Crowne Plaza Nottingham review & Master Thread

Ah..... Nottingham,

A city with a distinct football flavour, the joviality of the Northeners and the free spirit of Robin Hood and his band of merry men. My stay was last August 2023 during the heatwave as part of a great East Midlands visit across different towns in the region to do business. Many of those towns like Grimsby do have a Holiday Inn Express but after my stay at a HIX  in the town of Kettering, i decided to give the Crowne Plaza Nottingham a try. More or less to satisfy my curiosity between the brand standards and the difference between 3* and 4* IHG hotels across the East Midlands.

The Crowne Plaza Nottingham is situated northwest of the Nottingham railway station.

It is an easy walk of about 20 / 25 minutes but with a light incline as the terrain is hilly.

The hotel is slightly uphill compared to the location of the rest of the city.

Not to far to walk from / to Nottingham railway station

The hotel can also be reached by tram https://www.thetram.net/  stops at "Royal Center"

For reference sake, below you see the entrance driveway of the hotel, down the street you see the tram stop.

Aforementioned tramstop "Royal Center" is an easy walk away on flat terrain 

 

Neighbourhood map

Network map

Ticketmachine at the tramstop

takes bills, coins, cards 

Concerning nightlife,

Seek no further, across the street are restaurants and pubs. Actually the whole area has lots of entertainment places that are popular in the weekends

Walking further towards the castle are rows of food & beverages venues catering to every culinary palate . But if you wish to self cater, 2 Tesco express supermarkets are closeby.

Allow me to recommend 2 places for a meal:

Closest: Thai restaurant 

 https://www.chaiyothai.co.uk/

15 min walk:  Authentic church transformed to hip restaurant

https://www.pitcherandpiano.com/bars/nottingham/book?y_source=1_MjMyMjYxMzItNzE1LWxvY2F0aW9uLnJlc2VydmF0aW9uX3VybA%3D%3D

Crowne Plaza Nottingham is one of the few hotels in Nottingham Center with a very large above ground car park. It looks a bit out of place but it seems to be a unique selling points for the hotel as it makes it even easier accessible for those prefering their own transport.

To reach the carpark by road, set the navigation for Hanley street.

Pedestrian access is possible via the stairwell at the hotel driveway at Wollaton street or directly via the indoor passage connecting to the hotel's 1st floor.

And to show you the situation

This is the hotel's driveway entrance at Wollaton street, the brown monstrosity is the huge carpark

The entrance to the parking garage is at Hanley street

Ramp leading inside
 

EV vehichle charging is just opposite of the ramp

I would never to bothered to be on the look out but have been swayed by my pal @atacama40 that the pool of EV-drivers are growing and would appreciate helpful hints where charging is possible close to IHG-hotels . https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/intercontinental-hotels-ihg-one-rewards-intercontinental-ambassador/2078483-ev-charging-parking-ihg-hotels.html

As Lisle von Ruhman would pose: 

Crowne Plaza Carpark Parking? "the cost you see, it's different for everyone"

Fortunately the payment machine takes coins bills and credit and no souls .......

(next to hotel front entrance is another payment machine)

But indeed the parking costs are different for everyone because these are the tariffs for streetparking ..........

And to show you that access to the carpark can be reached by pedestrian streetlevel
 

Or can be accessed via the interior corridor reaching the hotel at the 1st  floor

 

And to get your bearings

I booked for this stay 2 rooms, 1 revenue and 1 on points. Both booked as "Super King Standard" for single occupancy. 
 

As i booked via the app under my IHG-1rewards account, my Diamond status was acknowledged by the friendly receptionist from Hongkong, Mr. Lie.

No upgrade this time because we stayed during the weekend and the hotel was fully commited because of the events of Nottingham Forest football club new kit presentation, Nottngham beach, Nottingham summer carnaval parade, cricket match and the stags & hens parties weekenders.

He did proactively offer the diamond welcome amenity choice of :

- breakfast OR

- drinks voucher OR

- points 

For this stay i chose the drinksvouchers because we would have no time to do any breakfasts. I was promptly presented with 4 drinks vouchers. These were valid for beer, wine, softdrinks at the hotel bar on the first floor. To show you what i ordered and got presented:

Yeah, you may think, Hades what now.....no alcohol?! 
Honestly every evening, i drank so much in Nottingham, more than in my entire life... and that includes tenure at a certain fraternity whose main motto is boozers & bros.......

A quick thankyou to the lovely Ms. Food & Beverage manageress for her understanding and keeping those caffeine drinks coming : )

I had to make use of an extra caffeine kick to keep myself standing :)

Anyway, please erase that image from your minds quickly!
 

Welcome letter with information about hotel services and hours of operations 

Late checkout till 14H  was also offered but i declined it as we had an early EMR Intercity to take back to London St.Pancrass to go to the Kimpton Fitzroy hotel in London
 

As i do also have the IHG-1rewards milestone award of annual lounge pass, i am happy to report that Crowne Plaza club lounge access was granted without any fuss for myself and my travel companion. Because we had both single occupancy and each our own room but booked in my name. A seperate card is issued to use for opening the door to the club lounge

So let's have a quick look at the hotel's common areas

Ground Floor

Directly through the revolving doors 

Reception, has usually 2 counters staffed

Directly left is the lobby with lots of seating and the public restrooms

A water station is provided for those silly enough to go jogging in 28 degrees AUG summer heat....

Internetkiosk just off the lobby area to print out boarding passes and such

On the ground floor and on the 1st floor are several meeting rooms

First floor

Can be reached by the staircase or lifts, it houses the hotel's bar + restaurant, the breakfast room.

Also found here is the access corridor to the hotel's own parking garage and access to the wellness area. This is operated by a third party in cooperation with the hotel and comes with a pool and several wet/dry relaxation areas and facilities : https://theurbanrooms.co.uk/

I have no idea if spend here is EQP and i did not go in because i felt very conspicuous with the great amount of women in all states of bathrobes .... fortunately it doesn't do much for me but i can understand a man's presence might be inhibiting to a women's group.

Access door to the garage and wellness area

 
Very popular place 
 

Crowne Plaza Nottingham's own 

Swatch bar & restaurant: 

https://www.visit-nottinghamshire.co.uk/food-and-drink/swatch-bar-and-restaurant-p725791

https://www.opentable.co.uk/r/swatch-restaurant-at-crowne-plaza-nottingham

A peek at the drinks list

Glass covered hallway between the old & new style buildings, 

There is more than ample seating

Breakfast room photo made in the late evening

We did not do breakfast this stay because of early appointments commitment

Breakfast overflow seating area 

Both our rooms this time were of the category "Super King Standard".

We got allocated both rooms on level 5,

Tripadvisor mentions the lower floors might suffer in the weekends from "excited pub&nightlife" sounds. Or i might be passed out in my sleep or the insulation in room #500 has improved because i heard nothing at all. The hotel does warn you in advance  on the app  with the following notice 

My travel companion who had his room #501 on the opposite side of the corridor reported no noise issues either.

To give you a sense of layout concerning the rooms via the emergency escape plan

Rooms with :
Even numbers face south towards the city, getting morning till afternoon sun

Odd number face north towards the hills and several entertainment venues

You can see above that the standard rooms a wee bit smaller than the premium rooms

All Crowne Plaza Club Rooms + The Club Lounge are located on the top floor of level 8

Difference in views

View of even numbered rooms

View of odd numbered rooms

Below are the photos of room #500,

the other room #501 is the mirror image of this

*no keycard needed to operate the lights

view into the entry from bedroom

View from entry into bedroom

Handy features:
Deskchair on wheels + Desk light

Blackout curtains ( so dark i once tripped over my suitcase)

Just 1 big closet 

Iron + board + hairdryer

A sassy tone made me smile

Empty fridge to store & cool your own ite s

Because this is a standard room, it only comes with a kettle

I presume the club rooms do come with a fancy coffeemachine instead of just a kettle

Bedside energy for the digital nomads

Only USB A or Imperial UK style plugs possible

Roomservice menu + Roomservice breakfast

So you have expectations about the pricelevel

Bathroom

As you may have read upwards in the paragraph, the hotel gives you an advance warning notice on the app that all rooms come with a showertub combo and none have walk in showers

 

Fortunately i am still agile

Waterpressure and heat control were excellent

Tamperproof refillable wall-mounted containers of 

https://antipodesnature.com/

Also supplies IHG's Voco hotel The Hague / Den Haag Netherlands 

Verdict:

Airconditioning worked excellent, so cold that i even had to temper it at night

Room was clean and silent (because at end of corridor)

internet was lightning fast

Bathroom functional but difficult if impaired/less nimble because of tub/shower combo

Standard room can recommend if travelling solo or for a short stay
 

SKY TV guide:
 

If you have a husband who wants to keep updated with sports

If you have kids that need to be kept busy with children's shows

If you have a wife who likes to zapp to an entertaining programme

or if you just don't feel like leaving the hotel .... these are all the SKY TV-channels offered 

Located on level 8 the top floor, access is granted by a proper programmed keycard to open the door. The lounge is open 24/7 and has always on offer the possibility of having coffee / tea / softdrinks and biscuits. No breakfast is served here because the physical space is limited. From 17 - 20 H evening, a staff member will come by to unlock the beer cabinet, to display a duo of red and white wines and to set up a small fingerfood display. It's nothing that constitutes a full meal but we did meet other guests whom were rather excited about the concept of free flow of beer & wine + the telly showing sports as kickstarter for fun weekend nights. 

So let's see if i got my value with the annual lounge pass,

This post might also serve those that are in doubt if booking a club room is the right fit for their travel needs.......

Floorplan of level 8 with the club rooms and club lounge

A lot or larger premium rooms on this floor

Entrance to the lounge via keycard

The physical space is not too big, there are no toilets attached to the lounge

Looking back towards the entrance

Excuse me, my travel companion took this photo, all the others i took are a bit blurry

I can see clearly now that i need to lose weight again or buy things with stripes 

The lounge has good views of the surroundings and faces north

And if you look down, you can spot several entertainment establishments that can produce weekend's ambient sounds 

So what is always available in the club lounge 24/7 ?

Coffee machine

Tea selection (tea bags)

Biscuits

Variety of softdrinks including regional speciality of

https://franklinandsons.co.uk/products/soft-drinks/

And what is being displayed later in the evening:

Food & Beverage presentation from 17 - 20 H 

Nothing to be excited about but more of a light nibble if you feel peckish.

Surprising to observe but the nachos were quite a popular combo with the tipple (no photo as i accidently deleted it  but it came with sauces and pickles and such

The beer fridge is unlocked with 3 different types available

And to show you the instant paradise of nibble + tipple + telly:

makes a very laid back atmosphere were people can unwind and get ready for the weekendnights

We had so much laughter and talk that i forgot to snap a picture of the red & white wine. Oops!

EDIT:

Found a picture of the wine on my mobile

Did i get value of the annual lounge pass?

IMO, yes the ability to strech out, grab a drink and mix&mingle is better than being in a standard room for entertainment . It is appreciated by the guests we spoke too, it is kept stocked and cleaned by the Romanian food & beverage manageress every hour or by one of her staff members. I found it never crowded because most of the guests present had booked a club room for the special weekend occasion and only 1 couple admitted to have used their annual lounge pass to gain entry.

I can fully recommend this hotel because of:

- car accessibility with sheer ease of parking

- location for sightseeing / shopping / entertainment

- helpful, friendly and easygoing staff

- standard room is perfect for solo travellers

- bed + pillows provided good night's sleep

- availability of wellness area

- recognition of IHG-1rewards Diamond elite benefits 

Hope this review can be informative for those

having future bookings,

are considering a stay,

or are just fed up with all those ridiculous expensive 'out of touch" non biased Four Seasons hotel reviews being pumped out by Ben & Ford at OMAAT  :p

Thanks for reading,

And after all this typing, i just feel like one of Robin Hood's merry men!