I only stayed for the one night but I was really impressed with how clean, tidy and well run the Elgano was, despite the fact that only 1 young lady, Petra, was running everything. The check in was quick and efficient, the room, on the 2nd floor, overlooked the main Cathedral Road so there was some traffic noise, but it was clean & tidy and the bathroom was spotless with a lovely shower which held the temperature really well. The room was a little crowded as it had 3 single beds but that wasn't a problem for me and for 2 adults and a child it would be acceptable for a short stay. Breakfast, which was served in the conservatory at the side of the property, was plentiful, hot and filling, with a choice of cereals, yogurts, fruit juices and a plentiful full English breakfast and toast. With a pleasant 10-15 minute walk to the Castle and city centre, this is an ideal location. All in all a very enjoyable experience and a small hotel I would certainly recommend to anyone visiting Cardiff.

The Elgano has a great location just a pleasant walk through the park, past the castle and to the edge of the city, a bus stop right outside, and a pub that serves amazing food just around the corner.
The hotel is clean and well presented, has the advantage of secure parking and decent sized dining area.
We stayed in the Coach house at the back which is nice and quiet and very cozy, there is also a small lounge upstairs shared with the other two rooms if you fancy sitting elsewhere.
A point for me was the nice, powerful walk in shower with perfectly controlled warm water, and the comfy bed.

But just a few things took the shine off what could be a great stay and reading the reviews that convinced me this was a great booking I think we must of just had "one of those things"

We arrived right about the time I'd said we would when I booked but were unfortunately left for 5-10 mins in the hallway while the girl cleaning up went and found the receptionist ( which gave us time to note a lack of the normal rack of local information )
The room hadn't yet been finished so we had to drop our stuff then get out of the way for a bit longer, not great after a long drive.
It was explained the underfloor heating wasn't yet up to temp but should be fine in a hour or two, and if not could be turned up.
5 hours later when we got back ( close to town it might be, but it's a long way to the bay on foot :D ) the room was still cool so I asked if it could be turned up a bit. Was assured it should be fine soon but she had a leccy heater we could use if not.
After a meal at that fabulous pub the floor was still cold so I wandered in looking for someone. A person, guest?? explained the receptionist had been working on the heating down there all day and went off to find her. Guess that explains the cold floor and unserviced room.
The heater did the trick tho and was a advantage drying out our now wet clothes from the walk. Once warm the room retains it's heat well even when we left the window open a crack to air it during the day ( heater off ).

First night there was an annoying loud drip coming from upstairs which is the kinda thing that keeps me awake, next morning the girl assured us she'd checked the room earlier and nothing was running, never did hear it again....

However the biggest bug bear for us was a lack of wardrobe, there was a rail to hang stuff up, and 4 hangers, but living out of a bag for 3 nights is a PITA. This then sent the better half off into a "no sideboards, nowhere to put my toothbrush, and where am I meant to put my shower stuff when I'm in there?" mission.

The advantage of the rear parking is not having to park on the busy road, the disadvantage on first read of the room sheets is it's locked at dusk, opened at dawn which left us felt a bit trapped first night. But assured the next morning when we went out that night for the Birthday meal we could buzz and the gate would be opened, even tho it'd be after 10.30
So there's me about 11 pushing the buzzer, pushing the buzzer, pushing the buzzer in the rain getting nothing.
After walking round I found the receptionist and the gate was opened.
Next morning I asked for the code but was told buzzing would be fine, explained it hadn't worked the night before so It was scribbled down for me.
Clearly I won't write it here, but letting your guests know there's a car sensing ground loop to get out when they want, and giving them the code to get back in would be great.

Finial thing to note, and this is just us probably being a bit lazy, is breakfast is set a bit too early, 7 - 8.30 we made it about 8.20ish but for me my brain and stomach haven't set up the pigeon courier service at this time of day meaning I just push cornflakes around the bowl then get hungry by the time we reach town.

Heating, one of those things and it was resolved fine.
Car park code, very annoying late at night in the rain but an easy addition to the notes.
Wardrobe, there's an Ikea down the road and loads of room for one. Toothbrush holder, sucker wall tray for the shower and a toilet brush would also be welcome additions.
Cool welcome, bad day maybe, stress of broken heating?

We'd love to come back to Wales and Cardiff again soon, but we'll probably try somewhere else on the same road unless photos show someones been attaching part A to item C using the supplied Allen Key that was missing from the kit.

From a warm friendly welcome, secure gated parking, tree lined street, comfy beds, lots of tea and coffee, to a lovely breakfast and a fond farewell. This is a great hotel close to the city centre, castle, shopping and the Millennium Stadium. Will definitely stay there again and would recommend this hotel to anyone.

We arrived at the Elgano hotel for my hen night, to be honest for the money I didn't expect much but I was so impressed by the service.

The girls had to try and print something off for my hen night, the staff were so helpful even getting laptop as the pen drive wouldn't work on the office comuter. They set up a fab table for us for us to grab some food before we left, it was like being at home in a hotel.

Our beds were really comfy, the only one downside I would say is that one of the rooms that I think could be classed as a double is only really a 3/4 bed so would be a bit of a squeeze, espeically you weren't with a partner!! We had a few rooms, one of them being the family room which was great, everything was really clean and tidy. The shower was brilliant and didn't go hot and cold as many smaller hotels tend to do.

The young lady who was working there couldn't have been more helpful, nothing was too much trouble and they even put my veil and things on in the reception room, everyone had a laugh with us before we went out and the young lady called us a taxi.

In the morning many of the girls had a full English which looked and from what I'm told tasted great, they provided loads of loast and everything you'd expect of a larger hotel.

One of the last big plus points is the gated parking... the only problem is you do have to block each other in but as our two cars weren't moving until we left it was no issue at all, we thought we'd end up paying quite a lot for parking and we had it thrown in!!

All in all an absolute gem of a place, I would happily take my partner there and the girls who did have kids would have happily stayed as a family.