Kensington Hotel

Have stayed at this hotel before. The stay this time though was disappointing. The room was clean on arrival, with fresh towels and the usual shower / shampoo you would expect from a hotel of this standard. Lighting in the room was quite poor. Sunken ceiling lights were not sufficient to allow a person to dry their hair in front of if the dressing table mirror and the only window in the room had seagull poo in the inside for some reason, The room service was not up to the previous standard, as I twice had to visit reception to request items that hadn’t been replenished. The reception staff were on the whole friendly, apart from one person, who was quite offhand and I got the impression that he was annoyed that I had interrupted him reading his paper to request what was missing. The second time ,( in our 3 day stay), the room had only been half finished and I ended up making our own bed and cleaning the shower myself. The maid we spoke to on that day looked very tired and said she had to do rooms on 2 floors on her own, which to me was a stretch and they could have done with more service staff. Small things that shouldn’t have to be tolerated like having a double size duvet in a king size cover, leaving loads of empty space at the ends I found quite irritating. Breakfast was between 8-30 and 9-30. We were down each morning before 9 am and had full breakfasts. On 2 of the days it was obvious they had been cooked a lot earlier as the bacon was hard and the other items looked dry and inedible. Only on one of the days was it satisfactory. There were coach parties in the hotel, who were obviously getting priority over the individual guests and we were not the only couples to notice this. On the plus side at just over £75 per night for bed and breakfast, the hotel was cheaper than a Travelodge. The open areas were clean and well furnished and its in a good location with ample parking at the rear with lifts to all floors.

Stayed at The Kensington for 4 nights as part of a coach party. Our room was spotlessly clean, very comfortable and lightly serviced daily (ie beds made, clean cups and tea bags etc replenished). We asked for a fan and one was duly brought to our room within minutes. Breakfast and evening meal was included in our package and we found the variety, quality, presentation and quantity of food excellent. The staff were all very helpful. Our two waiters for the duration of our stay (ashamed to say we didn't get their names) were absolute superstars. Whatever you're paying those two guys, pay them more, they're so worth it!!