This once great hotel is now a run-down and ramshackle heap that Glaswegians should be ashamed of having next to their central Railway station.
Let's start with the lifts, or rather than lack of them. We arrived with luggage and found two out of the three lifts out of action. The remaining operating lift, had its call button missing. So we walked up one flight of the, admittedly impressive, stairs and caught the lift from there. However the lift then didn't stop on the third floor, so we had to leave on the fourth floor and walk down to the third. Although the ground floor button was later fixed, the lift still failed to stop at the third floor. Reading other comments here, I note that the lift problems are longstanding.
Water. Water is a problem. Numerous colleagues complained of coloured water coming from the taps. One described the water as "brackish". Signs are up warning it may take minutes for hot water to reach the sink once taps were on.
Heating. We were using conference facilities and hotel rooms. The conference facilities were cold, the rooms hot. They had to have a loud gas heater blowing to keep the conference hall warm.
Rooms were large enough. I also found my room clean and tidy, and the bathroom was clean. However, the room was distressed, and required a refurbishment.
Food. The breakfast was a rather unappealing buffet cooked affair (fried bread, hash browns, beans, black pudding, bacon etc. ) An evening meal was uniformly criticised by all at our table, particularly some rather tough beef. The lunches were also uninspiring affairs. Eat elsewhere.
The hotel is in a superb location, it redeeming feature is the view into the train station on the first floor. It has an interesting past, with Roy Rodgers, Winston Churchill, and Laurel & Hardy staying there. The internal fittings and ceilings and stairs still betray its past glories, but it is now very run-down and fatigued - like a set from Children of Men.
If you merely want to stay next to the train station and are on a work trip, then you'll probably find it sufficient (but still disappointing). However, if you are on a leisure/romantic trip, don't expect it to dazzle your partner.
The staff were not unfriendly, and are obviously struggling to keep a failing structure, which requires massive investment, operational. Such a shame.

(1 vote)







