Holiday Inn York - York, United Kingdom     

As we had stayed at this hotel before and felt very cramped with us and our two teenage girls all in one room, this time we booked two rooms. We asked for a standard twin for the girls and a double executive for us. When we found the rooms, we couldn't see any difference between them, apart from the beds of course. Both rooms were very small with very little space around the beds, and tiny bathrooms, where you couldn't shut the door without standing by the toilet. I couldn't see any difference in size. I appreciate we had booked them on a bargain b&b rate but still we should have been able to see a difference for the extra £20. We did have a sofa bed as well, it had a stained cotton cover and looked very old. I rang reception and asked if there was some mistake about the room, but no it was correct. So I asked what the extra charge was for, and was told we had robes and refreshments. Well we had neither, so they promised to send some up. A knock at the door revealed a lady with 1 robe. She said that's all they had. The hotel was less than half full, judging by the car park and we had booked this a month ago, so where were they? I rang reception again and was told the same again, there were no other robes. When I asked well what are we paying extra for, can we have a reduction, she just asked did we wish to speak to the manager. He came up to our room shortly afterwards with another robe (!) and apologies. He was very nice but said they were stuck with the room sizes and at the same time another lady appeared with our free refreshments (two bottles of water and a can of Britvic!). We have been in a few other Holiday Inns and the exec rooms were worth the extra, spacious, with easy chairs, coffee tables, bigger bathrooms. Later, another knock revealed a waiter with a ½bottle of wine and some snacks and another tray with cans and snacks for our teenagers' room, with compliments from the manager. I understand the problems with the building layout, but it should be made clear in the description, what you are paying extra for. The next day we heard a person in a room along the corridor making the very same complaint to a housekeeper and was told exactly the same, there's only 1 robe, we'll bring another one when we can!!! We were very happy with the breakfast, plenty of choice, hot food and very friendly and attentive staff. Don't pay full price for an exec room, you'll be very disappointed. Our only consolation was that we had booked a good seasonal rate.

Booked this hotel for a two night stay on receipt of a two nights for the price of one internet offer. Hotel is rather dated in parts but for the price paid we can have no complaints whatsoever. Both bar snack and restaurant meal were nicely presented and reasonably priced. Location is a little out of town but access to centre is easy and only five minutes drive. Three star hotel by my reckoning but dont pay full rack rates - you will get much better quality elsewhere if you plan to pay the full rate rack required to be paid.