Arden Hotel

I am loath to write a review about this place as I've been in the fortunate position to have been able to write positive reviews on Trip Advisor about every hotel that I've stayed in, since I stumbled across this website at the end of last year. I suppose this is why it has taken me almost a year to review this place but as I prepare to go to the same exhibition at the NEC as I did when I stayed at the Arden in 2003 and 2004, I'm afraid to say that I won't be staying in it in 2005. To be perfectly honest, I barely noticed what the hotel was like the first time around, as my husband and I were so exhausted from the journey. We were stuck in a horrendous traffic jam where a 90 minute journey took us over 4 hours and so when we arrived at the hotel, the only option left food-wise for us, was room service. We ordered steak and chips (fries) and some chocolate concoction for dessert and while the dessert was fine, the main meal certainly wasn't. We had brought up to us a cold, rubbery steak with a side order of crisps! (potato chips!). If it had been out of room service hours, I may have partially understood but we were comfortably within the time given in the 'handbook' so it really smacked of laziness to me. However, the room seemed adequate enough and clean, so we decided, aside from the dinner debacle, that it would be a reasonable place to stay again the following year. However, this was a mistake. When we checked in, we were given a key to possibly the most disgusting room I've ever set foot in. Housekeeping were still frantically trying to prepare the room when we got there (which was around 7pm), having followed a set of the most improbable directions from the front desk to get there. But even after they left, it was plainly uninhabitable. The room was dark, dingy and dated. What housekeeping must have been doing in there is beyond me as it certainly wasn't cleaning. It was absolutely filthy and smelly. We immediately went to the front desk to request a different room and we eventually did get one but only after we had to pay an upgrade! We ended up paying it, but only because we couldn't stand the thought of staying in such a depressing pit overnight. We found it quite telling that the 2 women on reception, when trying to find a suitable room for us, dismissed most available as 'horrible'. After that second visit, we decided that the Arden would no longer have our annual custom and we are relieved that when we go to the exhibition at NEC next week, that we do not have to face the prospect of staying at the Arden.