International Hotel Derby

As a consultant, I tend to find myself living out of hotels. When it comes to the international, I have never left disappointed. In total, I have stayed at the hotel on four different occasions, surprisingly twice under the old management, and twice under the new management. Although I was more than happy with the facilities under the old management, the new manager has definitely made a number of positive changes, and the hotel is definitely going places. The manager is a bloke probably in his thirties, and he's very approachable and friendly, always ready to listen and try accommodate in any way he can. Makes a massive change from all these franchised hotels, where if there is a serious problem, you have to call up corporate headquarters and listen to really bad music while being kept on hold! even after the wait, they can easily just tell you to get lost, which has happened on more than one occasion to me. I have always really enjoyed my stay at this place. The hotel has a good atmosphere, and all the staff are very helpful and friendly. As well as clean rooms and good facilities, the hotel has a really good bar and restaurant. The food has always been really good, which is evident by the fact that people who do not even stay want to eat there. On top of that, I have found that I end up having a much better time at the bar in the hotel, than any of the bars that i have been out in, in Derby. When you consider the room, the facilities, the ambiance, and the friendly nature of the staff, the price of the room (which is more than reasonable, especially considering what you end up paying at franchised places with everything just standard, and the people like robots!) the hotel is an absolute steal for outsiders. I have never been dissapointed, and undoubtedly will be staying there again in the future. This is definitely a highly recommended place, from a constant hotel resident! I look forward to my stay there in the new year.

My partner and I checked into the hotel on Friday 11th August as our friends were holding their wedding reception there on the Saturday. Although I had initial reservations about staying at this hotel due to the many negative reviews I'd read by ‘googling' the hotel, as we checked in I thought I'd give it the benefit of the doubt. We were given room eighty-one of the East Wing several buildings away from the main hotel (which meant that we'd have to walk five minutes before getting to the main building to use the bar or for breakfast and also outside a main road bus stop!) but the room was pleasant and with it being away from the main building, it was also quiet. However, first impressions were that the room could do with a good going over with a vacuum cleaner as thick layers of dirt and dust were clearly visible under the dressing table, the TV unit and the wardrobe. The room also had not been dusted in a while as I had to wipe away a thick layer of dust from the TV and remote control. We were also afraid to close and lock the bathroom door as the handle was on it very last legs and coming away from the door itself. However, this was nothing in comparison of what was yet to come. My other half (as best man at the wedding) left to go stay at the groom's house on the Friday night and after a few drinks at the bride's home, I returned to the suite and retired to my bed at eleven-thirty p.m., leaving the lamp on the other side of the room on as it was very dark. I briefly awoke at one-fifty a.m. and turned around in bed, opening my eyes to find an insect the size of a twenty-pence piece right in front of my nose on my pillow. I hate creepy crawlies at the best of times and scream and flicked it away, as I got out of bed and lifted up the duvet I was stunned and shocked into screaming as I found at least a further twenty to thirty insects scrawling around my legs, on the duvet and on the white sheets themselves – all of different colours, sizes, and shapes -- and all which frightened the living bee-jeezus out of me – it was like something out of an Indiana Jones movie, I couldn't believe what was happening to me. I was in tears as I was trying to bat them off me and managed to trap a few bright red louse like things under a glass tumbler. I called reception and the phone was finally picked up by the night porter, as I shouted down the phone at him, tears streaming down my face, he informed me to pack my things and he'd move me to a different room. As I packed I discovered further insect crawling around on my dress cover, around our cases and on the floor, I went crazy trying to pack and shake these things off me at two-fifteen in the morning, the porter finally turned up, apologised and had a look at some of the insects that were trapped under the tumbler and also the ones that decided to hide inside my pillow cover when the lights came on. He gave me the keys to room eighty-two and left, leaving me to pack up my things and drag mine and my partner's cases, bags, clothes and gifts to the other room in my pyjamas! After four journeys back and forth between the rooms, I dumped everything in room eighty-two and after scrutinizing the room, bed and covers inside out I reluctantly climbed into bed, by now it's three a.m. and I was so paranoid I couldn't sleep, my skin is crawling and I could still feel these insects all over me, I got little to no sleep and realised I'd developed a nervous twitch in my left eyebrow (which two days later is still there!) because of this whole experience. My paranoid nightmare continued as I kept thinking to myself that if I hadn't have kept the lamp on then I would never have seen all those bugs and god only knows in which orifice they might have set up home in and how many I may have eaten whilst asleep as they may have crawled into my mouth, up my nose or in my ears (the thought of this as I type is making me sick!). On the morning of the wedding I regaled my experience to fellow members of the wedding party who were also staying there in front of the other staff who looked extremely sheepish and embarrassed, giving me sly looks – everyone was horrified. I finally saw the Manager, Sumit, a boy of no more than twenty-five who escorted me to the back corners of the hotel to apologise and say that they'd just taken over the hotel and that he'd informed Derby City Council of the infestation and surprise surprise that this kind of thing had never happened to them before. I re-explained everything that happened, only for him to say "what would you like me to do about it"? I promptly replied in anger that there wasn't a lot he could do I've a whole night's sleep, I've had the shock of my life, I've had insect crawling around on my body and I have bites on my arms and legs. He then said that he wouldn't charge me for the Friday night (which was big of him), I said to him whether he did or he didn't I still never managed to get any sleep in either of the rooms and it had ruined a big day that everyone had spend the best part of six months to organise. He also said that if he saw me around the bar he'd buy me a few drinks. At the reception, which was held in the Aztec room (aptly named with all those creepy crawlies in my room) my other half went to buy me a drink, and I told the bar staff that Sumit the manager had promised me a free drink, she went off to find out and the next thing I know Sumit came up to me and dragged me out of the reception so that he could "have a word" -- I followed him up to his office, on the way to stop at the elevator where Sumit helped an elderly couple – man was in a wheelchair, woman stuck in the lift wedged behind the wheelchair and struggling to get out or get the doors to close as the lift was too small. (Note to all you people travelling with disabilities, with wheelchairs large, cases or prams – the lifts are not suitable nor fit for purpose, especially as the woman informed me later on in the reception that she'd phoned up weeks in advance to check if the hotel was wheel-chair friendly – which it clearly isn't because of the lift, the ten or so large marble steps outside and the car par which is almost a ninety degree vertical drop – seriously no exaggeration!). When we got to the Manager's office, he brashly said to me "I understand from my bar staff that you said that you were promised free drinks all night by me?!" I promptly informed him that I had said no such thing and that I wasn't trying to put him out of business and a free drink was the least he could have given me after my experience the night before. He said that he'd let his bar staff know. All in all my experience with this hotel was bad. The breakfast, cold, fatty and greasy, the staff and management rude and inhospitable (although their large bar man-come-bouncer was nice) their facilities unusable and rooms left undusted and unhoovered and handles falling off doors and fire doors being slammed from dawn onwards. I can honestly without a doubt say that I will never ever be staying there again, I wouldn't recommend it to my worst enemy and for any of you who usually take these reviews with a pinch of salt, I say don't! I ignored the reviews of previous occupants which disastrous and horrific consequences!