Bowers Mill Aparthotel — Hotel in Calderdale

Comparisons to “Fawlty Towers” abound in reviews but were a recurring theme during our stay at the Bowers Mill Aparthotel.||But first, some good things about the stay…||The location is lovely, with views across rolling hills and it can be very peaceful (but see later comments). ||Some effort has been made to make the rooms individual, though not a great deal beyond different wallpaper and a lamp. Likewise, there have been efforts to retain some of the features of the old mill building but these weren’t particularly noticeable in the rooms. ||The rooms are very clean and well-maintained. They have nice kitchens, with all the bits and pieces to cook a full meal, though I’m unsure who might be doing that. A large fridge was certainly handy for wine. ||The beds are large and (when you can get to sleep) comfortable.||Then the bad bits…||The four-person rooms have only two dining chairs, so you can’t easily share a takeaway meal. The bathroom has no light over the basin, so I shaved in gloom. The shower floor was frictionless when wet and an accident waiting to happen.| |And the farcical bits… ||We had booked two rooms, and this seemed to confuse the receptionist no end. She first charged us for one room but that failed somehow, so she then charged us for the two rooms as we had asked. She then realised that we had pre-paid for the room and told us she would cancel the charge, but we are still waiting for that two days later. ||Then the air conditioning wasn’t working in one of our rooms. We had changed our booking to this hotel for the air conditioning as it was expected to be the hottest nights of the year so far. The receptionist asked us “Have you tried opening the windows?”! All they could manage was to provide a couple of fans for the room, which blew the hot and stuffy air around. ||Sadly, the apartment block is a few feet from a huge wedding/party venue next door. The disco’s music continued until about 1am and, even with the windows closed, there was zero chance of sleeping until then. Woe betides anyone staying here with children. ||At last, blessed sleep. For 15 minutes! Then the fire alarm went off.||We, and others with babes in arms, were milling about the corridors uncertain what to do. So, we threw on some clothes to leave. Then a staff member appeared at our door and said our room had set off the alarm and asked if we were OK. Without checking the room for smoke or other problems, he accepted that we had no problems. He said it was probably a false alarm that happened there sometimes. The alarm was finally silenced after several more minutes of din. Before going off twice more!||We finally did get some sleep but our family in the other room never did really settle again. ||So, would I stay at the Bower Mill Aparthotel again? Nope. Never....

LOUD! Want to say - staff is absolutely LOVELY - so accommodating and welcoming, and they are so caring with their guests which makes it so hard to leave a not stellar review but it’s primarily that this hotel is feet away from a massive wedding / party venue.

Each night of our 3 night stay had a different wedding playing live / loud music until 1 am right outside our apartment window and this seems pretty typical of the space. It may be better on the other side of the hotel, but unless you are a guest of one of the events I would strongly advise staying here if you would like to sleep! Likely particularly bad on weekends but it’s a bustling venue so may not be limited to weekends.

Couple smaller things was there is no real dresser or enough hanging space to put away clothes so suitcases had to just be out in the middle of the living space of the bedrooms/living room area. Some small tweaks in the layout with more racking space more storage space and warmer lighting (Bowers suite) would...

This place is fabulous. We arrived just before 3 pm for check in. Dee on reception was lovely and sorted out our room and notified us of the check out time - 10am, plus the complimentary continental breakfast. That was a lovely addition to the stay. We did come prepared just in case, with milk, tea bags and goodies. However there was some already provided. |We had the BoHo room. This is at the end of the corridor, lovely forest views and very quiet. The place was immaculate and completed to a very high standard. We had an issue with the TV, but that was resolved quickly and corrected. |I also liked the Noble Isla soaps, superb aromas.||We stayed here due to the Piece Hall package and the fact it is 14 min by car to the town centre. ||We used the Woolshops car park for the evening gig. HX1 2XU. This is 3 min from Piece Hall. ||I would highly recommend this place for a stay. It was fantastic. Thank you Dee and the team at Bowers Mill, for making our stay...