Novotel Southampton 4 estrelas

I've stayed in this Novotel several times over the years, but hadn't been back for ages until now. It has hardly changed besides a bit of an upgrade in the downstairs areas. I choose this hotel as it's such an easy walking distance to the train station and near the Southampton Guildhall where I was attending a concert. Also, the rooms are quieter than most because there is a separate door to the bedroom that blocks any noise coming from outside in the corridor, ideal for guests who don't want any disturbance. I like to use the gym and swimming pool downstairs (entrance by the reception). The gym is ideal, had no issues with the equipment and the sauna too which was lovely, but unfortunately it was a Saturday morning, there were too many young children using the pool and it was impossible to swim any lengths properly as a young boy kept jumping in which is unsafe, children need to be warned not to jump or dive and certainly not use the gym or sauna. Other than than that, the leisure area is decent for a Novotel. The staff are very friendly, got to give the bar staff an applause for making me a hot chocolate late after I got back from the concert and housekeeping were brilliant. I didn't eat dinner in the hotel restaurant as it's pricey, next door at the Ibis there's a restaurant which is a bit cheaper so I had dinner in there, but there's a McDonalds opposite, TGI Fridays and other places within walking distance. It's good that there is a fridge in the room to keep food and drinks cold, I wish other hotels had this, because I didn't have breakfast included in my basic room rate and brought my own food. The teas and coffee provided in the room are another bonus, so many hotels have scrapped room extras like the drinks and toiletries to save costs, but thank goodness Novotel and other Accor brands have well equipped guest rooms, so I will definitely stay in this hotel again when next in Southampton.

Decided to book this Novotel as a place to stay for a couple of nights in Southampton for some wedding celebrations. We have previously visited this hotel approx 22 years ago as we had our wedding held at this hotel. So we were familiar with the hotel location and surroundings as we frequently visited Southampton centre for many years over the past 22 years. The location is ideal if you are arriving by coach and train. The coach station is literally on the door step of this hotel , approx 500/600 metres away. The train station is also within walking distance too. You really are in the centre within walking distance of the main shopping centre , the West Quay .John Lewis entrance is only a 10 min walk from this hotel which takes you into the West Quay shopping centre. Novotel has a car park , which is shared with 2 other hotels at this location , including an Ibis hotel. There are plenty of spaces to park, however we arrived off season and I can imagine during the cruise season it can get busy. My only grievance with Novotel is, we booked through the Novotel website and it does say on there that parking is available however you have to pay £10 per night to park your car there. Upon arrival, you just speak with the checking in staff, provide them with your car registration number & they simply register it on their system and you pay them at the counter for your parking.So £20 on top of your hotel booking as we were staying for the 2 nights. We decided not to book any breakfast as on your doorstep is a McDonald’s…literally at the car park entrance….there is also an IKEA store 5 minutes walk from the hotel. You can see it from the hotel rooms.since the hotel is alongside the major road alongside the port, you can walk along there to IKEA and towards the pier.if you’re really lucky , you can admire one of the large cruise liners berthed up…we did , you could look at it from the hotel car park.There is also a TGI Fridays restaurant across the car park entrance at this location and a small retail park with a few shops like Poundland etc. The checking in process was seamless and we got the lift to our room which was one of the top floors. The room was pretty large ..we had a king size bed and a large double sofa bed open for our 2 teenage kids. The room had pretty well insulated windows with some really good blackout curtains. The tv was a decent size and the room also boasts a small fridge with some complimentary bottles of water. There is also a small safe which you can change the lock number on however I’m not sure how secure it can be as these budget safes are battery operated with a manual overide key., but they’re handy if you want to place some small items in there like your car keys etc. I wouldn’t be leaving anything particularly valuable in there or your passports if you’re staying here prior to your cruise….you’re better keeping them with you. The overall ambience of our room was warm welcoming relaxing and comforting which is what you want to here. Our king size bed was comfortable clean and everything in our room was as you would expect it to be. The only complaint we had was that our bathroom sink started to clog & fill up within a few minutes of using it. We notified reception, and even though it was after 10pm, the receptionist arrived at our room with the night maintenance man with a plunger who cleared the blockage after a few minutes.whilst it wasn’t very pleasant, we couldn’t really complain about the service. The room had a toilet separate from the bathroom….whilst the overall look of the toilet & decor was dated, it was handy to have it separate as our kids could use it if someone was in the main bathroom. Other noises from the hotel whilst we were in our room was kept to a fairly minimal noise level….you didn’t tend to hear the pitter patter of footsteps constantly on the other floor levels. There is the city’s police headquarters based behind this hotel and there is a road between these buildings. Whilst you may receive some comfort in the knowledge of it being so close to the hotel, we did hear the odd police vehicle exiting the police station during the night with their sirens activated! The downstairs reception area is very well decorated , and whilst we never looked into the conference room where we had got married over 20 years ago, it all was clearly updated to modern tastes etc and we could not comment on the hotels other facilities such as the pool or gym etc. Room also came with a kettle & a coffee making machine . The cleaning staff we particularly polite & helpful in the morning and were no trouble when we requested some extra towels & toilet rolls as we had had a late lie in & not allowed the cleaning staff to clean our room first thing. Overall, the hotel was clean comfortable & purposeful for our 2 night stay & I would recommend it’s location for visiting the city or staying prior to boarding your cruise liner at the port. Would i stay here again for future visits ? … answer is Yes .

We stayed for one night in an executive room the night before a cruise. Check in was easy the staff good, they arranged a late check out for us before we even asked. Very Good. The room was decent nothing spectacular, but as I paid for most of it with my Accor points very reasonable, you could see the ship from the room. Bed was comfy it had a TV and tea making things. Just what we needed after a long journey from Leeds. We slept fine We had our dinner in the hotel again nothing spectacular but it was edible and reasonably priced. The breakfast was buffet style and it had everything you needed and was all tasty. Just to let you know there is a £10 charge for overnight parking. If we take another cruise from Southampton we would definitely stay again.

Really can't fault this place, nice comfortable and cosy rooms, fantastic staff, parking for 8 days and a transfer to the docks all included in a very reasonable price. Breakfast was really nice, probably the best budget hotel brekkie we've had. Special shout to the staff though, every single one of them were absolute diamonds, even the busy cleaners wishing us a lovely day. Definitely recommend.

When booking, I was looking for a reasonably priced x2 night stay for 2 adults and 2 children. This at the time was cheaper than Premier Inn and Ibis. At 8 and 14 years it isn't ideal sharing a room, but we wanted to keep costs down. However we had a great stay. We got a free upgrade as a Accord member and room was a great size. Toilet seperate from bathroom and great coffee machine and fridge. Lovely body lotions and showering products too. Room dated but clean and staff were lovely. Used the pool at 7am and was quiet. Was very busy later in the day. Went to Ikea for brekky. There wrre x2 big weddings on both nights but rooms very quiet. Would stay again.