Staying at Crowne Plaza Hotel Nottingham – review

I’d booked very last minute, a couple of nights at the Crowne Plaza Hotel Nottingham. It was reasonably priced for 2 nights, even with the parking fee on top.

Within 5 mins walk of the theatre and Cornerhouse, and under 10 mins to walk to the centre at the Old Market Square, the hotel is right in the middle of Nottingham centre. It’s easy to find your way around, and there’s a tram station near the theatre too. We just left the car in the hotel all the time we were there and walked everywhere. 

We’d definitely recommend the Crowne Plaza Hotel Nottingham as a place to stay for a city break.

The car park

Staying in the centre isn’t cheap. We paid £16 a night to park, although that did cover the full 3 days we were there. The parking is really tight – tiny spaces with pillars taking space on the outside of 2 spaces meaning lots of cars were struggling to park only in one space. Others didn’t even bother trying. It’s great to have a car park though, and the hotel provide a pass ticket that lets you go in and out as needed.

The car park is right behind the hotel, with a lift into the hotel. Coming from the car park you only get to floor 1, then there’s more steps, or walk across to a different lift which goes to the rooms and reception.  

The hotel 

The interior communal areas is really modern with great lighting and exposed brickwork. There’s plenty of seating in various areas, the lounge, bar, and the restaurant. If you want to work or just hang out with snacks or a drink, there’s plenty of places to sit and watch the hotel comings and goings.

Everywhere was really clean and tidy, and the staff were all friendly and looking to help you.

Our room

We were on the 5th floor. The carpet outside the rooms is so quiet – apart from some very noisy children walking past one evening, we didn’t hear people going past. We only heard 1 door shutting, so it’s quite a quiet hotel. The double glazing did its job keeping the traffic sound out (main road into the city was one row of buildings over), although we did notice a generator going at one point. Our air con covered that up pretty well.

The room I booked was a twin room, and the lovely lady on reception had confirmed it was set up with 2 beds. Except they’d not been separated. So I just moved them apart a bit, and it didn’t take up much extra room.

There were plenty of plug sockets in accessible places, a mini fridge with complementary water bottles. Plus a hair dryer, safe and proper coathangers you could fully remove. There were plenty of mirrors, a nice desk, and lots of storage space. It was nice to have hot chocolate provided – so many places don’t. 

The air con was easy to get working thankfully as the room did get very warm without it.

The bathroom had a good moveable shower, with a nice range of shower gels/shampoo etc in the bathroom. 

N really liked the bed, although for me it was too soft. The issue with single hotel duvets is they’re never wide enough to actually hang over the bed, and these certainly weren’t. Luckily I get hot when sleeping, so having a foot stuck out wasn’t a major issue.

We did struggle with the free wifi. It said it was a strong connection but kept cutting out on my phone. On my laptop even turning off my McAfee VPN which kept turning on, it was really slow. We just watched tv in the evenings instead.

The swimming pool

The pool is open to hotel guests and is open most of the day, however children’s hours are limited to 9-11am or 4-6pm.  

I couldn’t find my swimming costume that fits, and hadn’t been able to locate a last minute purchase before travelling (or in Nottingham itself), so N had to swim on his own. Not usually a problem given his age, but when they went off at reception to get us towels, I made the mistake of saying he was the only one going in. It turned out that adults have to be in the pool with them if under 16. Luckily a manager came and made sure I’d be at the side supervising, and checking his swimming ability. Thankfully they said he could swim. He’d have been gutted if not. What’s galling is that another mum was sitting there on her phone (against the rules to use phones near the pool), and both her kids were in the pool without her (one older/one younger than N). But the staff were really helpful in getting this sorted for us. I should be less open and honest, and they’d have never known!

The pool is really nice. There’s a smaller shallower bit loosely fenced off that I presume was for toddlers, a jacuzzi, and the main part of the pool which was one depth and fairly shallow given N could stand up with room with no problem. There was plenty of room for him to do some lengths and get back into his strokes.  

There’s a water machine, a really nice couple of showers for post/pre pool dip, and a steam room. People can leave towels in open box shelves, and there are lockers in the changing room. Although N did just leave his clothes without working out how to lock it. Probably best given a couple of women dragged staff members down to sort out the women’s changing room one.

In the changing rooms they have costume driers too, which is so handy if you want a swim before leaving to go home and don’t want wet kit going home with you.

There’s also a fitness room, and various treatment rooms in the spa part. So it could be a good place just to spend a day with a friend if that’s your sort of thing.

Breakfast

We do love a hotel breakfast and the breakfast at the Crowne Plaza was pretty good.  As well as cereals, yoghurt, fruit, pastries, toast and different bread rolls, there was also a keto style section with hard boiled eggs, mackerel and cheeses. Of course there was the hot buffet too with both cumberland and plain pork sausages, and the usual rest. You could ask for omelette or poached eggs and they’d be cooked in front of you.

N was very impressed with the breakfast and had seconds, although we avoided the bacon as it wasn’t cooked enough for us.

The second morning, breakfast was much busier as the Somerset County Cricket team were also staying. But we were still in and through in plenty of time.

Check out

Check out was so easy. There’s a fast check out option, although I always prefer to hand over my room key and make sure nothing unexpected has gone on our room. It was easy to find our way out of the car park and on our way home too.

We’d definitely recommend the Crowne Plaza hotel Nottingham if you’re heading to the city and want a central location. It’s an IHG hotel as well, so if you’re one of their members, presumably you get points from staying there.

I can’t wait to get away again, although N’s just happy to get home back to the farm!

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