The Great Victoria Hotel — Hotel in Bradford

More things were wrong with our stay in this hotel than right. We were there for 3 nights, and if we hadn’t felt confident that some effort would be made to fix the fixable problems, we would have requested a move or contacted the booking agent to have us moved somewhere else entirely.

The lift was broken. From the signs up next to reception, this has been an ongoing problem and is unlikely to be fixed anytime soon.

The front doorbell is broken and the doors are locked after midnight. Signs on the door instructed us to call a UK mobile number. We would therefore have to place an international call in order to get into the hotel. Again, this has apparently been the situation for quite some time, and the night employee responded to our protestations with an unimpressed, “That’s too bad.”

The shower was broken. We didn’t notice this until we arrived back in the middle of the night. The temperature dial was completely broken off, and the water was scalding. We tried to adjust it by turning the plastic bit that was still there, but it did nothing, so we had to take baths.

In the morning, we consulted the desk clerk. She suggested that the manager could come set the temperature, so that as long as we only turned the shower on and didn’t touch the temperature, we should at least be able to shower. She also said she would arrange that perhaps the door could stay slightly open the next night. When we were preparing to leave that evening, there had still been no one in to fix the shower. The clerk on now hadn't heard of this problem. We didn’t think to mention the door problem again.

That night, as the taxi arrived in front of the door and we were paying him, we watched the night employee attach the same note about mobiles to the door. He couldn’t have failed to see our taxi through the large glass windows and doors. As we walked up to the door, he locked the last door and WALKED AWAY!! We banged on the windows to get his attention, and after quite a delay, he opened the door grumpily to us.

Thankfully, our shower temperature had been set to a reasonable temperature, and we were able to shower before sleep this second night.

The following night, our shower was again scalding. Then the bathwater was brown.

In the morning, the same desk clerk was working who had made us promises that first morning, and we told her and the manager of these fiascos. We suggested that they consider a wireless doorbell for the night person to carry with him so that late-comers could actually get into their hotel without making expensive calls. They comped us one night, but made no indication that they would fix any of these issues.

Additional minor issues include bent and broken blinds in the bathroom, which were also filthy, incredibly dusty surfaces throughout the hotel common areas, and overripe fruit options in the breakfast buffet.

We travel annually to Bradford for a music festival, and this was our first time staying at the Great Victoria, as we like to check out all the options when we go to the same location regularly. It will be our last. Thank goodness that neither the Jury’s Inn nor the Bradford Hotel has given us a bad experience. We are already booked at the Jury’s for next year’s festival, and we have advised other festival guests to avoid the Great Victoria, which was worse...

I am quite capable of writing scathing reviews when I need to, but I would gladly rate this place higher if it was possible. It is my gem of the year.

The Great Victoria is a Victorian Railway hotel in the centre of Bradford. It has been brilliantly and subtly modernised - retaining many original features but with the addition of exceptional design touches.

The communal areas are relatively spartan but not entirely - there are interesting objets in corridors and alcoves. The bedrooms are really interestingly updated. I've stayed three times now and been in different rooms on each occasion. Each one is equipped with the essentials but always with a flair. The main room light might be a chandelier; the bed might be a contemporary four poster; the furniture is often matching leather bound, though last night I had a lovely red-velvet covered sofa; the bathrooms use the space well and, where possible, are refurbished without being stripped of some original features such as beautiful black and white tiles or a enormous sink; other rooms may have completely new fittings (again, last night, I had a superb bathroom with a massive, modern two-person bath (no end and freestanding) as well as a huge walk-in shower with a rainfall head.

There's fast free wifi in every room, as well as a Freeview box. (I think one reviewer didn't use the controller properly so thought there was only one channel!)

The rooms are immaculately clean, though sometimes the outside features (such as an original window beyond the new double glazing) might be a bit grubby - this is not a fault, it's probably because of the nature of the listed building status and how it has been adapted over the years.

The bar is decent sized and is in the style of a club lounge, and well stocked. The adjacent restaurant offers all the usual pub-standards, though usually served with a contemporary aspect (such as double cooked chips). Much of this food is also available through room service well into the night. The breakfast is a full-English buffet style, with pastries, etc.

The staff are incredibly friendly - I think I'm in love with the blonde Yorkshire lass on Reception, she's so cheerful! You rarely go to a hotel these days and see staff walking around the corridors with smiles but they do here.

Don't be put off by the location. The hotel is directly opposite the Law Courts - fun to watch at breakfast as the barristers arrive in their morning suits with wheelie bags, and even the occasional paparazzi photographer. It is adjacent to the bus, coach, and railway stations and a few night spots, but the glazing is excellent and inside the hotel is an oasis - there really is no noise from outside. The building stands sufficiently apart from others that I've yet to stay in a room that hasn't had a great view, and loads of sunlight.

There's a free dedicated car-park adjacent to the hotel for which you just need to collect a token from Reception to use on exiting.

Although I have stayed here previously on business, I am planning on bringing my partner soon, because it will be a great place from which to explore the area.

Highly recommended (unless you like the predictably featureless environment of a...

I stayed at this hotel on a business visit to Bradford. It was the worst experience I have had in any hotel. From I entered until I left, it was disappointing . I arrived at night after having travelled several hours so I was exhausted. The man on duty at the desk requested that I paid for my stay before I would get a key to my room. I told him that my company had already paid (which they had) and he should check his records. He did a very cursory check and told me that, no, there was no record of payment having been made. I had to pay these funds from my personal account which I was not expecting. As it was after work hours, I couldn’t call my company to get them to speak with this man and to confirm to him that it had been paid. So far so bad... I got to my room, and settled down to what I hoped would be a restful sleep. Instead, I heard every vehicle that passed the hotel, every move the person above my room made, and in the morning, every alarm and every kettle that boiled! Horrendous! For the entire time at this hotel my sleep was practically non-existent. Worse was to come. My company had only booked me for 3 nights (which was the charge that was taken from my card) and needed to pay for a fourth night. They called the hotel and duly advised them to charge another night on the company’s card that they had left the details with the hotel. Instead, the hotel AGAIN charged MY personal card instead!! This although they had by now apologised for changing me for the three nights my company had already paid for and having refunded that to my card. The fact is that they then had no reason to have retained my card details because they already had those of my company’s! This was simply awful. I ordered food on evening number 1. There was a deal where the meal should have cost according to their documents I believe £21. This turned into £30.00! When I complained the manageress advised that this £21.00 was only for a certain period, despite my having been also advised of the cost being £21.00 by the staff in the restaurant. As she spoke, one member of staff at the desk told her that she wasn’t aware that this was only for a particular period and neither were the other staff members, so maybe the manageress should tell the staff. By the way, the manageress was a superficial complaints handler, one who appeared to hear nothing of what I was complaining about much less to care too much about how my stay was affected. Poor. Now to the food! I wish there was facility on this page to show you the bowl of OIL that my meal was drowned in! Absolutely appalling! The noise from the street and from the other rooms made for a lack of or extremely poor quality sleep. The comedy of errors and poor customer service response would have made this rating a zero, had that...