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“Arrived for a two night stay 1st week in April 2009 at...”

written by estelle on 19/04/2009

Good Points
Room clean and spacious
Breakfast good
Walking distance to town centre

Bad Points
Window was very small in bedroom (about 30" wide)
no views
Badly trained and ignorant recption staff
Watch where you are roomed, as there's a disco on Satruday night, and if you stay in 201 to 209 then this is very loud.
parking not very spacious and you get charged even if you have just pulled up to drop off the cases

General Comments
Arrived for a two night stay 1st week in April 2009 at the Hotel Novotel Cardiff Centre. We chose Novotel because we could have the room at midday. When we arrived, I was told to wait until a room was available because they had shortage of cleaning staff. We sat in the conservatory, hot and tired from our,journey. Staff never came and kept us updated, and I had to go to ask what the position was several times for an hour and a half. The last time I spoke to the staff, I said that I wanted to speak to the hotel manager if it took more than another half hour. After 2 hours I went to the reception and told that we could have an upgrade for our wait. The reception staff said it's not their fault, and I pointed out that I didnt' want excuses as I was the customer and just wanted to start our holiday. The room was very nice, no complaints, however we were placed above the disco until 1am in the morning, so beware if you are staying Saturday night. This wasn't pointed out to us, and I had to phone down to reception with a headache three times, but nothing could be done. It was fair to say I was not impressed. On entering the carpark there is a barrier on site, we parked outside the barrier and only parked to pick up our bags on leaving the hotel. The barrier was broken and people were coming and going anyway. We travelled with my brother and wife in the same car, and when we left the hotel, the male receptionist was very abrupt and said that's £10. We told him what our arrangements were with the parking and just there to put the bags in. Either way, people were coming and going as the barrier was broken that weekend. Our guests (my brother and his wife) told us onthe way home that they had paid for the carpark, the receptionist had made them pay saying we hadn't paid. This was out of order and a bad experience that we will not forget. Novotel is definitely not on our list of places to stay in future. Travelodge is far friendlier and helpful and we have never been ripped off or been treated disparagingly by Travelodge staff.