Royal York Hotel - Grand Victorian Hotel

This hotel is very smelly, tatty and dirty. It overall gives the appearance of a run-down past its sell by date establishment. Not recommended if you want decent accommodation. Why is it rated as 4 star?

This hotel is a crumbling dump, I would not house my dog in it!

I stayed at the hotel with my boyfriend last summer Fri-Mon. We got a room with 2 large double beds for £60 prpn via ...Our room was at the front with great views of York Minster.I thought the room to be very spacious with a high standard of decor. However my boyfriend did find a lipstick mark on one of the coffee cups.The best thing has to be the power shower. Wow, it was like having a massage!The restaurant was beautiful however I am vegetarian and all they had was risotto with aubergine. I asked if it could be made without aubergine only to be told that it is pre-made and so this was not possible. Instead I was offered pasta with vegetables in a tomato sauce. It was OK but nothing I couldn't have made myself. The fudge ice cream was to die for and so made up for the bland main meal :)

Whilst convenient to the railway station and the city centre this hotel is very run down and in need of serious refurbishment. For example many of the hotel signs still had the name of the previous hotel on them in spite of changing owners eighteen months previously. The rooms smelt as though they had not been aired and the fixtures and fittings were not always working. Staff also were not very friendly.

This hotel likes to think that it is "posh", it isnt! - The rooms are old fashioned and dark. I booked a suit, The York Suit, which sounded impressive but was nothing more than a large room with very standard features and was not worth the extra money. A friend staying in the same hotel had a room at the rear near the station which was very noisy, also, I didn't realise that hotels still did single rooms with single beds - they do there. I didn't bother with breakfast so can't comment but overall this hotel has the thumbs down from me. I now stay at the Hilton or the Ramada Encore which are much better and cheaper.

Let me warn family travelers, this is not the hotel for you. We were given a room on floor -1, yes minus one! It was located between a noisy conference room and the kitchen. No AC, and we could not leave our window open because it was easily accessed from the street (out window faced a retaining wall you had to look up to see the sidewalk!). We were tired and took it, but the next day when we tried to change rooms, we were told that all their family rooms are in the basement. Not only that but the room smelled like mildew. The rest of the hotel looks a bit threadbare and in need of some serious attention. Do yourself a favor and do like we did and moved to the Dean Court Hotel, which is right next to the York Minister and quite charming!

I have to disagree with the other comments, we stayed at Le Meridien in March and booked a room overlooking York Minster which is one of their newly refurbished rooms. It was lovely and bright, gorgeous cotton quilts and very spacious. It was also on a special offer at £90 for two including the mentioned breakfast. I think if you want a great location, leisure facilities and a four star experience this is the place and I have recommended it to all my friends!

Whilst it would have been rather grand in its day this hotel is now shabby and past it sell by date.Had we booked a cheaper hotel like a Travelodge, we wouldn't have been disappointed, Le Meridien we felt was very overpriced and over-rated.On a positive note the breakfast was very good and the grounds of the hotel are lovely with a superb location in York, however we wouldn't recommend this hotel to friends.

Stayed here in the past, got a family room, it sounds very much like the room mentioned by the reviewer from Scotland.

It had no natural light, was away from the main Hotel and was a MAJOR dissapointment.

Only good point about the trip was the pool which the whole family enjoyed.

I have just contacted them again to price a one night stay in October for my wife and I.

I was amazed when she said that we couldn't stay for one night (Saturday) and we could only book for two nights (Fri-Sat or Sat-Sun) Due to other family commitments this is impossible, then she 'hit me' with the price; £94 each B&B, Total cost would have amounted to £376 for a delux room.

So, I contacted 'HotelConnections' who recommented the Hilton in York, No problem whatsoever booking for just the one night, and the TOTAL cost for both of us, in a Delux room, with chocolates, flowers, drinks,nice view etc.

£135.

Enough said really.

We - myself, wife and 2 year old son, stayed in this hotel recently. The experience was a disappointment. The hotel has recently been re-named and maybe new management will improve things.

To start when I tried to make a phone booking, we were given higher rates than on the hotel's own web site, by a large margin. The hotel would not match their web rate so we booked on line - but I got a negative image of their attitude.

We eventually paid about £100 an night B&B for the room.

The room was in the basement with no view nor natural light. The station is next door and there was a lot of noise from trains arriving and departing. The room was not double glazed as far as I could tell.

The worst thing was a smell from a wet patch on the carpet next to the bathroom. We mopped this up with towels but it kept getting wet.

On the Saturday night there was a quaint notice on the TV system to say that a lot of people were expected for breakfast on the Sunday and if we didnt get down before 9am there could be queues. Try telling a 2 year old to wait in a queue, so we had to forgo a lie in and get down early.

Plus points were that the breakfast was excellent in range and quality of food. We did not dine in the evening but based on the breakfast the indications were that this would be good.

There was a nice clean, modern swimming pool which was uncrowded and my son loved.

Being next to the station the hotel is good if you are coming by train, we did and it saved taxi fares and hauling luggage around. It is close to the city centre, bus stops for the guided bus tours and the excellent railway museum which my son also loved.

The grandiose description and photos of the facade of the hotel did not match up to expectations. I subsequently complained and was offered a return stay at reduced rate, but we won't go there again, there are hotels in the major chains which are much cheaper and where I know what the customer experience will be like.