The Royal York Hotel

Not an excessive price considering the great location and expectation of 4*. Staff very nice, easy parking for the location, other than that very disappointed. Stayed 28.08.2011 in room 322 which I informed receptionist was a single occupancy room, not a couples room, it was one of the smallest rooms I ever stayed in and there was one of everything, explanation was it's a Victoraian hotel and room sizes vary, we wont be seeing that one on the web site though. Never mind can relax in the pool/sauna/steam/jacuzzi before we leave....what a run down dirty leisure facility. Please could the management look at the floor in the sauna and report it as acceptable, never mind 4*?

Teh first room offered was underground and damp the second had too little room to wheel a briefcase around the bed. Generally the hotel is old, mouldy and shortly reaching a point beyond repair.
Stay elsewhere is my advice

1 reader found this review helpful

I read the reviews on this site after I had booked a night at this hotel and I really wasn't looking forward to going as it sounded so bad!
However our experience was very different from most of the other reviews. From arriving the reception and other staff were very helpful and pleasant.
Our room however was very small but had a view of the minster and was very quiet, this was fine for one night but it would have been far too small for two people had we been staying any longer.
We used the pool and sauna which were great after a day pounding the pavements.
My only real issue was at breakfast, our room was only written down for one breakfast which was obviously a mistake, but the woman in charge was most unpleasant and argumentative. Not good at her job at all!
I reported this when we checked out and can only hope she has been sent for a course on people skills so she can do her job better.
I would have rated higher had it not been for her.

My partner and I thought we had found a good deal on teletext, £60 each for 2 nights BB and Dinner on both nights...we were wrong!
This hotel should be condemned! The food is disgusting (especially evening meals!) The rooms are appalling; the ceiling is rotting away, and lifts up when there is a huge sea breeze. The bed has springs poking out of it; there isn't even a duvet just a rubbish blanket!
The bathroom is even worse! There is stained carpet in there, which to me suggests that the floor obviously hasn't been mopped, I dread to think and wouldn't darn to go in there without sandals on!
All this apart there was one or 2 friendly staff, but I have to say I will never be back to Blackpool again! Be warned do not stay here! It is awful.

1 reader found this review helpful

Before my trip, my friend told me that York is one of the most elegant cities in England with splendid style and attractive history. It is true after I arrived at this town. And I would like to have another holiday to there if possible.
It is a small city with warm people and convenient public transport system. The old city wall around the city centre shows typical Rome culture.
The buildings in York are different from other cities in England and I like them very much.
York Royal Hotel is located near the station. With clean room and welcome staff, it impressed me much more than holiday inn in bath and Leeds.
Because of it location, I feel easy to travel all the points around York without any difficulty.
In a word, York city and above hotel are both worth recommending.

2 readers found this review helpful

I wish I'd been on this website and read the reviews before booking to stay at this hotel!
Check in was very bland and formal with no friendliness from the staff. I even had to go back to the desk and ask which way we were supposed to go to find our rooms as no one had pointed us in the right direction.
I was expecting a lovely room after all it is a 4 star hotel and the pictures on the website look wonderful.... I was extremely disappointed.
The room was tatty and had a horrible view from the window of a scruffy looking back yard and various roof tops. The bed was a king size, however, the duvet itself was for a double bed but put inside a king size sheet so there was not enough coverage on the bed.
The pillows on the bed were all extremely uncomfortable and neither I nor my husband had a good nights sleep. There was an empty, small cupboard in the bedroom which looked like there had once been a fridge in there but was now no longer! The curtains in the bedroom didn't close properly either.
We chose not to eat in the hotel as the prices were absolutely ridiculous. We had a nice meal in York on the Saturday night and on Sunday morning we went to a Wetherspoons nearby for a full English breakfast which cost us £1.99 each (and was delicious) as opposed to the £27.90(!) the hotel were charging.
However, on check-out the hotel tried to charge us for breakfast even though we hadn't eaten there - so beware and check your bill!
Check-out was fairly smooth apart from being wrongly charged for breakfast but the staff failed to inform us that the car park code had changed and it wasn't until we were loaded up and in the car at the barrier, that we realised and we had to park up and go back into the hotel to get the new code.
I was extremely shocked at the charge for car parking. Guests are charged £6 per 24 hour period on a weekend and £8 per 24 hour period during the week. I think that it is disgusting to charge paying guests to park in the hotel car park.
After looking on the Royal York Hotel's website and seeing it refers to a £1 million refurbishment recently I was very excited about staying there.
I can honestly say I didn't see any sign of this having taken place recently and in the Spa area there was a sign next to the steam room to say that they were aware it needed replacing and hopefully that will be happening soon.
The men's changing rooms were also out of action during our stay as they were being refurbished. My husband had to get changed in a broom cupboard and had to be brought through the ladies changing rooms to get to the pool area!

We stayed in The Royal York for two nights.

Check in: Very poor. They could not find our booking and we had to write our names down on a piece of paper and even then, they had to call the Duty Manager.
Room: We moved rooms. The first one they put us in was miles away from the main building. You had to go down in the lift, then past various meeting rooms and a bar and then take another lift to get to the floor our room was on.
The room was nicely appointed but was right next to the lift shaft and overlooking the Railway Station. We asked for another room and got a tiny one on the first floor. No space to leave anything or hang up your clothes. The second set of towels were hidden in the wardrobe. The bath was big and ok.
Food: If our experience is anything to go by: don't eat there. My husband is vegetarian and he was supposed to get "stir fried seasonal vegetables, with a drizzle of sweet and sour sauce - the sauce was ketchup! The seasonal vegetables were half cooked potatoes.
My fare wasn't any better: the turkey was definitely pork covered in congealed gravy, the vegetables. The selection of "fine English cheese" was old and rancid and the biscuits had clearly been left out for a couple of days.
Breakfast: First morning fine. Standard English breakfast, ok. Second morning: chaos ruled. No milk or sugar on the table, my husband had to ask for our toast tree times and then it was stone cold and dry.
When we got back that day at 15.30 hrs from our sightseeing trip in York, our keys did not work. The keys had been disabled because they thought we were supposed to check out. It took us ages to get a new one made (lots of people checking in).
When we finally got in, our room had not been made up at all. So another call to reception.
We complained when we checked out and got a lot of excuses but managed to get a substantial room rate reduction.
Basically: don't stay there.