DoubleTree Sheffield Park - Detailed Review
/As part of a one night stopover on a recent road trip down to London, I booked a twin room in the DoubleTree Sheffield Park. There were two types of twin rooms available. A Twin Guest and a Twin Deluxe. The Twin Deluxe rooms are all in the hotel’s newer wing and feature more modern amenities. Whilst I could have used the Diamond status to try and get an upgrade to the Deluxe, the price difference was only £4 so I decided to just guarantee the upgrade by booking that room type.
The room rate for that night was £101.50 and I didn’t put any Hilton Honors points towards the booking.
Where is The DoubleTree Sheffield Park?
The DoubleTree Sheffield is located just off of Chesterfield Road South, a few miles south of Sheffield city centre.
We picked the Sheffield DoubleTree due to its location, just over half way between Glasgow and London. Although we didn’t spend much time in the area, the hotel’s location would have worked well for those visiting Sheffield, Chesterfield and the Peak District.
Getting There
This hotel is only realistically accessible by car, taxi or Uber.
By Car, Plus Parking
From the North, driving south on the M1, take Junction 33 on to the A630 towards Sheffield. Continue on the dual carriageway and follow the A61 towards Chesterfield, M1 South. The hotel is located on your left hand side.
From the South, driving north on the M1, take Junction 29 to A617 Chesterfield. Follow the A61 towards Sheffield and the hotel will be on your right. You’ll need to keep driving to the next roundabout and double back to turn left into the hotel.
There is ample self-parking at this hotel and there’s no fee to pay.
Is Uber Available Around the DoubleTree Sheffield?
Yes, UberX, UberXL, Exec and Assist are all available around the DoubleTree Sheffield.
Use our UBER code: andrewy2730ue or sign up here to get a discount on your first ride.
Check In
We used digital check-in on the Hilton Honors app to check in and choose a room the night before we arrived. I’d picked room 252, facing out towards the playing field on the southern side of the hotel. The hotel called a few hours later to check that we were happy with the room choice. This doesn’t normally happen but I’d mentioned that we were celebrating a birthday on the booking notes so they were calling to make sure as they were planning a birthday platter for the room.
The plan on arrival was to use Hilton’s Digital Key to enter the room so we wouldn’t need to go via reception. However, I’d noticed the key wasn't available when we arrived, around 3pm check-in time, because the room wasn’t ready.
We waited in the hotel lobby for around 5 minutes after speaking to the reception staff, before we were handed a couple of room key cards, four complimentary drinks vouchers (two more than usual) and two DoubleTree cookies.
Twin Deluxe Room
The more contemporary Deluxe Twin Room was in the newer wing of the hotel and this whole area had a refreshing feel to it. The room was in immaculate condition, cleaned and tidied to a high standard.
The room had no unique design to it, I would call it a high-standard basic hotel twin room. That said, there were some pops of colour, in the table and the headboards, which brightened up the space.
This wing of the hotel, on the southern side, offered some of the better views outside to the playing field and the hills in the distance.
Furniture
The bedroom had two adequately-sized single beds, with a single shelf unit in between. And, as is customary with the newer Hilton Group Hotels in the UK, each bed had a wall-foldable reading light and a lamp next to it, providing plenty of lighting options.
An armchair sat in the corner of the room next to a small table, standing lamp and reading light. A medium-sized unit underneath the wall-mounted TV (which was positioned slightly askew for some reason) provided some storage space.
But here’s where we come to the biggest practical downside to the room. The lack of a desk/mirror combo. It sounds simple but if you’re wanting to dry your hair in front of a mirror, for example, you’ll need to do what I did. Sit on the floor in the entryway facing the tall mirror with the hairdryer plugged into the low wall-mounted plug socket.
storage
I could see this room being slightly limited storage space-wise in certain circumstances. You could find a drawer between the two beds and some space in the unit under the TV (half of it was being used for the fridge). But the wardrobe provides most of the storage space.
You could fit one piece of max-sized hand luggage in the lower part of the wardrobe. There were some hangers and there was some shelf space. But if two people are sharing, you’ll likely have to make use of the luggage rack that’s provided (as it is in most DoubleTrees).
power outlets
You cannot fault this room on accessible plug points positioned next to the bed. There were 2 plug points and 2 USB points next to each of them. You could also find 2 plugs and 2 USB points under the TV and 2 under the mirror in the entryway.
amenities
On entering the room, we found a birthday platter with two delicious slices of lemon drizzle cake and a card from reception. A nice touch.
We were given 4 complimentary drinks vouchers (redeemable for both non-alcoholic and limited alcoholic options in the bar area).
Unlike most Hilton Group Hotels, I was pleased to see that Twinings Tea was not the in-room staple. Instead, Brodies Tea took its place, a much better option in my opinion. Tea, coffee, hot chocolate, sugar and UHT milk pots were provided.
In the wardrobe, you could find a safe, an iron, ironing board, two dressing gowns and two pairs of slippers.
Temperature Controls
The temperature controls were wall-mounted and modern and the room was at a decent temperature. However, we did have a problem in that we couldn’t put it up any higher. The unit showed the room being at 20° but it didn’t feel like that. This was clearly an issue in multiple rooms as we’d noticed an elderly couple in reception later were having the same problem.
WiFi
Download speeds and upload speeds were very satisfactory at 36.7Mbps download and 41.4Mbps upload. However, they’re only satisfactory speeds if you can actually stay connected. At various points I’d only manage to connect for a few minutes at a time so I mostly had to rely on the 4G on my phone.
house keeping
There were no issues here. The bedroom and the bathroom were cleaned and tidied to a high standard. For note, there is no turndown service at this hotel.
Bathroom
The bathroom was really what convinced us to book the upgraded Deluxe room as the difference was quite stark. The Deluxe bathroom was beautifully designed with grey and stone tiling.
There was a rain and a handheld shower (no bath) and both the temperature and the water pressure was excellent.
amenities
You’ll know you’re staying in a DoubleTree if you see the pleasant but standard Crabtree & Evelyn toiletries. This room provided us with shampoo, conditioner, body wash, body lotion, mouth wash (not always a standard), a sewing kit and shower cap.
One additional feature of the bathroom was the speaker system which was connected to the TV in the bedroom. It was basically just a volume control on the wall but a neat feature nonetheless.
Hotel Facilities
Swimming Pool and Gym
Outside normal hours, the swimming pool had adult-only pool times from 11am-1pm (Mon-Sun) and 8pm-10pm (Mon-Fri). You could either bring a pound for the lockers, or you can use the tokens they give you at the welcome desk. Towels were provided.
The pool area was quite dated but the pool itself was a small-to-medium size and was almost Floridian in temperature (a definite plus if you ask me). There was also a sauna, a steam room and a jacuzzi.
Neither of us used the fitness centre on this occasion but it was well-equipped with a range of strength training and cardio equipment.
Electric Vehicle (EV) Chargers
The DoubleTree Sheffield Park has two Type 2 (7kW) chargers reserved for guest use only and the spaces are well-positioned near the entrance to the hotel lobby.
Dining
There were a couple of dining options in this DoubleTree. The main restaurant was a Marco Pierre White Steakhouse Bar & Grill but the menu was quite pricey so we opted for dinner in the Lounge Bar instead.
The Steakhouse is open for lunch from 12pm-2:30pm Friday and 12:30pm-3pm on weekends. Dinner is available daily from 5:30pm-9:30pm.
The lounge bar, on the other hand, is open daily from 9am until late and you can purchase food from 10am-11pm.
Breakfast
Breakfast was included as part of our stay due to the Diamond Hilton status and was served in the Marco Pierre White restaurant just next to the lobby area. Breakfast times were 6:30am-10am Mon-Fri and 7:30am-11am on weekends and bank holidays.
The restaurant, like the newer wing of the hotel, had a contemporary design, with a delightful piano bar area.
And, like our experience with most DoubleTrees, the breakfast options didn’t disappoint. You could opt for a cooked breakfast (beans, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages, black pudding, hash browns, fried eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms).
Alternatively, there was a large range of continental breakfast options. Fruit, yogurt, cold meat, waffles, bagels, muffins and pastries. You could also get breakfast cereal, a range of fruit juices and Brodies tea or coffee.
Check Out
In terms of speed and ease, there were a few issues with checkout that could have been easily remedied. We turned up at the desk ready to checkout and there were two staff members talking to another about shift rotas. One could have dealt with the issue whilst the other dealt with us. Or alternatively, they could have just stopped their conversation and shifted focus to us, the hotel guests.
Once we got round to the check-out process, the staff member acknowledged I’d said I was checking out. She started the process but then told me I’d already checked in. The whole process was very confused. Everything was eventually worked out but I’d call the experience far from easy or smooth.
The price was checked, the bill was paid and was then emailed to me on my Hilton Honors email address. Additionally, the bill is viewable on the Hilton Honors app in the ‘Past Stays’ section. I’ll always give a thumbs up to emailed bills over printed ones which save on paper use.
Conclusion and Scoring
The DoubleTree Sheffield suited us well for a one night stay on the road down to London. I’m glad we paid for the upgrade to the more contemporary Twin Deluxe room. The in-room amenities set a high bar for other DoubleTree hotels but there were some issues which should be remedied for future guests.
The WiFi needs to be fixed, as does the heating control unit. For the majority of the time, our interaction with staff, particularly in the bar and pool areas, was flawless. However, it tends to be the first and last impressions that you remember and both the check-in and check-out experiences could have been smoother.
I hope you received value from this review. If you did, don’t forget to check out our tour of the Sheffield Park on YouTube.
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