, but it's a hotel. My only real complaint was a bad breakfast - I was ignored as I waited patiently on my own by the till, then when I did get a table, I ordered Eggs Benedict - but the muffin was untoasted and chewy, the freezing ham was straight out of the fridge, (the eggs cooked perfectly), so you had this strange experience of tough, very cold, very hot, saucy, herby, cold again breakfast for £20. That's a lot for two eggs and a piece of watercress. And yet... would I stay there again? Yeah. My weird cold wet ham was beaten by good air con, an amazing location, good parking, unusual but smiling staff, and a nice big bath.

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“Very nice hotel”

Very nice hotel, excellent friendly staff, superbly located by the town, and Royal Shakespeare theatre. Only negative was the condition of the bathroom (v small) and in particular the shower which needs an overhaul as lots of grout missing, and mould in silicon.

“Rooms tired and in need of attention and not deserving of a 4 Star rating”

I write this review in order to be helpful. The receptionist greeting seemed disinterested and cool. The bedroom allocated was small, smaller than our friends room even though we had booked the same category of room, our roller blind did not work when we needed to lower it my husband had to spend 1… more

I write this review in order to be helpful. The receptionist greeting seemed disinterested and cool. The bedroom allocated was small, smaller than our friends room even though we had booked the same category of room, our roller blind did not work when we needed to lower it my husband had to spend 10 minutes of his time to make it work, it was reported but still very difficult to use next day. Overall the room was very tired, the bed runner was marked with make-up, however other bedding was perfectly clean. Around the shower plate there was large amount of missing grout and chips in the bath, having to climb in and out of a very high bath was difficult, there was plenty of nice clean towels. Breakfast was good and the staff nice, we asked for orange juice the second morning and was told they had none. Fabulous location. Overall i would say it does not deserve a four Star rating and that is why I have only given three stars.

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“Tired and in need of renovation”

Unfortunately the website photos gave a rather flattering depiction of the hotel compared to the reality. Overall it is tired and in need of renovation. Our room (Superior Double) was a reasonable size but the furniture has seen better days and there was a strong smell of drains in the bathroom. Th… more

Unfortunately the website photos gave a rather flattering depiction of the hotel compared to the reality. Overall it is tired and in need of renovation. Our room (Superior Double) was a reasonable size but the furniture has seen better days and there was a strong smell of drains in the bathroom. The extractor fan seemed to be permanently on and was noisy so we had to keep the bathroom door closed at night. The shower over the bath was ok but the bath was not the easiest to get in and out of even for an agile person and the bath itself had chips in it. Certainly did not seem like a “designer en-suite bathroom” or have “designer style luxury”. Bedroom windows were in a bit of a state with black mould evident. On the positive side the breakfast was quite good and the staff there friendly and helpful. Reception staff less so and didn’t seem that interested in us (and perhaps tellingly did not ask how our stay was). Interestingly, the website states that “our personal concierge can carry your bags, we provide our guest with an extra special service as soon as you arrive”. Not our experience. Really think they need to be more realistic on the website and ultimately deal with the shortfalls.

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