When we’re choosing a hotel for a city break, location is key. Whilst I generally dislike chain hotels, the “Park Inn by Radisoon York City Centre”:https://www.parkinn.co.uk/hotel-york was ideally situated mid-way between Lendal and Ouse Bridges, and a 10-minute walk from both the historic centre and railway station (although parking is available).
I’d won a hotels.com voucher for £200 and an additional £42 paid for a three-night, room only stay. Consequently, we didn’t get a river-view room, but in November, it didn’t matter. Our room (812) was on the top floor but the two lifts worked well, and we never had to wait long.
Our room was a reasonable size with double bed, bedside tables and lamps which could be used for interrogation as they were so bright. The hall had open plan wardrobe and drawers, ironing board and full-length mirror. We had a TV, desk, two chairs and a freestanding table (the type that goes over a hospital bed). Interestingly on arrival, this table and one of the chairs were positioned so we couldn’t get far into the room without moving them. Strangely there was a desk and floor lamp, both with bright red shades, right next to each other. There was a safe, hairdryer and nearby mirror, but no mini bar. There was a modern montage of local scenes on the walls including the famous Shambles and interestingly named, Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma-Gate.
The bathroom was the ‘one person at a time’ size, but the shower had hot water and was relatively powerful. The lighting was good and there was plenty of room for toiletries.
The bar on the first floor was large and had a variety of seating with some tables overlooking the river. There was a bar menu but as there were many options nearby, we didn’t eat in the hotel. But we did use if to meet friends for pre-dinner drinks and have coffee (and excellent chocolate chip biscuits) after a day of sight-seeing.
The only issue we had was with the air conditioning, which despite our best efforts, we couldn’t control properly and we always seemed to be either too hot or too cold.
All in all, I still wouldn’t choose a chain-hotel, but this one ticked all our boxes and was ideal for our stay.
