Novotel Bristol Centre Hotel 4 stars

I have stayed in this hotel many times over the last 4 years due to visiting family in the area. Unfortunately this stay is to be our last as its positives can no longer outweigh the increasing negatives. The car park is small and has bad spacing, its notoriously difficult to park in. Its opposite a building site (which the kids enjoyed but not the most relaxing view), the covid measures have made accessing the car park absolutely atrocious, I did not enjoy dragging children and luggage through a multistory with no pedestrian access and duck under the barriers! I was encouraged to make use of the room service but there was no menu, phone or instructions on how to do that in the room. We went to the restaurant where the menu is severely restricted with no smaller appetites options. My 4 year old has learning difficulties which resulted in a meltdown over the lack of choice for children. The staff were very helpful, friendly and accommodating for my daughter and the food we did eventually get was absolutely brilliant however. Back in the room the beds are lumpy and hard, and there was stained, ripped wallpaper, broken wall and wood swelling from obvious water damage. It smelled of neglect presumably from lockdown but not what I have come to expect from this usually fantastic hotel. Throughout the night we were subjected to huge bangs and crashes coming from above us and the sounds of people in the corridor penetrator the door. As there was no direct phone to the front desk, left my phone charger in the car and being unwilling to leave my two young children alone in the room to go down to reception myself there was nothing I could do but endure a terrible nights sleep. Breakfast was fantastic, the staff warm and responsive. Coffee is excellent. Check out is at 12pm but that didn't stop housekeeping banging on the door at 9.45am to check if we had left yet. Checkout was swift, but impersonal and I was not asked how my stay was. To be honest I was so desperate to leave and get to my family that I wouldnt have wasted my breath anyway. It is such a shame because this was always the first place I would check for stays when I come to Bristol but will now be my last, despite its brilliant staff.

We arrived on a Thursday evening in Bristol at 17.45 for a 4 night stay. It was problematic. 1) The doors to access the hotel via the lifts from the car park were all barred to entry. Result: We had to trail our heavy cases through the car park and up the ramp to the barriers. Here there was insufficient space to squeeze past the bartier itself on either of the sides with large cases, so we dragged them up kerb on the central reservation and down again, all in the path of entering and departing vehicles. Did no-one assess this? Then we had to walk out under the arch, onto the street and all the way down to the hotel entry. 2) On finishing registering after queueing - by now 18:10 - we were told there was no linen in the room due to a problem with the contractor's delivery, but they had promised delivery by 18:00 and the room would be made up as quickly as possible after that. Both the receptionist and I then looked at the clock, showing 18:10. She apologised and said they would be there shortly. We declined a move to the IBIS. We had chosen the Novotel having stayed their formerly, liked it and felt the IBIS wasn't the same standard. Result: There were only two towels in the room and a stripped, unmade bed. We unpacked and went out for a walk and our evening meal. On our return at 21:30 the room was untouched. We heard another guest across the hall, apparently with a child needing to go to sleep, requesting linen as soon as possible. We waited and waited but no-one came. Finally we WhatsApped at 22.25 as directed on the instructions. No-one replied. At 22.35 I left the room to go down to reception as we were very tired after travelling and needed to go to bed. A harassed - but very apologetic - housekeeper carrying sheets was coming along the corridor as I walked towards the lift. She came in and quickly made the bed saying 'we must have been missed'. We had no extra towels as we had '1 each' and unasked she took away 2 of the 4 pillows. We now wonder how 'you must have been missed' could be? Novotel presumably have lists of occupied versus unoccupied rooms for Fire Safety reasons if nothing else? Further, the room across the corridor certainly hadn't been done by the time we came back in. Was that 'missed' too? We got to bed after 23:00 only to be awakened the next morning by a housekeeper knocking on the door asking if we needed the bed changing. We said no. We were then asked if we were checking out that day! We were amazed at that since the room was reserved and paid for 4 nights. (Record keeping?) We asked for 2 more towels and they were left in the room later that day. 3) In line with your Covid policy no-one entered the room apart from that, so by Saturday morning we needed both room bins to be emptied. We left them outside the room and went out for the day. Result: On return in the evening the bins full of rubbish were still outside our door untouched. The following morning I Whatsapped and requested they be emptied and asked for 4 clean towels since we were still using the original 2 plus 2 from the Saturday. Again no-one replied - acknowledgement would be so helpful if you ask guests to use this method of contact - however the bins were emptied when we returned in the evening. The provision of tea, milk etc was non-existent. The Bose bluetooth speaker (advertised as a feature) only worked if we charged it. Luckily we had the right lead. Finally our electronic keys had to be replaced / reprogrammed nearly every evening by reception. This was irksome in the extreme since they operate the lifts too. Unlike competitors who - as we have experienced - provide packs of towels, replenishment and and some limited room service during lockdown, the service you provided during our stay at Novotel this time was well below the standard we would expect, even during these more difficult times. The room was completely unserviced except by constant prodding, yet your prices do not reflect this approach. You continue to charge as per normal, including the final insult of a bill of £48 on checkout for car parking in the hotel car park beneath the hotel! Nearly every staff member we spoke to or dealt with at the front desk was lovely and extremely helpful. But your systems are execrable and made our stay far more challenging than necessary. We would be interested in your comments.

Room was amazing, bathroom was perfect, the location was so good. Breakfast was so good on weekends, however on weekdays it was so slow to be served. Totally disappointed to pay 12£ per day in the hotel parking (it should be included free for guest) because is not easy to park in Bristol.

Very good staff, but not so good rooms due to the peculiar design of the bathroom access. Has the room designer ever stayed in one of these rooms with someone. The bathroom is not really private and if one of person gets out of bed at night to use the bathroom the other person probably be disturbed. Also the main door fit to the corridor is very poor which means you can hear Neely every word said by people walking past to their rooms . Your less expensive Ibis chain has much better doors etc. Also not yet had time to check all of your invoices, the system seems quite complex for a short simple visit.

Disappointed that leisure facilities were unavailable as this was one of the reasons for choosing this hotel. Good sized room (superior).