The Royal York Hotel

nice staff, beautiful hotel and interior design, close to the train station, Really cute and quant town. if you visit YORK, England. stay here!

Absolutely horrible time here. Went to the bar with a few friends. The bar was dirty and sticky the cocktail menu was limited to say the least and when in asked for a cocktail they had to consult a list for the ingredients and instructions. It’s not the evening experience you want.
When we sat down for the meal it began nicely, however when I got my steak (which was £41) it was overcooked quite substantially. I had to wait for another one to arrive, which was smaller and equally overcooked.
The bill was whipped. But the evening was ruined. I was still hungry and rather annoyed as the Royal should be a good place to go, but alas no.

Well I thought I would share my experience here. Great lobby, bar, pool, jaquzzi, steam room, sauna

This place is not as bad as people have made it out to be. The common areas, interior halls, stairs, and exterior are actually very pretty.
Upon check-​in we received a room which was on the lowest/​basement level. This room was horrible and the hotel would have been a 1-​star, if we had not changed rooms. It was dirty, with severely stained furniture/​couch, and damaged tables. On this floor is the kitchen, maintenance, etc. and you have to wait a long time to get the elevator since the hotel staff is predominately using it. The room we were given was also directly beneath the stairs/​ramp and the ceiling shook and people’s pounding footsteps could be heard. I have no idea why they would even use this as a guest room in this condition. Perhaps, it was because it was booked with expedia which I have found results in the worse rooms always.
However, we called the front desk and asked to change rooms. They said we would have to wait for a room to be ready but to come up and speak with them. When we went to the reception desk they had a key waiting. Then next room was on the third floor and was a world of difference. Clean, neat, spacious, just so much nicer. It was shocking as it looked like it was in a different hotel altogether. During the night there was some noise from outside, people walking about, but this is typical for an older building and the convenience of being steps from the train station.
Other things to note:
— TV is small/​old, needs to be updated
+/​-​hotel is clean, but not immaculate — typical 2 star by US standards
+ local is convenient to train station
+ rooms are huge

We spent part of our honeymoon at this hotel and it was very charming. The outside looks a little like a castle and it’s within walking distance of the old city centre of York. It’s also attached to the York train station so we didnt need a car. The inside is old but has character. We had room service almost every morning and the breakfast was fabulous that way. One day we decided to go downstairs for breakfast and the options weren’t so good. So if you stay in your room most of the time and get room service, I think you’ll like it. If you’re expecting the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, you won’t.

The website says this is a 4-​star hotel. That is a complete misrepresentation. It is a dirty, smelly, rundown, unpleasant place. The place was apparently redone (badly) in the sixties, and hasn’t been touched since. Stained, frayed furniture fills the place. Wi-​fi is 15 pounds per 24 hours. Whatever you do, do not stay here.

Two words
FOOD POISONING!
I flew in from the US for a friends wedding, I was best man and had my duties cut out! The Hotel looks fabulous from the outside, shame I can’t say the same for the waiters/​waitresses. All went well over the weekend, great time, the wedding meal looked great, Roast Chicken.
It wasn’t until 24 hours after the meal I took a funny turn, I had a flight back to LA in the next day or so and was keen to brush off any illness, little did I know what was ahead.
7 days of the highest recorded temperatures known to the doctor, a fever, hallucination, stomach flu. I wondered what it could be? what had I eaten, surely nothing from the wedding other people would have got it, I would have heard! I was ‘out’ so badly I couldn’t even make a phone call, I lost over a stone in weight and day 8 I made it into the doctors office and did the tests, results came back…
campylobacter
This comes from poultry! the only chicken I had eaten was at the wedding. after changing my flight for a quick grand, I made a few calls, 10 close friends had had the same thing!!! all had eaten the chicken at the wedding, COINCIDENCE!!! I THINK NOT, it was the only meal we had all had together! The wedding meal!
Funnily I remembered that on the wedding day, the groom’s mum had asked if she could swap my piece of chicken for hers as they had given her way too big a piece, I happily obliged… she didn’t get ill! That was the only time I was happy to have eaten that piece of chicken!
I called the York Hotel to tell them what had happened, imagine if the bride and groom had got this on their honeymoon! as it happened neither had eaten the food on the day! This illness could have even killed an elderly person!
The York Hotel just didn’t want to know, they hung up the phone on me. I then contacted the public health department, they wanted 3 more people to do the tests, easier said than done! I told the other victims what to do and left it at that.
I had done all I could and had to return to the US! I ended up swearing to myself one day I will have REVENGE, I’m not sure if this review will do it but it eases the pain for now! ANYWAY ive heard it’s best done in a dish served cold… like their hearts!

Stayed here for recent conference — staff could not have been more helpful. excellent gala dinner, very good support from AV technicians Jed and Steve. Would run event from here again if possible.