This is one of those places that starts out negative, but grows on you. The hotel is located convenient to any business needs in Hatfield. The building is old and infrastructure worn out. Upon arrival you are fearful that this will be one of those "memorable" stays and not in a good way. The exterior looks uninviting. Inside, the public places are somewhat dated with 80's music playing in the background. However, the staff is friendly and helpful (although to the American ear most of the Asian accents of Queen's English are a bit hard to understand).

The rooms are dated, but clean and the bedding is excellent. The plumbing is ..... ummm... well...British. While here they actually managed to combine hot and cold water in the same faucet, it still COMES OUT hot on the left side of the stream and cold on the right. No one has ever been able to explain to me inability of British manufacturers to supply faucets with real mixers. The toilets are assisted by pumps positioned under the toilet. The experience of having the pump come on while you are sitting on the toilet can be rather jarring. The bath is big, long, and deep. However the shower combines the ever present European version the flex-o-matic cord with sprayer on the end with a faucet that requires a degree in engineering to operate properly. Why do Europeans detest showers? In his room, Alex had an addition of something called "body shower" - a number of spays positioned to shower you from sideways position up and down your body. That is just a little too lewd to contemplate and probably would be illegal in some of the states in the US.

The wall fixture with a transformer-like combination of pant-presser, iron board, iron, tea kettle, and coffee maker is as useful as amusing. It did, however take me 15 minutes to find the switch that operates the iron. I bet mine is one of the faster times.

The room does not seem to have any Air Conditioning capability other than the window. Perhaps in the summer it never gets that hot. It was, however VERY cold when I was there and the cheerful hot water battery meant to keep the room warm was simply not keeping up. Good thing I prefer to sleep with cold temps.

The Internet was also interesting. The rooms have a TV integrated contraption that provides an ethernet cable hook. Never seen anything like it. At about $15 per day, it seems to work well. But they will have to rte-thing the pricing or risk upsetting the business travelers who these days expect the Internet for free. The supposedly "free" wifi available only in the public areas was dreadful. Unfit for Skype to any other VOIP application due to frequent interruption of transmission. Light internet browsing and email retrieval is about all it can do.

The restaurant and bar were surprisingly good. The food better than decent and the service excellent. The hotel has plenty of parking and is surprisingly convenient to London (Bus or Train). It is well positioned for those conducting business in Hatfield Business Park but can also double as a comfortable budget base of operations for families looking to explore London and south eastern England.

Website deal did not live up to the promise: £20 extra for a breakfast cosing half that amount is misinformation. Also Service Charge added to evening meal bill although this was not shown when ordering

Stayed here twice inthe past month....executive room is good size, nicely if fairly starkly decorated. No wardrobe as such, just hangers but still adequate. Good shower, asked for a bath via e-mail but as rooms are allocated by central computer, still had to request one when I arrived! Surely it should be possible to co-ordinate this so requests are not ignored?
Food in restaurant good, drinks a bit pricey. All in all, a comfortable stay and great situation for the Sports Hall at the University. Also good for shopping at the Galleria outlet mall.

When I was at Hatfield College, our pub was "The Comet" and everybody from the College and from nearby De Havillands (who sponsored many of us) went there. 50 years on, it's still there, looks essentially the same, but now taken over and called the Ramada Hatfield. The outside doesn't appear to have changed one bit. The plinthed model of a DH Comet (the 1930s plane, not the 1950s) is still in pride of place at the head of the grounds. The hotel was built in the 1930s. I suspect that it's a grade 2 listed building and Ramada aren't allowed to alter it's exterior façade.

The Ramada Hatfield is conveniently located on one of the main roads north from London and not very far from the M25. Presumably it's mainly a business hotel. If you just came across it you'd likely drive right on, because the exterior looks run down, the walls look like they could do with a coat of paint in places and the grounds are shabby. We did arrive in day time in the depths of winter, but the whole thing looks drab. Can't they at least plant berry trees?

But you'd be wrong to drive on, because the rooms inside are of a very good standard. Our room was reasonably large, decently furnished, immaculate, elegant even. The lighting is well designed. Big bed, well appointed shower room, leather chairs, foot stall, thick darkening curtains. The facilities inside are more than you get everywhere and includes a TV that will convert to a workstation screen complete with ethernet, keyboard and mouse. Ironing board had an integrated iron. The radiator worked well, we turned it off after a bit.

The breakfast room is cramped and the breakfast offered was unimpressive and perfunctory. The public areas in the hotel were unnecessarily hot; we were glad to get outside at the end. However, if those things aren't important to you, this is a good, possibly above average, hotel for over-night business trips. Do take a photograph of the model plane, it's a part of British history.