The City Hotel

Booked this hotel for Friday of the May racing festival 2 months in advance, 4 days to go and they tell me they have to cancel my booking because the hotel is being refurbished. Who refurbished their hotel on the busiest week in Chester with a weeks notice. DO NOT TOUCH THIS HOTEL!!

Don't stop here! absolutely nothing like the *********** advert led us to believe. They must have written all their own reviews. No wifi - been down for 4 weeks apparently , no promised cereal available in room, broken blind, absolutely filthy. Room like a sauna. Building exterior squalid. We went to Asda for cleaning materials as we had to stop the first night but no way could we stop there a second night. The manager was on holiday and could not be contacted.

Turned up and had to put a code into the master lock to get the key. the code didnt work, we rang the main number and a call centre answered and said they would send a message for someone to call us. We did this 3 times, no one called and we had to find somewhere else to stay. A joke.

My booking (via ***********) was cancelled with just a few hours notice with no explanation. I telephoned the hotel directly with the booking reference to see if this was mistake or if there was an alternative as I needed somewhere urgently. I was put on hold by the receptionist and he came back to say he couldn't get hold of a manager but took my email and phone number and said they would get back to me...but they never did.

I booked this hotel months in advance for myself and a friend who was visiting from abroad . The room was cancelled 1 week before with no real explanation by email . I am unable to get another room mow as prices are high as so close to date . Also despite calling the hotel 3 times about a refund and being promised every time that someone will call back it never happens . So I am left not able to Visit chester on that date and out of pocket as no refund either so be very careful if you wish to book this hotel I would look for another one

We booked for a last minute trip. Hotel is not in the centre but we knew this when booking and taxi was 5 minutes from restaurants and bars. Room was lovely and the free standing bath was a fabulous extra. Reception friendly and check in / check out easy. Only complaint is £120 is a bit much but we would stay again.

- At 11 pm water started pouring through our fire alarm causing the fire alarm to go off and the building had to evacuate. When we all got to reception we realised no staff were on the premises and it was basically impossible to get hold of anyone. After another girl rong the fire department and then got hold of vicky the management who arrived about an hour later and when returning back to our room water was flushing down in several places and the firemen deemed 3 rooms unsafe and had to turn electrics off for them rooms. Vicky assured us that the owner was on his way but it would take him an hour and he would pay for alternative stays for us. We were also informed that a flood happened back in July but it's clear the problem was never fixed. It got to about half 1 and it was clear the owner wasn't going to show up but we were assured by vicky that if we found a stay that night we would be reimbursed and given details to send our invoice too. After barely finding an alternative stay we got a message the following day saying we would be refunded the whole stay by Dylan i then told him i would be sending the invoice the following day and he said vicky would sort it on Monday and I'm still waiting to hear anything back from anyone. So the staff here are only on the premises about 3 hours a day so if you have any problems during your stay theres a high possibility it wont get sorted. Avoid!

Terrible stay. At 23.00, the hotel flooded, and the fire alarm went off. All residents evacuated, but there were no staff to be found. The mobile phone number we were given rang the phone behind reception, which was empty. The fire brigade arrived at the same time as a deputy manager an hour after being called. The deputy manager then complained to the fire fighters about being called and then to the residents as she was on a 'day off'.. 3 rooms were placed out of use, one of which was where our pregnant niece was staying. At 1.30 am with no where to go and no help from staff we found her accommodation via a friend. At 1.45, the electrician started to turn the fire alarms back on, so they constantly went off every 5 minutes until 2.30. On checking out 10.45, there were still no staff to discuss a refund. On leaving the hotel, we found that one of the evacuated couples had slept in their car, next to the main road. Overall, do not expect to see any staff during your stay apart from between 15.00 and 18.00 to check in. As for the accommodation, there are no fixed showers in the room, only a hand-held shower attachment and no shower curtain, so the room floods. Some rooms do even have a door on the toilet Avoid this hotel.