Review of Great Victoria Hotel 4*

More things were wrong with our stay in this hotel than right. We were there for 3 nights, and if we hadn’t felt confident that some effort would be made to fix the fixable problems, we would have requested a move or contacted the booking agent to have us moved somewhere else entirely. The lift was broken. From the signs up next to reception, this has been an ongoing problem and is unlikely to be fixed anytime soon. The front doorbell is broken and the doors are locked after midnight. Signs on the door instructed us to call a UK mobile number. We would therefore have to place an international call in order to get into the hotel. Again, this has apparently been the situation for quite some time, and the night employee responded to our protestations with an unimpressed, “That’s too bad. ” The shower was broken. We didn’t notice this until we arrived back in the middle of the night. The temperature dial was completely broken off, and the water was scalding. We tried to adjust it by turning the plastic bit that was still there, but it did nothing, so we had to take baths. In the morning, we consulted the desk clerk. She suggested that the manager could come set the temperature, so that as long as we only turned the shower on and didn’t touch the temperature, we should at least be able to shower. She also said she would arrange that perhaps the door could stay slightly open the next night. When we were preparing to leave that evening, there had still been no one in to fix the shower. The clerk on now hadn't heard of this problem. We didn’t think to mention the door problem again. That night, as the taxi arrived in front of the door and we were paying him, we watched the night employee attach the same note about mobiles to the door. He couldn’t have failed to see our taxi through the large glass windows and doors. As we walked up to the door, he locked the last door and WALKED AWAY! We banged on the windows to get his attention, and after quite a delay, he opened the door grumpily to us. Thankfully, our shower temperature had been set to a reasonable temperature, and we were able to shower before sleep this second night. The following night, our shower was again scalding. Then the bathwater was brown. In the morning, the same desk clerk was working who had made us promises that first morning, and we told her and the manager of these fiascos. We suggested that they consider a wireless doorbell for the night person to carry with him so that late-comers could actually get into their hotel without making expensive calls. They comped us one night, but made no indication that they would fix any of these issues. Additional minor issues include bent and broken blinds in the bathroom, which were also filthy, incredibly dusty surfaces throughout the hotel common areas, and overripe fruit options in the breakfast buffet. We travel annually to Bradford for a music festival, and this was our first time staying at the Great Victoria, as we like to check out all the options when we go to the same location regularly. It will be our last. Thank goodness that neither the Jury’s Inn nor the Bradford Hotel has given us a bad experience. We are already booked at the Jury’s for next year’s festival, and we have advised other festival guests to avoid the Great Victoria, which was worse than terrible.