Swallow Chaucer Hotel

This is an average hotel, but it could so easily have been much better. Unfortunately efforts to save money have compromised this. On the plus side, the room I had was exceptionally clean, with what appeared to be a virtually brand new bathroom, OK maybe 1 to 2 years old. Waiter service at breakfast was prompt and the food was of good quality. Location was excellent. What let it down were some of Swallow's economy tactics. These included: 1. Cramming a double bed into a room intended for a single. This was proven by the single bed headboard that had been bolted to the wall, the double matress looked completely out of place against it, and there was very little room to move about in the room. 2. Small portions for the cooked breakfast. 3. No complementary bathroom items. All there was was a bottle of shower gel bolted to the wall at a height of 5ft - no use at all if you are lying in the bath. 4. Tea and coffee making facilities were limited to 1 teabag and one sachet of decaf and one regular per day. I was there two nights so I know this is their standard daily issue. If you wanted two normal cups of tea or coffee in a day you were out of luck. Yet they still gave you a teapot and a coffee pot. Bizarre! 5. Hardly any satellite channels (one sport, one news, and BBC3 and ITV2) and no radio. 6. No other complementary items like notepad and pen, shoeshine sponge and sewing kit and mineral water. These little items cost very little when ordered in bulk and go a long way towards making guests feel pampered. Not providing them is a false economy. 7. No leisure facilities. Readers with mobility needs should also note that there did not appear to be a customer lift; other reviews seem to confirm this. Come on Swallow, spend a bit more and you'll have yourselves a great hotel, rather than a satisfactory hotel.

Wasnt very impressed with this hotel. After squeeznig into the smallest parking space and struggling to get out the car we checked into a double room, the staff seemed fairly pleasant. We walked up 3 flights of squeeky stairs that wernt big enough for your feet, but in fairness I suppose this is due to it being an old building. I usually cant wait to get into a hotel room and check it out but I was very dissapointed when I saw this room. It was very small and dark and dingy, the bed is not what i would call a double bed, its a few centimetres more than a single. the bed was on wheels and moved away fomr you when I sat on it, it was also hard and uncomfortable. There were pictures up on the wall. and with a closer i look i discovered that one was covered in mould spores, does this mean the walls are damp? the wall paper was also very old and oudated. The window was awful. The whole window was rotten and the glass was filthy ( as shown in pic) The bathroom was the only ting i cant complain about, it was simple and clean. And the shower was not bad. After i had washed my hair i was expecting to find a hair dryer in the room, I thought it was a standard thing to find in as basic room but there wasnt one which was annoying. Due to the creaky floors of the hotel I heard all movements in the hall way. And i guess the walls are thin because i could also here people talking in the room next door. All in all this room was pretty depressing. All the rooms in the hotel have a name this one was called agnes, dont ever stay in it) it cost £90 which i think is very overpriced. On a positive note the loaction cant be faulted, canterbury is a lovely city.

My wife and I stayed at this hotel over a weekend. The hotel was comfortable although the squeaky floorboards throughout made for an interesting night. We got a decent room rate on line (£65 for the room, no breakfast) I wouldn't want to pay much more. Having said that we ate in the resturant on Saturday night and the food from the a la carte menu was to die for. Top marks to the chef. We would go again.

We stayed at the Chaucer Hotel for one night in July 2003 as part of a Dover-Leeds Castle-Canterbury motorcoach tour from London. The tour was supposed to be one-day affair, but we had the option of staying in Canterbury for the night and rejoining the next day's tour (we were the only people that took this option). Canterbury is a great town and I would recommend seeing it. The hotel was nice and the room was surprisingly large. The only issue we had was with the beds. They gave us a double (two twin beds) rather than a matrimonial (one big bed). The staff was not very helpful in fixing the situation and we were forced to take the room with two beds. But all in all, it was a pretty nice hotel close to all the stuff there is to see in Canterbury.

We just spent two nights at this hotel and had a wonderful stay. Having recently stayed in several functional but bland hotels from international chains, for work, it was very refreshing to stay somewhere with character. Yes, so the floors creak and yes, the carpet on the stairs is a little threadbare in places, but the rooms were well furnished, spotlessly clean and very comfortable. All of the staff, from reception to restaruant, could not have been more friendly and obliging and the breakfasts were plentiful and tasty. I can't comment on the bar prices, because we found a lovely little pub round the corner, but I would not hesitate to recommend the hotel for a relaxing and enjoyable break.

The cooked breakfast seemed to be microwaved, the bar was incredibly expensive and the whole place needed decorating. There are much better places in Canterbury that are cheaper than the Chaucer.

Firstly, this is the same hotel as the Swallow Chaucer listed later. The service (reception and restaurant) was friendly and efficient. The breakfast (buffet for cold and ordered for hot) was fresh, generous and well prepared. The room was small but well equipped and the bathroom recently renovated (heated towel rails are essential in winter). The bed was very comfortable. The negatives... The floors are very creaky, The corridors and stairs away from the reception area are desperate for some paint and new carpet, and the room windows need painting and double glazing. There is a great variety of prices available on the web, £60 to £120 per night for a double room. It is worth £60 but not £120.

Stayed there last fall (2003) Great front desk,room was excellent with a super bathroom (recently updated ) Had supper in bar and was excellent as was the staff. Would stay there again

If this hotel was awarded stars for it's awful customer service and rude unfriendly staff, then it would be top of it's game. I will never stay here again. The hotel itself was more like an Inn rather than a hotel but at £240.00 a night for 2 small twin rooms it was extremely expensive for what it was. We stayed here due to my brother graduating from University at Canterbury Cathedral, so it was a pretty special occasion for us. We didnt check in until 9pm as we had driven down from London. We were greeted by an unfriendly receptionist (no genuine smiles or welcomes here). We asked about the parking situation and were told that we could park in the hotel car park free of charge and our car was completely safe. The rooms were very creeky and you could here every move that the people next door and above us were making, but we accepted that this was a feature and charm of the hotel. However that was nothing compared the level of noise that occurred outside the hotel from early morning....if you want to sleep past 6am, no chance!!! The windows were so old and thin that you could here everything going on outside! We eventually gave up trying to sleep and ordered room service (continental breakfast) and proceeded to shower and change. When our breakfast arrived, half of what we ordered was not there and there was not even a knife to put the butter on our toast.....instead we had to use the back of a teaspoon. As we were due to be at the Cathedral for 9.30am we were pushed for time and just let it go. As we checked out at 9.15am, we asked the same (unfriendly) receptionist if it was possible for us to leave our car in the car park for a few hours ( as the hotel and car park seemed deserted and we had just spent £250.oo to stay there we didnt think they would mind) and we would collect it once the graduation ceremony had finished. The receptionist agreed this was fine and asked us to give her our car registration for her records. However, when we returned to collect our car a few hours later, it had been clamped with a £95 fee to unclamp it. We couldnt believe it! I immediately went in to see the receptionist (a different one this time) and asked why they had clamped us. She came out with some excuse and blamed the clamping company, and proceeded to contact them to remove the clamp. We waited (not very happy) in the hotel for 45 mins before the clamp people arrived. Not once were we approached or offered a drink to compensate for having to wait, we were just ignored. The funny thing was , they didnt even tell us when the clamp people had arrived, and it was sheer luck that we popped round to the car park to see if there was any sign when we saw the clamp man taking the clamp of...the WRONG car!!!!! The receptionist was so unbothered and unhelpful that she couldnt even tell him the correct car even though we had given her our number plate 3 times by now!! The clamp man was very apologetic and told us that he had checked with the hotel first and they had no record of our car as being one of their guests! Canterbury is a lovely town and I would recommend visiting, but I would strongly advise to stay somewhere else!

We stayed in the Chaucer hotel in August 2002 after a wedding reception there. We had a wonderful stay, room was a very high standard for a 3 star hotel. It was a great location in canterbury for sight seeing. The food was excellent and the staff went out of their way to make us feek welcome.