Crowne Plaza Chester by IHG — Hotel in Great Britain

🏨 Crowne Plaza Chester – A Central Stay in a Historic City

We stayed at Crowne Plaza Chester for one night while visiting for a golden wedding anniversary celebration. It was a Saturday night in peak season, and with hotel availability limited, we paid £190 for a standard room (room-only).

📍 Location & Getting There

This 4-star hotel is in a fantastic central location, perfect for exploring Chester: 🚗 By car – Easily accessible via the M6, M56, A483, and A55. On-site parking costs £17 per day. 🚆 By train – Chester station is a 15-minute walk or a short taxi ride away. 🏇 Chester Racecourse is a stone’s throw from the hotel, and you’re within walking distance of shops, bars, and restaurants.

🔑 Check-in & First Impressions • Check-in: 3pm | Check-out: 11am • Early check-in isn’t guaranteed – we arrived early, but our room wasn’t ready. Staff advised us to return in 30 minutes, and it was ready when we got back. • The hotel has 160 rooms over 7 floors and was renovated in 2014.

🛏️ Our Room

✔️ Spacious, clean, and well-equipped ✔️ Great view overlooking Chester Racecourse & Welsh hills ✔️ Safe, TV, tea & coffee, iron, USB charging ports 🔌 ✔️ Comfortable bed 🛌 ✔️ Compact but spotless bathroom with a bath, shower, and free toiletries 🛁

For a 4-star hotel, the room was exactly what we expected—no complaints here!

🍽️ Food & Drink

The hotel has one restaurant, The Stables Bar & Grill, serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner. 🥗 Lunch was excellent – well-cooked, nicely presented, and served in a stylish, modern setting with indoor & outdoor seating. 🍳 Breakfast, however, was a letdown. The restaurant was overwhelmed with guests, with no queue system and staff struggling to manage. After waiting for a while, we gave up and ate elsewhere.

We mentioned this at check-out, and to their credit, the hotel apologised and refunded our parking charge as a goodwill gesture.

🏋️‍♂️ Gym & Spa

The hotel offers a gym, pool, and spa, which could be a great addition to a longer stay. We didn’t use them on this visit, but they are worth considering.

🏛️ Things to Do Nearby

One of the best things about this hotel is its prime location inside Chester’s historic city walls. You can step outside and start exploring: 🏰 Chester Cathedral – Stunning medieval architecture. ⚔️ Roman Amphitheatre – A glimpse into Chester’s Roman history. 🛍️ Chester’s Tudor-style streets – A mix of independent shops & high-street brands. 🌳 Grosvenor Park – A peaceful green space for a stroll. ⏳ Eastgate Clock – One of the most famous landmarks in Chester. 🚌 Chester Sightseeing Bus – A great way to see the city’s highlights.

🤔 Would We Stay Again?

✔️ Great location ✔️ Comfortable, well-maintained rooms ✔️ Most of the service was excellent ❌ Breakfast experience was poor

At £190 a night, this isn’t a cheap stay, and while the location & room quality justify the price, we’d look to visit outside peak season for better value.

📌 Want to see more? 🔎 Search “Crowne Plaza Chester” + “Cledwyn on Tour” on YouTube for a full...

We returned to the Crowne Plaza Chester for my son’s 10th birthday celebration weekend, not realising until after booking that we had actually stayed here back in the early 2000s. At that time, a disruptive 4am fire alarm left me swearing I’d never return. I had since forgotten about that experience—until history unfortunately repeated itself.|The Positives:|• The hotel is in a great location and works well as a base for exploring Chester.|• Our room was spacious and well-equipped, with working air conditioning, which was a big plus.|• Initially, everything seemed smooth, and despite some confusion at reception about my request for early check-in (an email I’d sent clearly hadn’t reached them), I was willing to overlook it.|Where It Fell Short:|• At 7am on our first morning, we were abruptly woken by the fire alarm—again, just as we had been years ago. There was no prior explanation or reassurance, and staff treated it as if it was nothing out of the ordinary. For my son, this was particularly distressing, and it set a very negative tone for the day.|• I was told, as an apology, that we could use the pool earlier than usual. However, when I took my son down, a gym member confronted me unpleasantly in the changing rooms about him being there. My son wasn’t doing anything wrong, and I felt I had to defend both him and myself in a situation that should never have arisen. It was upsetting, especially after he had already experienced a panic attack from the alarm.|• The overall handling of both the alarm and the pool situation left me feeling that hotel guests were not prioritised or supported.|• Parking is another area of concern: although staff reassured me I could leave the car for the day, I am now left worrying about whether I’ll receive a fine.|Final Thoughts:|It’s such a shame, because the Crowne Plaza Chester has the potential to be an excellent hotel. The location, facilities, and room setup are all strong points. But when key aspects like guest experience, communication, and respect are mishandled, the positives are overshadowed. Sadly, after two separate visits marked by disruptive fire alarms and disappointing staff responses, I will not...

Nice Hotel let down with Poor Breakfast

As an IHG Gold Member I have stayed at many IHG Hotels including plenty of Crowne Plaza Hotels.

This hotel was located in the centre of Chester and easy to locate. Parking was straight forward, in fact we managed to more or less park almost outside the entrance.

There was only one member of staff act the reception desk which is on a different floor. Check in was very slow, we had to wait for about 15 mins while the chap served other guests.

Our room was really nice, not the best view, we were overlooking the roof, maybe as it was a Sunday and quiet, they could have given us a better choice. Anyway, the room had a nice big bed and both the room and bathroom were plenty big enough and nice and clean. Again, disappointed at seeing an empty fridge? What's that all about? Pointless have an empty fridge, should have a mini bar.

Nice to have complimentary bottles of water.

The spa facilities looked really nice although we did not have time to use them on this occasion.

The bar was really nice, excellent views and staff were lovely.

We booked breakfast and wish we had not bothered because it was disgusting! How can any chef offer food like this!

The bacon was clearly cooked in a microwave as much of it was stuck together! The sausages had been under the lamps for long enough for them to go dry with burned ends, beans and tomatoes were only warm and if that was not bad enough the fried eggs were like frisbees! They had been under the lamps for so long they had rubberised.

The couple on the next table to us said theirs was the same and had left them.

No fresh rolls and continental choice were also very poor.

We complained to the staff who politely apologised and took our plates away explain that we would not be charged however, they did not check the eggs, even though I said have you seen these? There was no attempt to removed them and other guests were allowed to just continue selecting them. I have always rated Crown Plaza but the breakfast here lets this hotel...