It sounded really exotic until I checked it in the dictionary - Oriel means:
"A bay window projecting from an upper floor, supported from below with a corbel or bracket" (source: Yourdictionary.com)
=======================Destination Denbigh in North Wales and despite being ‘my’ home country, a 10 hour round trip was not my idea of fun, so an overnight stay was needed. In my limited experience of travelling to this part of Wales, big hotel chains and fancy outlets are not something in abundance, so I wanted something extra special, but extra cheap, could I do it? What you do tend to find with the good hotels is that they definitely have a monopoly, and no competition means high prices.
I stumbled across the Oriel House on www.activehotels.com although they also market themselves on www.laterooms.com. The difference between the two websites is however becoming more apparent. Both quote on price per room, but active quite often give discounts for single travellers, whereas www.laterooms.com do not, but back to the hotel.LOCATION
The Oriel House is very easily accessible on the A525 a short distance away from the A55 (the main Chester to Conwy road) and is in St Asaph about 5 miles from the centre of Denbigh. There is ample parking and no steps into reception, adding weight to its claim that it is ‘disability friendly’ but more later.
RECEPTION
You could be forgiven here for thinking you were entering a local B&B, none of your decadence of the Glasgow Moat House or the London Heathrow Marriott, although considering there are only 31 rooms, they could be forgiven for this.The area is small but brightly lit, and the receptionist was helpfulness personified, a good start. I had to complete a few private details, but was unusually not required to swipe the credit card, although I had reserved through Active
Hotels which does take credit card details at point of reservation.
THE CHOICE
I have added this heading for reasons that will become clear shortly. The Hotel has a choice of standard double, executive double, executive twin and Club Class, and as you would expect, prices rise dependent on your choice of room.Active were quoting the price of the Club Class as £99, but offered me £75 for single occupancy bed and breakfast, my limit was £80.70 so I went for it.
THE ROOM
All 10 Club Class rooms are located in a new wing of the hotel, and the smell of paint in the corridors, combined with the obvious renovations going on suggest that this hotel is working onwards and upwards.The room was breathtaking, the ceilings were a good 15ft in height, beautifully decorated in a peachy orange colour. There was a work-bench area containing tea and coffee making facilities, a wardrobe housing two freshly washed bathrobes, an iron and board. The bed was an easy 6 footer; there was also a remote controlled colour TV and a mini CD / radio player, and complimentary water was provided.
As expected, the room was en-suite, and the décor and high ceilings of the bathroom were as breathtaking as the room itself, decked out in marble effect tiles all around, with large mirrors and lots of freebie products including a much needed sewing kit.
The room and accompaniments surpassed any hotel I used previously, surely there had to be a downside? Yes there was, firstly, all the Club Class rooms are non-smoking, and the shower dripped constantly ALL night. Also, although all the windows were new and double glazed, I had to stand on a chair to open them, and being on the ground floor, there was no fix to stop them opening too far, making them an easy target for opportunist thieves.
I asked reception about smoking rooms and was advised I would have to downgrade. She gave me the opportunity to check out two of the rooms, the first had no bath, which isn’t ideal for me because of my eczema, the second had a bath was above the kitchens and had a generator right outside the window, making it very noisy. Both rooms also smelt musty and unused, I can understand why. Hence, I elected to stay in my Club Class room and suffer nicotine withdrawal.There was a modem point near the desk area for working, unfortunately, there was a fault with the telephone system meaning that guests could not dial out. This was not good as I also couldn’t get a signal on the mobile.
The receptionist kindly allowed me to use the office to connect the laptop and collect my e-mails, not an ideal situation but at least it saved me the 40 odd pence per minute connection charge.In addition to the above, the room could not be locked from the outside, meaning that you had to remember to ensure that the lock was ‘in’ before closing the door.
FOOD
The hotel has a restaurant which looks a little weather worn, but as I already mentioned it does appear to be in the process of being upgraded. I found the room service menu limited and opted for gammon steak, which was barely cooked, this was not transpiring to be a good choice.Breakfast the next morning was part buffet, and part plated. There was fresh fruit, cereals, juices and croissants out, but with only 31 guests and chiller cabinets that didn’t appear to work properly, they were just about palatable. The welsh breakfast was OK, at least they got the scrambled egg to my taste, but I fail to understand why so many outlets cannot cook bacon correctly, it is PORK for goodness sake and should be cooked properly.
It also appears that at least one local school utilises the hotel swimming pool, and children and parents were parading through the edge of the restaurant as I was trying to eat my breakfast.The hotel did have a small bar and prices were quite reasonable, I paid around £6 for my double G&T, but there was seating for around 12 people but using settees rather than tables, so not ideal. The bar did permit smoking but had nowhere for me to plug the laptop in, so another dead horse flogged.
LEISURE FACILITIES
My key reason for choosing this hotel was, that in addition to getting a Club room for a reasonable rate, there were leisure facilities, well a swimming pool, sauna and steam room at least. The facilities were spotless and SMALL.
The pool must have been around 8/9 metres and the steam room and sauna comfortably accommodated ONE, luckily I was on my own but not good if you have a couple of guests wishing to partake at the same time. There was also a ‘health’ café which was shut at 8pm, and a vending machine selling an array of health drinks, chocolates and water.SUMMARY
Would I use it again? I doubt it, well not at least until I quit smoking. The room I had, despite the dripping shower was stunning, and you could quite comfortably stay here for a number of days, however, the other rooms were poor to say the least.
The hotel claims to be “disability friendly” but I fail to see how. There are ground floor rooms, but I struggle to see how wheelchair users could navigate those corridors, I struggled with a laptop and suitcase.Unfortunately my whole stay in North Wales was tainted by the events of the following day when I found someone collapsed in a car-park stair well who died while I waited with him for the ambulance, so I shudder at the prospect of going back. That said, next time I think I will look nearer Chester / Wrexham area and travel the required distance in the morning.
Recommended for non-smokersOriel House Country Hotel.
Upper Denbigh Road, St. Asaph, Denbighshire. LL17 0LW.
Tel: 01745 582 716
For more info visit: http://www.orielhousehotel.co.uk/ (In contrast to my thoughts on hotel accessibility, their website accessibility is very good) For best rates visit: www.laterooms.com or www.activehotels.com
Sue
by (2%):
06.03.2005 12:06
Good review, The same as Desiree, I am suprised you gave the place three stars. The staff must have been pleasant!
30.12.2004 09:37
Doesn't sound like its up to snuff just yet. Perhaps in a year or so...
30.12.2004 08:10
How do you like your bacon done? I love it crispy, incinerated! Sounds an odd and disappoining place. And no Oriels either, from the photo!