One night at the Pond...Posted: Fri, Feb 01 2008Location:
3Rooms:
3.5Service:
2.5Value:
3My partner and I stayed at the Pond hotel for one night on a visit to Glasgow to see a concert at the SECC. Taxi's from the Airport are £16 but the hotel is serviced by buses from the City centre (connections to the airport are also available). A taxi to the SECC is £6 which I thought represented very good value.
As mentioned by previous reviewers, the hotel has quite an uninspiring exterior façade with building work still in progress around the main entrance. We found that the service was very good and were allowed to check in to our room before the allotted time. The receptionist was very helpful and checked us in to a 3rd floor room because there was a function scheduled for that evening on the ground floor bar. We ate a meal in the bar for lunch and this was approximately £6 each for a sandwich with chips.
The room was superbly furnished with ample space, high standards of cleanliness and a free safe to keep our valuables secure. It was also very warm, which was important as it was almost freezing outside. The wide-screen television was wall mounted and had some basic free-to-air digital tv channels which were adequate for our stay. The bathroom facilities were excellent with plenty of clean towels and an excellent shower.
The one problem I had with the hotel was the noise. There is a 24 hour petrol station/supermarket on the main road and I could hear cars sounding their horns and people using this well in to the night from my position in the hotel. Further, when the function downstairs had ended a group of men decided to chat outside the lift exit (directly opposite our room) for some time in the early hours of the morning. Admittedly, there is not a lot the hotel can do to combat people's ignorance but a sign asking to respect other guests would have been nice.
The self-service breakfast was first rate, offering both traditional Full-English and continental styles. I cannot fault the quality of food which was hot and tasty with a chef on hand to prepare toast as required.
Upon checking out, the staff were more than helpful in providing information about our forward journey i.e. local bus routes and taxi's. They allowed us to leave our luggage securely and free of charge whilst we went in to town to do some shopping and even called us a cab for free when we returned.
All in all, I enjoyed my stay at the pond, however, if I were going to stay for longer I would recommend somewhere more centrally located.