DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Bristol - Cadbury House

What People are saying

Is there an Adult in charge?

Lawyersontouron 24/08/2017 15:24

It's taken me three months to write this review, mainly to calm down.

First the good bits: it was cheap (two connecting rooms, c. £90); the main terrace has a gorgeous view (you can see in the pictures).

The rest ... the staff are enthusiastic but like a collection of highly explosive unguided missiles, liable to go off at any time in random directions, maybe taking you or your bags with them.

Details.... jeepers... where to start...

It's a Friday. The second May bank holiday w.e. They have a wedding party in or similar. Very busy. We arrive at 6pm. Check in is charming. But our rooms are unmade and not yet cleaned. 'Don't worry' says the bellhop handing out free drink vouchers, 'Have Dinner, I will look after your bags, and by the time you get back the room will be ready'. My wife piped up, 'and the put up bed for our youngest, the one on the booking...' 'Of course madam'.

No hotel I have ever stayed in, in 25 years, has ever lost my bag between the door of my room and the room itself. Not even the one in Nairobi where I nearly got divorced by accident. The distance between room and bags is maybe 2 yards. Surely there is no chance in a 4 star Hilton property. The free drinks vouchers (why have a stash of these in your back pocket?) and the apparent age of the bell hop (17?) might have been a warning.

Dinner is not good. Starters and mains arrive in a loose order, but not at anything like the same time. One starter post dates the first main. But may have been cooked before anything else. The wine, a good Italian red, is free says the maitre d', apologetically. Would we like dessert? No. It's 9 pm. We've been at this 2 hours. Youngest DD is nearly asleep. Let's bail whilst the bill is still just below 50 quid a head.

We return to our rooms, past some room service trays, plates and so on abandoned uncleaned beneath the stairs.

Our room is still not cleaned.

No bed has been put up for our youngest child. (We are 5).

One bag (of five) is missing.

Not a small bag. 20kg+ hold luggage only. From some angles it blots out the sun.

Over the next hour and three quarters increasingly hilarious attempts are made to clean our room, find a put up bed that fits our tiny room and locate our bag. Made all the better because housekeeping (charming) spoke next to no English so couldn't explain to the front desk (also charming - if looking a little wide eyed by now) why they couldn't find a put up bed for us (the rooms we have been given are too small... they don't fit!), and the CCTV showed our luggage entering the hotel but not at any stage after that (Manager: 'are you sure you brought it down to the room sir?' Me:'...No. I didn't bring it down...' Manager: 'ah, well then' Me;'...your staff did...').

There were many apologies ('we are very busy so housekeeping are behind, I am so sorry') but no brains at all. Of course you're busy. It's the second May bank holiday and you have a wedding party in. What did they do? All 50+ stop by for a shotgun reception on a whim? Did you not see this sudden peak in demand coming?

By 11, we have a camp bed for DD (that took an hour .... seriously) the room is made up, and our bag is found in the room opposite (just think about that for a moment.... 5 bags all in a row... 4 bags go in one right room and one very special bag gets put somewhere else...).

At 5 am we are up for the airport. Fortunately the wedding party make sure we make the plane by setting off the fire alarm at 3am. Ho ho. What japes.

As we leave, an irate man at the front desk - maybe he also has been awake for two hours - is trying to check out to catch his plain, taxi waiting. The duty night clerk is earnestly trying to make he and his partner complementary coffee to send them on their way. At some point that coffee was welcome, but no longer. The moment passed several minutes earlier.

The staff here seemed very young, all knew the customer was right and were quick to apologise and try to fix issues. But they seemed to have no idea how to run a restaurant, kitchen or hotel. Maybe Hilton use this Doubletree to train staff... hopefully they learnt from the experience. I certainly did.

Adeeuate

DeanFurlongon 23/08/2017 20:20

Fine for business , would I go with my wife for the weekend ... probably not .

Service same as ever from chains . The Marco restaurant is all hype ... but perfectly ok for business . Some rooms are so far away, End up cutting through restaurant if you get one of those rooms complain. ... just another hotel

Friday- Monday Weekend Stay

864shaunoon 23/08/2017 14:24

Jamie and his team did an outstanding job of looking after my mothers 80th birthday celebrations in the garden room on Saturday 19 August 2017, he has an excellent nature and is a credit to your company.

Excellent weekend stay

The-cedarson 23/08/2017 10:44

First time at this particular Hilton Hotel but thoroughly enjoyed our stay. The food and service in the restaurant was excellent. The location was exactly what we wanted the hotel was situated in superb grounds where you could walk round and enjoy the scenery.

Lovely night away

JoDuncanon 23/08/2017 10:33

My husband booked a 1 night Marco retreat for us. We arrived at 11am and were shown to the spa. The pool was out of order for maintenance for our first day which was a shame, but as an apology they waived the treatment upgrade fee we had booked, and it was also quieter as the members weren't there using the facilities! We were provided with robes and towels and could use the outdoor hot tub which is lovely, with plenty of nice outdoor loungers, plus the 3 saunas, steam room, and relaxation room which had double and twin beds in along with hanging pods which were a novelty. We went up to the café in our robes and had a cocktail. We had a couples massage that afternoon which we both really enjoyed.

We ate in the Marco steakhouse that night, had a lovely baked camembert and then 10oz ribeye. Great service and quality of food.

Our room was lovely, we had upgraded to a deluxe King. The room was clean and they provided bottled water and sweet treats. Lovely bathroom and fluffy towels. The bed was large and comfortable. There were a couple of issues which my husband discussed with reception (a few things he had thought were provided in the room like a sofa and robes) and as an apology we were provided with drinks vouchers for the bar. We had a great view over the gardens, can definitely recommend the room and view. If you were further down the hotel you wouldn't get the view.

Breakfast was great - huge selection of cereals, pastries and muffins, speciality breads, plus help yourself juices and cooked breakfast. Very filling.

We went back to the spa the next day, robes and towels provided again, more people there this time as the pool was open again. Lovely changing facilities and showers.

We then had afternoon tea booked before leaving, had a lovely table in the garden room with a view again, and a delicious afternoon tea, 5 mini sandwiches each, a scone (could be fruit or plain), and then mini cakes and macaroons. Lovely staff here too and Amy was lovely and chatted to us for a while.

All in all a fabulous break away.