Hotel Balmoral

Would not return. Bed was rock hard, not comfortable at all, it was very noisy outside the hotel and also inside - people playing knock and run on our door, absolutely sweltering in the room, the water system was running all night so was really loud. Spent 1 night here and then changed hotels for the other 2 nights of our stay, it was that bad.

Great location for central Newcastle Great location, ideal for St James’ Park with free parking. Modern, spacious place to stay and has a great Indian restaurant, Akbars next door

Good value for money, everything you need. Only complaint is there is no air con but the window opens really wide

Basic and clean. Its ok for overnight stay if you are not going to be in most of the day. Little extras like a bottle of water and a menu card in the room for the restaurant downstairs would have made it feel more welcoming.

We had a "Best Western" special sale offer of buy one night, get one free in December 2023 which was excellent value. The male member of staff on reception gave us an underwhelming welcome and didn't look very smart so we were a bit apprehensive as we made our way to our room. However we were pleasantly surprised as the room was clean and pleasant. The parking was free. It was a 10-15 minute walk downhill into the city centre or you could hop on the bus outside. We did both. Both nights we were there we got an Uber back which was £5-£10 and worth every penny as the hill back is steep. Breakfast was included but it was continental only and consisted of toast, drinks and some unappealing prepacked bakery items. The ones we tried we didn't enjoy. We opted for some toast and tea and ate quickly as we were the only ones in the restaurant and there wasn't any music. As a consequence we felt like we had to whisper and didn't feel very comfortable. For these reasons we didn't bother with breakfast the next morning. There was an onsite indian restaurant (also where you ate breakfast) and it did feel like the business was an independent restaurant with rooms rather than a chain hotel with a restaurant attached. We did experience some noise presumably from customers leaving the restaurant and waiting for a taxi and for quite some time there was loud laughter and talking and this stopped us sleeping as our window was just above the reception. At one point I looked out and they were almost leaning on our car which alarmed me at first as I thought someone was trying to break in it. All in all a pleasant experience and a great price but unsure if we would return without a special offer. I'd say a rating of 3.5 but doesn't make a 4.

The reception lady was very nice, polite and helpful. Check in was quick no issues. We had to stay somewhere during home renovations so we just wanted somewhere budget friendly and nearby, this was ideal. This is a basic hotel which for the price it is excellent, spotlessly clean and decorated/ maintained to a high standard. The room has everything you would want from a standard hotel room - hair dryer, kettle, tea and coffee, bath and shower gel, a safe, a dressing table, phone, alarm clock. The bathroom has a nice powerful shower and is all in working order, towels are clean and in good condition and plenty of toilet rolls. Although it is on a main road we had no complaints with noise from that or from other rooms and slept brilliantly. Wi-Fi is free and the TV has Netflix, YouTube. There is a large car park and there appears to be cctv, the staff take your vehicle registration. They give you a code for the front door on check in in case it is locked when you come and go. We had a ‘standard’ king room however the bed is massive and very comfortable. The window is nice and big and opens which is fantastic to let some air circulation as it is quite warm in the room. One thing to note is that there are only two sockets for the room at the desk so I would bring an extension if you need it. I didn’t get breakfast so can’t comment on it however I saw a review which said you can go for breakfast in the Indian restaurant Akbar’s next door but it smelled of Indian food which they don’t like, I mean come on how ******* can you be to go into an Indian restaurant and complain of the smell of curry? It’s like diving into the sea and complaining it’s too wet. I can say there is no smell at all in the hotel and there are multiple cafes/shops/takeaways on the same street, and the location is minutes away from town so you have no shortage of places to get something to eat. To summarise, I would definitely recommend this hotel, the location is ideal, you get a lot more than a premier inn or other similar priced no frills hotel, the rooms are lovely and it was actually cheaper for us to stay here!