Leeds, The Queens

Originally I had booked a double room at The Park Plaza hotel in Leeds for a weekend for a friend's birthday. When we arrived Saturday evening they stated they had a problem with their booking service and all their rooms had been double booked. Luckily they had arranged for us to stay over the road at The Queen's hotel; double room with breakfast and a later checkout as I had paid for. When we arrived at The Queen's hotel it was a lot grander looking with lovely Art Deco features. We were told that we had a suite on their newly renovated 8th floor - the Q Club - for no extra cost. The room was lovely with a seperate entrance, large double bed with goose down duvet and lots of pillows, a large bathroom with a great looking shower and lights around the mirror - perfect for putting on make up! There was also a wall mounted TV facing the bed and two very comfy chairs plus a large desk complete with mini fridge. The sort of room that would be great for a short stay - shame we were only there for a night.

The room also had a good air conditioning system that actually worked. We could turn it off if we wanted and also adjust the temperature. We helped ourselves to the tea and coffee (they even provided a tea pot) and the posh biscuits. In the morning breakfast, we were told, was downstairs in the Queen's Grill only to find that we should have gone to the seperate Q Club lounge to help ourselves to a continental breakfast and coffee. We were a little surprised at this and this is why I've given them 4 stars and not 5. Apparently Q Club visitors cannot use the downstairs breakfast where there is hot breakfast available, normally they would have to charge extra. Which didn't make sense as the Q Club was supposed to be extra special...the manager said on this occassion he would waver the extra fee as we would have had cooked breakfast at the Plaza.

All in all if you can afford a little luxury on your trip to Leeds then give the Q Club a try. I paid £90 for my stay at the Plaza and got a room worth £250 at The Queen's hotel!