Ramada Leeds North Hotel - Leeds, United Kingdom 

I stayed here for one night when I was in the area on business - but I wish I hadn't bothered. It's quite a way out from the station, so a taxi can be fairly expensive, especially if you are travelling at peak times. Service at the hotel reception was OK, but not particularly efficient and the staff sounded as if they were reading off a card when they gave key information. There was no sense of interest in what they were doing. The hotel was undergoing some refurbishment (according to notices) so some of the areas of the hotel looked rather shabby. The refurbishment was clearly needed - the rooms were drab and unappealing. They were also cold, although it was possible to put some heating on. The bathroom was tiny and there was only one towel there when I arrived. A member of staff did bring some fresh towels later on and explained that there had been a problem with the delivery of towels that day - explained, but did not apologise. Facilities in the room were OK and the room itself was quite spacious, so I did have somewhere where I could sit to work. The hotel is not situated within walking distance of any restaurants (as far as I could see) so I chose to eat in the hotel restaurant. The service was poor (I had to wait 25 minutes for my bill, having requested it twice, and then had to wait while the waitress found someone who knew how to process a card payment - again, apologies were not forthcoming) and the food was not worth what I was asked to pay - and a 10% service charge was added as a matter of course. The restaurant was characterless and cold - particularly unpleasant when you are eating alone. I did get a good night's sleep and the breakfast buffet was fine, so it was not a completely negative experience. But problems struck once again at check out where I was asked to pay again for the meal I had paid for the previous evening. The problem was resolved (fortunately I had kept my receipt) but I wasn't impressed. I wouldn't choose to stay here again - Leeds has many better hotels.

Well the expectations of this as a business venue were high- after all they describe the meeting rooms as Summit Rooms- I guess we were lucky to get the booking - the EU leaders had to meet elsewhere to discuss the Irish vote on the Lisbon treaty My edition of Tom Tom took me straight there but others ended up in a pretty rough estate nearby. Not quite Bonfire of the Vanities but be aware. In fact this techno glitch won't trouble most guest as they arrive on coach tours & eat early & leave early the next morning . The coach parties did seem well organised. As a business venue ( we were talking 4 days here) it was a bit of a let down. The Events manager who took the booking over the phone wasn't actually working at this hotel & there was little other help available to arrange set up (the other events manager was on holiday & the hotel manager popped out only to say he was off home) Anyway the guest rooms were dire. A number of us were put in disabled rooms . This meant you had to move the TV if you wanted a desk for a laptop. I requested a room change (I have only once before done that - in El Salvador some 20 years before!!Name drop?| Me?) but was told this was not possible on day 1 but would be on day 2. By day 2 that wasn't possible either. By day 3 a series of complaints had been logged & I was approached to be offered a different room (I was quite impressed by that until I discovered there had been a number of complaints lodged) Back to hose disabled rooms: the bathrooms were fine for disabled folk but that I felt the bedrooms would have been far too cramped if you were on crutches/frsmes whatever. They were also up a small number of stairs despite there being other floors with full lift access. I felt that my first room was verging on dirty (rather than just grubby) and a number of others in our party felt the same about their rooms. I felt that a strong dose of bleach was used rather than cleaner (or duster) which meant that you had to ventilate the room every day. The room I was eventually moved to was very nice though albeit with the bleach still prominent. The beds & bed linen were good quality & clean. Not everyones flatscreen TV worked properly & he internet connections were intermittent The public areas have been done up & were fine though the friendliness of the barstaff was variable. The speed of service wasn't & on at least 1 occasion I declined a latte based on the 20 minutes the barman said irt would take to get sorted. The hot breakfast buffet looked fine but the cold breakfast was less varied & on my last day an arrival at 8am meant there was no bread, just drains of yogurt or even a choice of cereals available. So is it a recommendation? Not really no though if you are there for 1 night of coach tour then I am sure you will be fine