Hotels near Ken Spelman Books in York

My wife and I stayed for 2 nights and were drawn in by reputation and quality of the other principal hotels across the country. I was shocked to read so many bad reviews and almost booked somewhere else as a result. It seems most of the intolerant previous residents had issues with noise, smells. food, rooms, service. We didn’t experience any of that and can only conclude that most of the reviews are either planted as false information by competitors or result of warm summer, outdoor bar or questionable views / aspect of room. We stayed in a king on 3rd floor, room 300. If you’re worried about anything just book that one! Tasteful clean decor and great views to the minster. Notable comments for James who went above and beyond to sort out a small issue with audio description hardcoded into the TV, sorted smoothly and efficiently. Great location, atmosphere and setting. We will be back with our dog next time. Don’t believe everything you read from dissolutioned guests who want a megaphone to comment on perceived issues.

I will start with the parking, I paid for secure parking however due to the hotel having noise issue the security gate to the carpark (The noise caused complaints) and second issue of refurbishment being ongoing, the gate was up to allow the building teams to park in the entrance way. This made it difficult to get out of the carpark due to there vans. When I questioned staff they were very dismissive of the issue and said they had CCTV on so it would be fine. The hotel itself is being partial refurbished and that is to revamp the very dated rooms, we were aware of this beforehand, however we were not prepared for 7am drilling and banging from the building works. In addition to this the corridors were often filled with building equipment and furniture which was ongoing throughout the stay. The room, while well proportioned, was very dated. This could have been forgiven if it wasn't for the fact the room was not clean. There were a number of stains on the carpet, the bathroom sink was stinking when used. The bath mat was moldy and the shower itself was a trickle of water, making it difficult to wash quickly. The curtains were very grubby and the room smelled very stale, the bed was adequate but we couldn't be 100% that the sheets had been properly cleaned as there was an odd smell to the bedding. The TV was of decent size but kept cutting in and out of signal when in use, which was annoying when we decided to have an early evening chilling in the room we had paid for, the WiFi was useless, if planning to work while staying here you will need to hotspot your phone. The breakfast food was OK, however the description of a wide choice of cooked food and continental breakfast dishes was over exaggerated, there was no fruit on two days and bananas on the last morning, one choice of yogurt and 3 small cereal options. The cooked food was standard: Bacon, eggs, sausages, hash browns, tomatoes,mushrooms and bean's. Toast was something that had to be requested and was more like warm bread. On the first morning my partner was served a cup with the remainder of someone's lipstick stains on the rim. On closer inspection of the glasses there were a number which were not clean. On the second night we went to the bar area to grab a couple of drinks. The bar was full of empty unwashed glasses and when we got our drinks our glasses where sticky. There was a smell of stale ale which was not appealing in the slightest. On checking out raised a couple of things with the receptionist and was meet with at best distinct lack of interest and worst just plan rudeness. Sadly this hotel did not meet the standards it professed to uphold. I would say the location and river view was pretty and the fact the parking was at the hotel itself made it one of the reasons I booked it. However after this visit I will not be visiting again as there are better hotels in York and carparks that are not much more expensive than the supposed secure parking.

We booked this hotel for a 3 day get away to York. The hotel is well situated off Tadcaster Road, near a woodland path which leads to York racecourse, so is very popular for those who go to the horse racing. Free parking is given on the hotel’s ground, but be warned make sure you go to reception and put in your car registration details in their computerised system otherwise you will be issued with a parking fine from the company who operates CCTV monitoring for the hotel. We booked the hotel through the IHG website, as an IHG Gold member we were given an option of an early checkin for a fee of £20.00 and an upgrade of £45.00. We took advantage of both offers, subject to availability on arrival. Unfortunately this wasn’t possible on arrival, and we weren’t able to check in until nearly 3pm. We were given the upgrade of a room on the top floor. The room had a small fridge with complimentary water and a chocolate bar, slippers, and dressing gowns. The toiletries, conditioner, shampoo, body lotion, are all in fixed to the wall containers. The bath room had a large walk in shower which was quite powerful, but space to hang towels, put personal toiletries was very minimal, and I was thankful that I took a plastic shoe type hold-all and a suction hook which I attached to the shower door to put our toiletries in, otherwise they would have cluttered the sink area. The bathroom was very small, and the door needs to be closed to get any room to do what is necessary in the bathroom. We booked a deal of dinner bed and breakfast. This was a disaster. We went for dinner and just about everything on the menu wasn’t available. Eventually we ordered a burger and chips. After about 30 minutes the food arrived. It was the worse burger and chips I have ever tasted. The burger was burnt on the outside, raw in the middle, the bun was burnt, the chips were very brown, which tasted of fat. We picked at the food as we were so hungry but it wasn’t nice, and hardly edible, in fact what I ate made me feel quite sick afterwards. We complained to reception, who apologised, and said that chefs in York were really hard to employ, and offered to refund the dinner to our account. We said that if this was the case, we would rather not eat dinner in the hotel, and could they please refund the dinner portion from our account for the rest of the stay. We had breakfast for the next 3 mornings, but it wasn’t marvellous, often dishes weren’t refilled when emptied. Some staff didn’t seem to know what they were doing, and others didn’t seem to be that bothered, or concerned, about the guests in the hotel, possibly some more customer service training could be beneficial all round. For the remainder of the stay we ate our evening meal in the pub across the road, which was really good. We felt that the standard of the hotel has deteriorated since we were there a couple of years ago. Would we go back? Possibly not, unless standards improved, and the hotel gets a m

Great location in the Moto services on a roundabout that leads to York, Wetherby and the A1M. Really convenient for going out. Loads of parking, although would be better if there was a dedicated area for hotel guests as the bit nearest the hotel seems to be where everyone wants to park, particularly vans. Basic budget hotel with tea and coffee facilities in the room, a TV and a shower room. Would have said it was clean until I found a babies dummy under the bed on the last morning of our 3-night stay. Odd numbered rooms face the car park. On the ground floor rooms from 021 to 037 overlook the grass between hotel and car park where people stand to smoke and everyone takes their dog to do its business. Got a bit annoying when people stood almost against our window even when it was open. Closed window pretty good at keeping out the noise day and night. Additional door in the corridor just before room 021 also cut down on the early morning shouting of people leaving their rooms. Room surprisingly quiet. Did have one issue but it was sorted out pretty swiftly by management with no argument, so can't fault them on service. Breakfast is available for £7 but not much variety. Some cereals, yogurt, fruit, cheese and bread/cakes. Greggs next door much cheaper.

Location is Ok, 20 mins from train station and 5 mins to the city central. Hotel is closed to the York city wall and church, we may found it from our room window which are very beautiful in the night. All the staffs are nice. A warm welcome cookies delivered when check in, and a handsome young man (he seems called “Tom” I saw from his name badge 😆) serviced for the breakfast area which is so helpful and nice, appreciated!!!! Room is big however a smelly toilet. Try to fixed it with some air fresher but does not work. Guess that’s because of the pie air pressure issue of the WC, I’ve kept to smell it for 3 nights!! Hotel just next to the main road, that’s quite noisy when the cars passing through. I am fine for that however my boyfriend can not slept well because of the noisy.

Was worried reading reviews but we had the best get away here for our wedding anniversary. Our room was overlooking the small courtyard and was very clean. Could not fault our room. We arrived early so had a drink at the bar, check in was quick and easy and the lady on reception was very pleasant and polite. Nice touch of chocolates in our room for our anniversary. Only a 10 minute walk into the main centre which has plenty to do and see. Before we left Sunday we wanted to explore and was advised we could stay in the car park as long as needed. Was very quiet in our room and had a decent night sleep. We will definitely return, we had the most perfect weekend.

Myself, my son (11 years) and our puppy Hugo and my parents had the privilege of staying in this hotel for 2 nights whilst we had a 2 day city break in York. The staff are extremely welcoming, so friendly, happy to help and fun. The reception area is awesome with so many games and books to read we never had a dull moment. The staff were so good with Hugo, which was a bonus that we could bring our puppy and feel so welcome we would love to come back and stay. The beds are so comfy, massive flat screen tv in rooms, lovely showers and really cool deign in rooms we loved it. The staff really went out of there way too help in anyway they would and gave us a really friendly Advice in where to go too to eat and see th sights of York. Our room was cleaned beautifully and we enjoyed sitting out in the courtyard for our complimentary drinks on our last night. Wonderful ! What more can you ask for :) thanks everyone you made it very special for us all :)

Overall great! A very feel-good hotel that fulfilled all my fantasies about living in an English town villa. Highly recommended! Facilities: The room is very large and the furniture and supplies are very particular. It can be seen that the hotel owner has great taste, especially the 1982 old records, which are older than me. The sound quality is still so good. He is really attentive! Environment: The scenery outside the window is simply amazing, so beautiful! Hygiene: Very good. Service: The lady at the front desk thoughtfully introduced us to the free snack shops on the floor, etc. The only thing worthy of attention is that the hotel parking lot needs to be reserved in advance, otherwise you will have to park in a public parking lot about 15 minutes walk away like us, which is really inconvenient...

We stayed at the Parsonage for a couple of nights in September. We were so glad we chose this hotel as we had a fabulous stay. We were lucky enough to get a good deal from Hotels.com We had a lovely room that felt as if it was separate from the hotel, a couple of things needed updating but it did not affect our stay, the room was clean and comfy, the shower was powerful. If we needed anything we went reception and were accommodated straight away. The breakfast was lovely, plenty of it, food was replenished quickly and it was nice to see that food was taken away if it had been standing for a while. my husband is a vegetarian and the chef looked after him. The waiting on staff were challenged this day as i heard people asking for gluten free toast, decaf drinks , along with our own requests, but nothing was too much trouble. I would just like to say that there were a couple of staff members who stood out and went the extra mile to make sure everyone was happy, firstly the young lady on reception who had been in position a week , she also did some waitressing at breakfast, her personality shone through and we generally thought she wanted to do her best to help everyone enjoy their stay. There was also a chap cleaning the spa area who again went out of his way and seemed to have good judgement if people wanted a conversation or just a polite smile. All other staff members were very professional and we could not fault any of them. I read previously about other peoples bad experiences and i am not naive to realise that peoples experiences are different and that there are many members of staff, so i can only judge what we experienced. We loved the spa area , like other reviews have said , you need to take a £1 for the locker which you get back, also take a towel otherwise they are chargeable. There is a pub on site, we only had a look around so didn’t visit it but it looked lovely. We travelled to York by car which was a very easy route, but there is also a bus service near the hotel that i believe is very efficient and has a late night service too. There is a outlet mall not too far away thats worth a visit.

With a stay at The Little Hide - Grown Up Glamping in York, you'll be within a 10-minute drive of York Minster and Jorvik Viking Centre. This apartment is 4 mi (6.5 km) from Shambles and 4.1 mi (6.5 km) from York City Walls.Make use of convenient amenities such as complimentary wireless internet access, a picnic area, and barbecue grills.Free self parking is available onsite.Make yourself at home in one of the 10 guestrooms.