There is a nice booklet in your room at the Marriott explaining the long history of the hotel and how £40m was spent restoring it in 1991. It's a shame, therefore, that the current management really does not care about the state of the building or the rooms.

There are lots of nice things about this hotel - the big pool and jacuzzi, the excellent breakfast buffet, the location. However, there is no excuse for (takes a deep breath):

reception having no record of my booking made on the Marriott website, the door handle to the balcony in my suite coming off in my hand, a chunk of wallpaper missing from the wall, a toilet seat that would NOT sit up because the flush handle was directly above the seat (!!), towels in the pool no thicker than a napkin, no satellite TV except the sports channels (do they think this will make us pay for the Pay TV movies?), a queen sized duvet on a king sized bed, a kettle that seemed to date from 1991 and had 13 years of limescale inside, room service delivering a salmon sandwich when the menu says it is a ciabatta ....

And I got all this in just one night! Heaven knows what I would have discovered if I had been here more than 12 hours. And, remember, this all happened in a suite - the standard rooms may well be worse. It is a real shame, as this really could be a great hotel if only it had a bit of love.

Beautiful hotel, efficient, pleasant service, great location, nicely appointed, fair sized rooms. Recommended.

Pleasantly surprised by the hotel overall. We stayed here in late October for 1 night. The hotel is wonderfully located in the heart of Bristol in a beautiful listed building. Our room was elegant, oversized with period features and high ceilings. The room was tastefully furnished in a traditional English style. The room was spotlessly clean and the room clearly well cared for with no visible signs of wear. The reception were very helpful and car parking very straight forward. Leisure facilities were excellent and the best feature was the restaurant (Michael Caine) which had a wonderful gourmet taster menu. Breakfast was self service and was extensive. My best experience at a Marriott to date.