Broadview Hotel — Hotel in Norwich

A very basic hotel with few facilities in the room I booked. But if you just want to crash out overnight after a concert at the LCR before going on your way, it is an excellent location and good value for money. They do have better rooms, at higher cost, if you are staying longer. So overall a 5/5 relative to the room price.||But the abysmal customer service I received at the reception desk loses them a point. There were three staff members yakking away to each other about who was going to cover what shift next week. Sorry? In any professionally run hotel it would be a case of, "Oh sorry, Jack, please hang on, I need to serve the gentleman who is waiting." This went on for three minutes! You'd never get this at Ibis or Hampton.||Finally, a quick thinking staff member, obviously doing back office admin tasks, recognised the situation and checked me in. Polite and courteous; like night and day from the other three. Same good manners when checking me out the next day.||You DO NOT stand there, in hospitality reception, talking shop. It's not only bad manners, it goes against most customer service training. Especially to whisper because someone is nearby; if there's anything confidential to discuss, you do it in the back office, NOT in front of...

Coming to Broadview Lodge was like arriving in Soviet Russia. I now realise that the hotel’s name has nothing to do with the sights from the window, but rather an instruction to guests for how to cope with the experience. My room had a cot/camp bed sort of thing with a mattress so hard and lumpy I rather suspect that it had been shipped over from a gulag after several decades use and possibly a short submersion in the North Sea. The room was like some abandoned and possibly condemned ex student digs, complete with empty shelves a desk lamp (unplugged and left on a shelf). No bedside table or anything that might have helped make the room properly usable. It did have an ancient wet room attached, so after a long day at a conference, I showered there and then drove home. Missing the second day of the conference in favour of a night’s sleep. Staff on the...

The UEA is a bit of a distance from the city centre so I was so pleased when I found this hotel in the grounds of the University. We were going to the University to see a gig and the prospect of getting back to the city centre afterwards wasn’t something I was looking forward to. So this jewel of a place was a godsend. It is literally a stones throw from the doors of the venue. We were greeted by a lovely lady at reception who gave us all the information we needed. The room itself was just right, clean, secure and quiet. Tea and coffee making facilities. Breakfast if required can be booked. I’m already booked in for my next trip. There is a decent bus service from both the city centre and railway station, it’s about 25 minutes ride, also car parking. For me the price was reasonable because it felt safe...