The hotel was recommended by colleagues for an overnight in Derby and made a very good first impression. The check in staff were friendly and quick and the room was spacious and comfortable. It was warm in the room but I turned the heating down before going out for dinner and by the time I got back it was down to a reasonable temperature.
The bed was comfortable but unfortunately the room was very loud, being on a corner directly on the main road. This made sleep impossible for the first night. Considering the hotel has been completely renovated I fail to understand why more was not done to improve the soundproofing of the room.
The breakfast was very good. After breakfast I requested a room change and this was done quickly, without any fuss and the receptionist was very appologetic that I had lost a nights sleep. The new room was at the back of the hotel with double glazed windows to improve sound-proofing which made me wonder why these were not also fitted to the room at the front.
When I got to the hotel car park the car was covered in bird s***. I realise that the hotel can do little against such natural "incidents" but as it appeared that the birds concentrated on the one small area of the car park perhaps the management should consider blocking off these spaces or at least posting a warning to people who wish to park there?
That evening I settled down to sleep in a nice quiet room, only to be wakened at 4:30 by the fire alarm. This turned out to be due to a guest showering with the bathroom door open so that the smoke detector was set off by the steam. When the fire brigade arrived the fire alarm was switched off which caused the main doors to close (they obviously open automatically when the alarm goes off). This left everyone stood outside in -4 degrees until the night porter came and re-opened them This was probably only 5 minutes but felt a lot longer!
So the hotel was fine, the staff friendly and efficient but after 2 nights there I was like a zombie on the Friday morning, unable to concentrate in work and fortunate that I did not have a long distance drive ahead. This is not what I expect from a 4 star hotel.
- Best Western Derby
- Derby Best Western
