Novotel Cambridge North — Hotel in South Cambridgeshire

The pros: -We decided to stay here because you get more room for your money rather than staying closer to Cambridge. -The rooms are very large and modern for an English hotel room. The decorating and spaces for your suitcases were outstanding. -It is attached to the train station and has a parking lot with many spaces. -The parking was easy to use with a low price. We downloaded the app so we could pay in this manner and extend our parking. -We liked the breakfast and lunch. The dinner was decent but pricy. -The staff was very professional and helpful. -Excellent Wi-Fi and large number of tv stations when you want to relax. -The pool and sauna were fine. -Great coffee and tea service plus a refrigerator!

The cons: -The bed is very, very firm. I felt achy each morning which is not my normal wake-up experience. The bed did have two firm and two soft pillows and was large. -The water pressure was just okay. I'm sure it is to save money but very low especially when you want a nice shower to loosen the muscles after the hard bed sleep experience. -What is up with the weird bathroom door? The door is translucent if you have the bathroom lights on and not the entry lights on...making it not very private at all! I don't care if you've been married for a while, I do not want to be seen or see my significant other using the toilet. -The bathroom is also very dark so when you get up to use it in the middle of the night-it is very hard to see. There should be a small low light you can turn on to navigate in the dark. -The lighting over the full mirror in the room and the bathroom mirror was poorly placed. It made it hard to apply make-up since it casts unnatural odd shadows over your face. -The hot tub by the pool was not really a hot tub--more like a warm mild jet. It was okay but not a real hot tub. -You can order service for your room like toilet paper, extra tea/coffee, room cleaning using their portal or a text message but it only worked 1/2 the time. We had to physically go to the desk to get toilet paper. We did keep the "do not disturb" sign on our door and asked to have our room cleaned after we left the room around noon one day. When we returned the room was not cleaned which was disappointing.

Overall, beautiful hotel with a beautiful lobby, restaurant, and rooms. The location is outstanding if you want space and need parking. It was a cheap and easy train ride to main Cambridge area. I can see this area is new and being built up with more services but it would be nice if there was a convenient store at the location since you have to pay A LOT just for a takeaway water, soda, or snack. There is really nothing nearby if you want to walk to a...

Firstly I wanted things to get better from what I expect from an Accor - Novotel brand property but it didn’t. Maybe I was stupid to think I would get the same treatment in UK that I do in APAC, so if your from APAC and your booking this hotel based on loyalty. This hotel does not value you as an accor member no matter your tier.

Reconsider, it’s not in the town centre it’s a bus ride, train or drive away, and it’s not what you’d expect from an Accor property.

I emailed for early checkin coming in early from AUS as a platinum member this normally isn’t an issue, they couldn’t confirm instead telling me it will cost me $10 an hour. When we did arrive which we ended up coming in around 5pm because of not being able to get early checkin, the staff were rude, no thank you for being a member, just paid, key, see ya later. No welcome drink either. We also struggled with the carpark payment because it’s not clear if you can come and go and have to pay each time.

The room: we were given an upgrade? Which I’m not sure we were as the room looked exactly like the one I booked, no welcome note Or amenity which iv come to expect. It was nice looking from, the shower was good, the bed was comfy but the TV did not work correctly, couldn’t cast to the TV that was broken.

Now this is where it gets so bizarre you couldn’t make this up. After the first night our towels were taken, not replenished, we even left the main towels hung up, coffee not replenished and cups not clean. That was an exercise to get that back due to the massive line at reception. After the 2nd night our towels were just hung back up, coffee cups still not washed or the cups in the bathroom room for rinsing 3night, same thing with the towels but one less, bin not emptied, coffee not replenished. The only thing consistent was the bed was made every day. Not once did the coffee cups or glasses get cleaned unless we did it ourselves. I wrote it off to a British thing until I went to an Accor property in Oxford where I got exemplary service.

The restaurant was okay, but we waited to get seated and to get service as the waitress was too busy talking socially with someone else.

My partner used the pool and gym, said it was okay but not great.

The Wifi kept breaking too, and we discovered in the UK phone service is horrible

One thing to note when I did sort the towels and coffee out she did give me 2 free drinks for the stuff up which I didn’t use because we were rather busy...

If I could give zero I would. I like to point out outstanding places or leave no reviews at all. It's very rare when I leave a negative review. I mean they really have to be bad.

The staff is not the problem here, nor the actual rooms. It's the 3rd time we came, but it's surely the last time.

It's the hotel policy that is created without customer service in mind.

We used hotels throughout UK, as we have to travel a lot due to work. This hotel really stood out as the least respectful to customers needs from a hotel policy point of view.

I accepted that at about £100 a night you don't even get a bottle of water, never mind that. But the new rules for spa since April 2023, they're not acceptable.

To not be allowed to use the spa at checkout is amazing in this day of age. Not even a day pass or other option.

They also installed this "spa key rule". So you constantly have to go down to reception to pick up a spa key and then back up to level 1, walk to the other end of the corridor as there is no access for customers from reception to spa or gym. Do this every time you want to use the gym. It's really ridiculous.

So if you want to use the gym in the morning, go to the other end of hotel down to reception, pick up the key, then go back up to the other of hotel to take the stairs to the gym and sauna, drop the key there and repeat if you want to come back later for a second session. All of it because the hotel can't provide guests with a gym key at check-in cause they... DON'T HAVE ENOUGH KEYS.

The spa area is not actually created to cover for busy times. The extractor in the shower rooms doesn't work so forget about the sauna, stay in the changing rooms, it's pretty much the same.

The lockers in the changing room don't work with the exception of 2 so make sure you leave valuables in the room as the hotel takes no responsibility.

The bench to change is in front of lockers so you realistically end up queuing for access to your clothes during busy times. I couldn't be bothered, wrapped the towel over swimwear and walked back to the room without changing back. Guess what? It seemed a lot of customers had the same idea.

I refuse to ever stay in this hotel again. We're weekly commuters and we sometimes stay 4 nights a week so well...