Harbour Hotel Bristol — Hotel in Bristol

Mixed feelings on this visit. ||I’ve stayed previously and my room was wonderful. Rebooked for 2 nights this week and was sadly disappointed. ||The room (252) is at the back end of the properly, it’s not a bad size but it feels like it’s one they perhaps don’t book out that often. The bed duvet cover wasn’t wide enough. Usually when the bed has needs made it’s tightly tucked down the sides of the mattress but on the right hand side of the bed it didn’t even reach over the edge of the mattress. ||Similar issue with the mattress topper with is both not wide and not long enough for the size of the bed. There was also some random piece of clear plastic rubbish in the bed. Despite these issues the bed was very comfortable. They always are comfy at this hotel. Just a bit strange that things don’t fit. ||The room being at the back has the unfortunate sound of the machines out the back of the building which you hear constantly. If you enjoy white noise it’s ok but not for everyone. This could be quieter had there been curtains over the single pane windows but they only have shutters. This adds to the incomplete look/feel of the room as well as the sound issues. Furthermore due to the single pane glass the room is quite cold, the air con on hot helps but it takes a while to heat the room. ||There are free tea & coffee bits in the room but the shelf the coffee machine etc is above was coated in a thick film of dust (see photos) so clearly hadn’t been checked in a while. There is a fridge/minibar (all items in it are chargeable). It didn’t seem to actually refrigerate things as it was room temperature inside. If you wanted to store anything in there it wouldn’t stop things from spoiling. ||Additionally being at the back of the hotel, the views are none existant (see photo)z||Then there was the bathroom, good size, nice and bright with a double sink. There is a towel rack/bar attached to the underside of the sink which literally rocks back and fourth. I’m not sure if that’s what it’s supposed to do or it it’s broken but seems strange. ||Then the shower, nice waterfall but the screen was broken. It’s clearly supposed to have the main pane of glass and then a smaller adjustable section at the end. This end section was missing, which resulted in a lot of water when showering ending up on the floor. I ended up having to mop it up. The seal and surrounding area had discoloured and rusted, it doesn’t look good and there was additional rust around the shower head where it connects to the wall. ||I ordered room service for dinner and the chef kindly made me some mac and cheese which was tasty. I also ordered chicken strips to go with and followed by a chocolate ganache tarte. Sadly these items weren’t very nice. The chicken strips weren’t really strips and looked similar to pork scratching, and very dark in colour which made them taste a bit burnt. The chocolate ganache was very thick/rich and rather overpowering. I couldn’t eat more than a bite of it. ||The breakfasts were very nice, I got mine to go as I had to go to work and the staff kindly provided to go boxes which was very helpful! All the items I tried were delicious. ||On this visit I also tried the spa services. It’s quite something walking through what was previously the vaults (the hotel used to be a bank), to move between the pool, hot tub, steam/sauna and the bed style seating area you have to climb up/down stairs and there are quite a lot of low ceilings as well as it being quite small. It’s pretty but if you struggle with stairs etc/climbing in and out of things you may find it hard to get around in there. ||The pool was nice and warm, there is a deep set tiled bench running the full length of the pool wall opposite to the stairs where you get in. This results in the swimmable space being significantly reduced. I would as fortunate to have it to myself so could swim lengths but my hands were literally touching both the wall and bench with each stroke. There seemed to be one of those resistance jets you can swim against but it didn’t work. ||The hot tub was nice, sadly one of the jets was partially broken and the filter (I’m assuming it was, it looked like an internal component) had been left on the side of the hot tub in full view of guests. Still it was nice and warm and still fairly bubbly. They have 3 switches on the side which control the tub, 2 are the bubbles but the 3rd controls 2 very powerful water jets that are above the tub, once activated they expel a lot of water very strongly for the preset duration. You can’t turn them off you just have to wait. This is quite a shock and very loud if you’re not expecting it and basically makes the hot tub unusable till it’s finished as you couldn’t comfortably sit in that. There didn’t seem to be any signage explaining what the buttons did. Other guests ended up telling me. The sauna and steam rooms were lovely, fairly standard but still nice. I did try to get onto the bed/seating area to dry a little but the main access (unless you’re willing to climb) is halfway up the stairs. Most people would stop there and sit meaning it’s hard for anyone else to use the other sections. Not very practically designed. The robes were not that generous, if you’re size 16+ it probably won’t close around you, thankfully the towels are. The other issue I found was timings, it closes at 8pm which is quite limiting if you want dinner at a reasonable time/work later than 5. That being said the staff were lovely, very friendly and helpful. They got me booked in quickly and clearly explained the layout etc. ||As I was only there for 2 nights, the first one I got in very late, I didn’t speak to reception regarding the room. Had it been a longer stay I would have. I will still return in future as my last stay was great and this one was ok, the location is fab, the venue is beautiful and the staff as so kind and helpful. ||I just hope next time I don’t get put in...

My sister in law booked 2 rooms for four of us for a 3 night stay to celebrate her special birthday. Total cost was £1320 for two twin rooms on a room only basis without breakfast. Arrived Friday afternoon to find out that the twin rooms were not available due to Covid 19 but we had been allocated rooms with king sized beds as a alternative. We were told no upgrades were available because the hotel was full, so were compensated with a £100 refund per room (so £50 each) and one complementary drink each. I stayed in room 201 - there is a service lift that goes up part of the way to the room but be prepared to drag your luggage up the remaining stairs. Unfortunately the room had not been cleaned properly. There was thick dust on the window sills and around the plug areas by the desk and on the skirting and door trims. On the second day I managed to find the cleaning supervisor and showed her the problem and someone was sent to clean it - low staffing levels were indicated as the issue. Bathroom had a high sided bath with shower over and was poorly appointed making it very difficult to climb in and out using the small gap between the oversized sink and the fold back hinge of the shower screen. The ventaxia did not work. Complimentary gin decanter was not present in the room as advertised, so mentioned it to Paloma and she sorted it for us. We had booked the restaurant for the first night of our stay. Menu has been shortened due to "covid" so certain dishes had been removed for example no fish of the day. So we all ordered the Fish and Chips which was still on the menu only to be told there wasn't any, so we left disappointed, and ate somewhere else. We didn't bother with the restaurant after that. Room 201 is located opposite the back of Weatherspoons, so is extremely noisy. We were woken repeatedly from midnight onwards well in to the early hours as large quantities of glass bottles were being thrown in the recycling bins. Having finally got to sleep about 3.00am, we were woken again at 5.40am as an enormous articulated lorry pitched up outside our bedroom to make a delivery to weatherspoons. As it arrived early it sat stationary for at least 20 minutes with its loud engine running. I phoned reception to see if they could ask the driver to cut the engine so we could get back to sleep. No one answered the phone. We put on our dressing gowns and went down ourselves to see if we could sort it. Two staff were by the reception desk, but offered no explanation as to why the phone hadn't been answered - I was told nothing could be done about the noise, so I suggested the chap might go outside and politely ask the driver if he could cut the engine as it was disturbing the guests, which he did and problem solved. We returned to our rooms and continued to listen to the goods being offloaded. During our stay we visited the cocktail bar and the spa. The spa staff were very nice and the guy in the cocktail bar is so friendly and welcoming and works very heard - he was rushed off his feet so most nights so we only had one cocktail as they took so long to come - not his fault. Saturday night we left the bar without ordering as there was a 30 minute wait - it was very busy due to a wedding I think, with dirty glasses stacked high on the bar and no extra staff had been laid on. Unfortunately I cannot recommend this hotel. It was not a relaxing experience, and despite my £50 refund it did not make up for the service issues with food, room cleanliness and constant noise disturbance. I did not wish to spend the whole weekend feeling wound up and complaining about things so I let it ride but in response I will not be spending any more hard earned money with the Harbour Hotel chain in the future. I am a repeat customer who has previously stayed in both your Padstow and Salcome hotels and used the spa facilities at the Guildford branch. To justify your pricing you...

’m not one to complain but this was really disappointing.

I first come across the Bristol Harbour Hotel searching for a Gala Dinner venue for approx 200 senior managers from the Aerospace, Defence and Advanced Engineering Industry, having been showed round the hotel I was keen for an excuse to book the lovely/quirky building myself!

I booked this stay to round off a weekend of celebrations for my Husband’s 30th birthday and unfortunately I’ve been really disappointed with my experience:

• Firstly I had only booked the room, having been partying, eating and drinking all weekend I wasn’t sure how hungry we’d be so thought I would add on extras depending how we felt. I believe there was a mix up as the man who checked us in advised that dinner was included and as we didn’t want dinner he said we could swap it for breakfast. (I was fully prepared to pay more for breakfast to be added)

• The next morning we headed down for breakfast, we weren’t greeted, we had to walk up to a member of staff to be seated, they got us our cup of tea and then a few minutes later advised that we didn’t have breakfast booked, I explained the conversation from last night, they advised we needed to pay extra. This was a special occasion for my husband, not an issue, I was willing to pay for breakfast!

• We ordered two full English breakfasts, one breakfast came out, and my husband’s plate was just two fried eggs, not what we ordered but hey people make mistakes, I let mine go cold as I waited for them to sort my husbands. He then had to add his two cold eggs to his breakfast which was also missing a sausage! They bought another barely cooked sausage over! We asked for tomato ketchup, they didn’t have this, they then eventually found some. We also had toast which was not good quality bread and didn’t come with any butter!

• The waitress and receptionist had an uwful attitude the whole time as if we hadn’t booked properly and were trying to get something for nothing, this was not the case at all and really ruined the atmosphere for me, I would have been much better looked after at a premier inn!

• Unfortunately there’s more; the whole hotel was not of a clean enough standard, our toilet seemed to have some kind of food in it and wasn’t clean, the carpets were stained and not well hoovered, the spa toilets had lots of empty toilet roll folders with no actual toilet roll and the chair I was sat on in the Jetty had crumbs all over it!

• I hoped that things would get better when we had our afternoon tea which was included in our spa day but unfortunately yet again it just wasn’t good enough! Poor service, we again were not greeted and then when we were finally seated were being questioned about our booking, making a point of saying certain things weren’t included in the price - it’s not on! We had to clear our own table to make way for the afternoon tea, she didn’t tell us what any of the food was and didn’t give us any plates! The food itself was warmed up frozen cakes which were soggy, I should cooked at home myself.

As I stated originally, I don’t like to complain and didn’t want to make a fuss while trying to have an enjoyable experience for my Husband’s 30th but the service just wasn’t good enough.

My husband and I own and run the South West’s leading nutrition consultancy; not only did I have this hotel in mind for the Aerospace dinner but also for our business’s Xmas party - I’m afraid this experience has...