Midland Hotel — Hotel in Bradford

I was visiting Bradford for the first time as part of my work and needed a good value hotel for one night with parking. My wife (who came up with me) suggested the Midland Hotel based on reviews. I was hesitant at first, as I gather it is owned by the Britannia group who don't generally have a good reputation and I have had poor experiences in other hotels run by them, but all the reviews were really positive so I booked it...and was so pleased I did as the experience was very good and customer service was excellent.||The hotel has parking on a first come first served basis and we managed to find a space near the hotel entrance by the railings - we just had to register the car details at reception. When we checked in the lady on reception couldn't find my booking details however fortunately as I had my paperwork with me she was able to sort it all out. It was taking a little while to sort and so I allowed someone behind me to get served first and we sat for a few minutes. The receptionist apologised for the delays and gave us a free upgrade to an executive room on the 1st floor, which was very much appreciated.||The hotel has bags of history, being an old Railway Hotel that was built by the Midland Railway Company as a showpiece, and many of the original Victorian features are retained. It really is a piece of history and the décor makes any stay feel special. ||Our room was large with a generous sized bathroom, king size bed, workdesk, coffee pod machine and kettle, free Wi-Fi, a small table and chairs, TV, iron and board, hair dryer, plenty of storage, etc. There was biscuits and robes and slippers. There was no air-con, just a radiator and a portable fan but we managed to get the radiator to a workable temperature without too much problem. The shower was very powerful and reached a good temperature after a short while running the water.||We didn't eat in the hotel so cannot vouch for the breakfast / dinner quality but my lasting impression of our stay was the wonderful customer service and friendly staff...combined with great value and free parking this was such a pleasant surprise and I would have no hesitation to come back here if revisiting Bradford. The location is a bonus as it's right by the main train station, a few minutes walk from Centenary Square and City...

Plus points - the building itself, entrances and public rooms are Victorian era and really beautiful. The staff are really friendly, check in and check out were efficient and informative. If you are visiting the city centre the location is great, next door to Bradford Forster Square station. Well stocked bar and lots of places to sit in the lobby and landing areas. WiFi worked fine and they have a dedicated room if you need to work and lots of meeting rooms. Lift up to all floors from reception. Sufficient free parking and easy to get to. Nice toiletries, really powerful shower, full size bath, big, fluffy towels and decent hairdryer. Tea, coffee, biscuits, kettle, iron and ironing board also supplied in the room. Comfortable bed (for me - the bed is very firm so obviously this is down to preference!), good pillows, mattress and pillow protectors on bed and linens all very clean. Really thick lined curtains. Cons - our room was quite small and was looking a little shabby. I didn't get any photos but it didn't quite live up to the public areas of the hotel. The building is old and when the people upstairs were moving around we could hear the floorboards creak and the plumbing is a little loud. The sash window only opens a few inches which seems pretty standard in most hotels - it would have been useful to have something to prop it open - I ended up using my shoe! TV was quite small but fine and good selection of channels available, due to the room size and layout it was at a great spot for one side of the bed, not so much for the other! We didn't eat at the hotel so I can't comment on the restaurant. Overall if you are visiting Bradford city centre I would recommend...

The review about room 122, below, is not alone. ||We stayed in room 128. The hotel’s classification is that it is “executive” and charged accordingly a higher tariff. The windows were rotten with the frames disintegrating and the last of the paint flaking off. A hole in the carpet through to the floorboards. Stains on the chair. 3 cracks in the bathroom basin. A drab and unpleasant room in need of refurbishing and a downgrade of tariff in the meantime. ||I asked Nathan, the on call manager, to come to our room and explain how this shabby room could possibly be rated as “executive” and therefore justify the cost. I said let’s talk it through rather than taking it to TripAdvisor. He basically said the room was bigger (it wasn’t), the tv was bigger ( it wasn’t) and we had a coffee machine (we did). He did agree the room required an overhaul, but I just couldn’t get him to concede that charging an Executive tariff was tantamount to dishonest representation and the coffee machine just made it a poor room with a coffee machine and NOT executive. ||He did come back, after being chased a number of days later, and offer a 20% discount on our next stay. No, you had your chance to make it right when we were there and I was not going to spend 80% more in costs with them to get 20 % back! I’d already explained that having been coming for 20yrs this was not satisfactory and we were sorry to see that under Brittania Hotels stewardship in recent years the decline was definitely...