DoubleTree Chester Hotel & Spa - Detailed Review
/On our way back up from London, we stopped for one night in the DoubleTree Chester Hotel & Spa. We had family travelling with us so we booked 2 basic King Guest Rooms (with the hope of getting upgrades). We had trouble getting through to the hotel reception a couple of times when calling but when we finally got through, we managed to secure upgrades to both rooms (thanks again to the Diamond status).
Both rooms were upgraded to Junior Suites, we then proceeded to pick the specific rooms through the Hilton App. Each room cost around £100 per night (since we were paying the King Guest room rate). We also put no Hilton Honors points towards the booking since the redemption rate was quite inefficient.
Where is The DoubleTree Chester?
The DoubleTree Chester, part of which is set in a Manor House from the 1700s, is located just a couple of miles north east of Chester, near the Welsh border.
Our reason for picking this hotel was similar to our reason for picking the DoubleTree Sheffield on the way down from Glasgow. It’s situated at around the half way point between London and Glasgow.
Things to do near the DoubleTree Chester
Grosvenor Park Miniature Railway - 2.2 miles or 9 min drive
Chester (picturesque historic town) - 2.4 miles or 10 min drive
Chester Cathedral Falconry and Nature Gardens - 2.5 miles or 11 min drive
Chester Zoo - 2.7 miles or 10 min drive
Cheshire Military Museum - 2.8 miles or 14 min drive
Getting To The DoubleTree Chester
Car, taxi or Uber will be the easiest options in and around this hotel.
By Car, Plus Parking
From the north, on the M6 driving south, take junction 20A on to the M56 (North Wales/Chester/Runcorn). Turn onto the M53, following signs for Chester/Wrexham. At junction 12, take the A56 exit to Chester, then take the 3rd exit at Hoole Island Junction to Warrington Road and the hotel is 400 yards on the left.
For custom directions, here is the hotel’s location on Google Maps.
There are 300 parking spaces at this hotel and parking is complimentary. Valet parking is not available.
Is Uber Available Around the DoubleTree Chester?
Uber is available around the DoubleTree Chester but it’s limited to the standard UberX service.
Use our UBER code: andrewy2730ue or sign up here to get a discount on your first ride.
Check In
The check-in experience was very efficient. The staff member on the desk explained everything in full and answered all of our questions, checking both of the rooms in simultaneously. She handed us two sets of room keys, each with 2 complimentary drink and appetiser cards which we could use in the Garden Room (that’s 4 complimentary drinks and 4 complimentary appetisers in total).
And this is just the start of one of the longest freebie lists I’ve seen in a Hilton Group hotel so far.
Junior Suite
We were allocated 2 junior suites in the hotel. The Williams Suite (Room 232) and The Baldwin Suite (Room 228). The Williams Suite, which I’ll be reviewing in this article, was actually a prototype room for the hotels new room designs, so was the more contemporary of the two.
I will note that the other (older) suite didn’t feel outdated. In fact, the bathroom in the older suite had a warmer aesthetic and a deeper bathtub (so there was no clear cut winner).
The Junior Suite was effectively a long room, L-shaped room, divided into 2 halves by a partial wall with a TV. One clever feature of the room was the rotating TV partition, which meant you could watch it from the couch or from the bed on the other side.
Although the room only had two small windows (overlooking some trees outside), the design of the room, with white walls and warm white lamps helped to brighten up the space.
Furniture
The Junior Suite had a large, comfortable Super King Bed, with a bedside table on either side. A sofa (sofa bed) sat on the wall opposite the bed, with a partition in between. There was also a comfortable arm chair and coffee table in the living space.
A shelving unit stood on the left hand side of the door, next to a desk and chair. The bed had a lamp and reading light on either side and there was a small table positioned in the bedroom area, next to the partition.
storage
On the left hand side, as you entered the room, was a large wardrobe with plenty of space for luggage and clothes. That, combined with several drawers and shelves throughout the room, meant you weren’t ever really short of storage space.
power outlets
You could find power points at the desk and next to the bed in the junior suite. Here’s the breakdown:
4 accessible plug sockets and 4 USB sockets at the desk
2 accessible plug sockets and 2 USB sockets on either side of the bed
amenities
As we were celebrating a birthday (which we added in a note to the booking) the hotel staff were kind enough to put out a fruit platter in one of the suites.
Most of the other amenities could be found in the wardrobe. This included 2 dressing gowns and 2 pairs of slippers, an ice bucket, a safe, an iron and an ironing board.
In terms of the tea/coffee facilities, I’d call this the standard upper-tier DoubleTree. Twinings Tea, a range of instant coffees, sugar, sweeteners and UHT milk. My justification for the ‘upper-tier’ classification is because it also came with a Nespresso coffee maker and 4 Nespresso capsules, which were replenished daily.
But here’s where we come to the highlight of the suite amenities list, the mini fridge. And I will say this wasn’t really explained on arrival. We only found out because a maid came to replenish the supplies. All of the food and drink in the fridge was free!
This included two small tins of Pringles crisps (original, plus sour cream and chive), a can of Sprite, a can of Diet Pepsi, two bottles of water, plus alcoholic drinks (Captain Morgans Rum and Cola, Heineken Beer, Gordon’s Gin and Tonic).
Temperature Controls
The temperature controls were wall-mounted and easy to use. You could adjust the temperature to a decent rage, hot or cold and there was AC if required. The fan, at a low speed, was also nice and quiet.
WiFi
Download speeds and upload speeds appeared slightly sluggish when tested at 5.87Mbps download and 5.9Mbps upload respectively. Despite this, we had no real trouble (as in no buffering) watching YouTube at 1080p in Full HD.
The internet was also nice and consistent and you would stay connected to it with no issues. I’m saying this because in some hotels the speed is adequate but the connection is temperamental.
house keeping
Pleased to say there were no issues here. The room was tidy and cleaned to a high standard.
Bathroom
The bathroom, the design of which had clearly changed a lot in the refresh, was modern, clean and elegant. There was a large bath tub (which seemed slightly smaller in the Williams, prototype Suite) on one wall and a large shower cubicle on the other.
The bath had a tap and an additional small shower head and the large shower had both a rainfall and handheld shower head. The water came to temperature quickly and the water pressure was excellent.
amenities
You were provided with a range of small and large fluffy towels and the hot towel rail was a welcome feature. In terms of the Toiletries, it’s our good old friend Crabtree & Evelyn. Shampoo, conditioner, body wash, body lotion, hand soap, plus some other small amenities were also provided.
Hotel Facilities
Swimming Pool
The Pool and Spa area was one of the highlights of the hotel but there is a significant caveat here which I’ll talk about first. Use of the pool in this hotel is not complimentary unless you’re a Gold or Diamond Hilton Honors member. You’ll pay £15 per Standard Room or £25 per Family Room for a two hour time slot otherwise.
Even if you are a Gold or Diamond member, you’ll still have to book your time slot and it was recommended that you book before your trip in case you couldn’t get allocated one. We tried to book around 1 week before our trip but we found it incredibly difficult to get through to the pool reception desk. This was similar to the issue we had contacting the hotel reception.
To give us some flexibility, we booked 2 time slots. One from 5-7pm on the night of arrival and one from 9-11am the next morning. However, when we arrived at the pool, we weren’t even asked for a name or a booking. All-in-all, the whole process was just a bit confusing.
The pool area itself was incredibly well-designed. There was the pool itself, which had 2 lanes. There was also a smaller, hydrotherapy pool which was connected to an outdoor thermal pool (with retractable roof), complete with waterfall.
In addition to this, there were 4 distinct steam rooms with slight variations, plus a sauna. The only downside was the popularity of the spa, which made it difficult to find a lounger and/or space to swim in the pool.
If you want a quieter period, I’d suggest avoiding the children’s swimming times. These are 7am-11am and 4pm-7pm Mon-Fri, plus 8am-12pm and 3pm-6pm on weekends and bank holidays.
Dining
Dinner
To make things easy and to make the most of our complimentary drink and appetiser vouchers, we decided to eat dinner in the Hotel.
This hotel has a Marco Pierre White Steakhouse (open from 12pm-10pm Tuesday to Saturday) but it can be difficult to get a reservation and it is more expensive. We opted instead for the Garden Room and Terrace restaurant (where our drink/appetiser vouchers applied).
Dinner, on a whole, was a mixed bag. The restaurant, first and foremost, felt understaffed. Not a sensible approach when the restaurant was at almost peak capacity. One plus was that our complimentary appetiser vouchers were actually complimentary starter vouchers since there weren’t any appetisers on the menu.
Since the starters ranged from £6.75 to £10.75, this freebie offered good value for money. To make the most of our drinks vouchers, two of us opted for alcoholic drinks. Here’s where things took a slight turn into awkwardness. We’d ordered Sloe Gin and Lemonade but we were incorrectly served Gin and Tonic.
Our drinks were replaced and, later on, to actually apologise for the slow service, we were offered another two. At this point, however, we both just felt like soft drinks so we changed the order. It turned out that they’d already poured the replacement alcoholic drinks, which they then just poured out. The whole fiasco was just a bit awkward and could have been handled better.
The food was delicious, we’d made the most of the vouchers but the service was slow and awkward at times. All-in-all, a mixed bag.
Breakfast
The Diamond Hilton Honors status gave both rooms complimentary breakfast, which we took full advantage of. And, our breakfast expectations were fully met.
In terms of continental options, there was a small range of pastries to choose from with a decent selection of condiments. You could choose from 7 different breakfast cereals including All Bran, Crunchy Nut and Coco Pops.
On the counter at the side, from left to right, there was a toast machine, a fridge with fruit, yoghurt, meat and cheese and then there was the hot buffet. This included sausages, bacon, eggs, beans, black pudding and hash browns.
Conclusion and Scoring
Most of the improvements the DoubleTree Chester could make are on the service side, in specific areas. The Garden Room Restaurant was understaffed on our visit and whilst the food was delicious, the overall experience was slow and awkward at times. We also attempted to contact the hotel (over phone and Twitter) a number of times before our trip to no avail.
Aside from those specific issues, which can be remedied, the DoubleTree Chester offered a fantastic end to our trip down to England. On top of the fantastic suites, the seemingly endless list of freebies and the pool experience, we also managed to secure late checkout until 1:30pm.
I hope you received value from this review. If you did, don’t forget to check out our tour of the Chester DoubleTree on YouTube.
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