Leonardo Hotel Newcastle Quayside — Hotel in Gateshead

Very comfortable bed. Iron, tv, ironing board, toiletries, towels, hospitality tray and kettle supplied in room. Breakfasts are help yourself buffet style. Very good breakfasts with fresh fruit including melon, cereals, toast and good selection of pastries, plenty of hot and cold drinks with good coffee (and I'm a tea drinker). Hot food too and all are kept constantly topped up by a good team of efficient staff.

Evening meal was served to you at table and so portion size is not up to you. The first night's soup, unknown to me, was served with liquid butter. I didn't realise until I had opened the packet and it poured everywhere, all over my fingers. Due to the high fat content of butter it stains clothing, so fortunately for the hotel, the butter managed to miss going on my new Chris Packham t shirt. Staff replaced the butter once I pointed it out. Regrettably, when I had soup a couple of nights later, Liquid Buttergate happened again! Unbelievable. What does this hotel do with its butter??!! Twice on the trot liquid butter in the packet. Keep it in the fridge, that's a basic. I was forewarned this time but I was not impressed that they ignored and hadn't addressed the issue. So be warned, people, if you have the soup. Pfahhh.

I also was not enamoured of the vegetarian option the first night.... a small portion of macaroni cheese. I mean, come on, that's something, if I have it at all, would be a weekend lunch not a main meal. No imagination and a cheap, convenient cop out. It did not fill me and I was left hungry. I resolved to stock up on the breakfasts after that, but fortunately the vegetarian options vastly improved after the first night.

A lot of folk mention the parking. Yes, it is a small area given the size of the hotel. I fortunately came via coach so it did not affect me but people should be aware it is not big.

Bathroom could have been cleaner, not a great deal of attention paid to old encrusted dirt on wall by sink, bit off-putting.

Supposed to be an eco rated hotel, but my room still got serviced even when not requested to be. So that was a big waste of plastic bin bags for nothing. I had to stop them by putting the "I'm sleeping in" tag on the door handle. I wasn't, but it was the only way to stop the throwaway plastic stance they seem to have, so not sure how they got the rating based on that aspect.

Reception and serving staff all very good, bar the one young man with the earring who waited on one night. He looked at me sullenly as though I was dirt when I thanked him for taking my plate. And the only staff member to do so, the others were lovely.

I thought hotel location was great, suited me fine. If I came by train next time and depending on room tariff, I would consider staying again but probably breakfast only basis. That bed was really comfy! Only those few minor points stopped it from being a 5 star rating from me but really, sort your...

This hotel was a huge letdown from the start! |We were staying in Newcastle for my Partners birthday and I had pre organised with the hotel to have items sent which would be in the room on arrival including decorations to be put up in the room. This was confirmed by email and a telephone call to the hotel. |We arrived and had a lengthy wait at reception to which the receptionist was apologetic for saying that she was “trying to catch up”. However she chatted on to customers about her child rather than book them in efficiently. We got to our “Superior, Triple Room” to find that it hadn’t been decorated and none of the items I had had delivered were in the room either. So the birthday surprise was ruined from the off. The room was in no way superior, we booked it via Wowcher so didn’t expect anything spectacular but for it to at least be clean. The room was small and dated, the furniture and carpet had seen better days, and the curtains were fit for the bin! They had holes in them and were filthy with ‘spillages’ on the reverse side. The duvet cover had a yellow stain on it too. The bath had a chip out of it and needed a good scrub, the towel rail and toilet roll holders were falling off the wall. There was a big dent/chip missing from the top of the dressing table and the wardrobe was dusty. We put out a sign to have the room cleaned but only the beds were made, bin emptied and towels changed, no change of bedding, no dirty glasses taken away and the room clearly wasn’t hoovered. |Reception were useless at dealing with my complaint and they took a while to even locate the items I had sent, despite them sitting in a pile in the office. My name, reservation number and check in date were clearly marked on the parcels yet they weren’t put in the room because according to the hotel there was no instruction to do so (despite me emailing and phoning to confirm) the manager did attempt an apology and gave us a free drink at the bar. We had to eat in the bar as we were unable to book the restaurant as there was a large “TUI” booking in. However when we went down to eat there was hardly anyone in the restaurant, the bar had no atmosphere and was card only payment. We ordered a pizza and pasta combo meal, the pizza was outstanding but the pasta was inedible, it tasted like rubber warmed up in a microwave and wasn’t even hot all the way through. We ended up leaving it and eating elsewhere. |Would never stay there again! Would not recommend! Very poor...

The Good: I booked a room with a view over the river Tyne, which was absolutely beautiful each morning and worth the cost of the hotel on its own! The room was spacious, having two King beds (I only needed one) and a shower over a bath. I LOVE having a bath, as they are not usually available in other hotels which consider themselves more contemporary, but when you are in Newcastle in the winter having a bath available is GREAT! The beds are so comfortable I would put them in my top three around the world! There was a good-sized TV and space for a laptop. Another great thing about this hotel is its placement - you go out and straight onto the path which leads you to the Sage, the Baltic and the Millenium Bridge, via which you can cross over and walk down the riverside with all the bars, restaurants etc or go up into the Toon, which is steep but only takes about 10 minutes. There is also a bus stop near to the hotel in case you want to go by bus to Gateshead centre or the Metrocentre. The Bad: Car parking - it was REALLY expensive, when a hotel like this should allow customers to part for free. Not only did you have to pay 8 pounds a night, but there were hardly any parking spaces and they are very narrow and on an angle, so many people just could not park their cars! The overflow park in the next door Baltic car park - try not to do that - it's about 25 pounds per night, adding 50% to your hotel cost! The Average: The restaurant and the hotel customer service. There were people at the stations, but the bar area is poor and there was, not surprisingly, no one taking advantage of it most of the time. There are a few small tables and chairs to sit on, but the food is very average as well - you are better off going into town or somewhere else. Room service was ok, but I was there for 2 weeks and in that time, there were several days where nothing had been done except the pillows put straight and the rubbish taken out - the bathroom was not cleaned and nor was the carpet. Overall - this hotel is available at a fantastic price and if you want to use it as a base and have a hired car that you can park nearby where there is cheap parking (not at the hotel or the Baltic car parking), I would highly recommend it. The rooms are great and it is pretty quiet. Except for the shouts of people having a good time coming back from the Toon late on, the loudest sound was the seagulls in the morning, which suited me fine. Highly...