Blue Roman

Not the, "sexiest," of place venues but I pulled off the M1 in need of a place to stay.

I have never stayed here before but checked in and flashed the Diamond card and was allocated a room without acknowledgement of status. When I enquired if an upgrade was available, "old faithfull," hotel fully booked was the answer and all the Club rooms were booked. Since my booking included breakfast my diamond treat was a complimentary drink at the bar!

Well This is a great hotel, the standard room was huge with sofa and chairs, I couldn't beleive it, they left me robes, slippers, wine, chocolates, water and a couple of apples. They are refurbishing big time and the club rooms on the first floor look really great, after a bedroom assistant allowed a peek.

The restaurant staff were virtually all Polish and worked really hard, which btw seems a proclivity of the Polish people. They had a Polish evening theme in the restaurant whilst I was there, with an optional Polish buffet menu. Food was superb and to top it all they played Chopin as background music - great, great stay although my colleague and I agreed over breakfast, the Polish vodka on offer should have been avoided!

The standards at this hotel from housekeeping to restaurant staff would put some Hiltons in the UK to shame

BAGoldBoy

My wife stayed here during the week for six months this year and she loved it. The staff treated her like Royalty and couldn't do enough to make her feel comfortable. They even cooked special meals for her on request as they thought she must be tired of the menus. As Diamond she got free parking and generally suite accomodation. When she told them she was moving on they presented her with champagne and chocolates. The only complaint she had was that the health club was always packed as locals were also able to join.

In September her job moved to Coventry and she has been enjoying the delights of Hilton Warwick (dire) and Coventry (OK)

diamondman2006

Just back from a weekend at Northampton. I'd booked two rooms, both of which were auto-upgraded to Deluxe. £64 per night B & B plus dinner first night. Good sized rooms, nicely decorated and modern furnishings. No noise at all at night. Bar and restaurant were both good and all the staff were very friendly. Good gym and pool too. The £5 car park charge (which I thought was a bit cheeky) was waived.

My only slight niggle was the smell of cigarette smoke in the ground floor corridor (where the Deluxe bedrooms were) coming from the bar at the end of the corridor. Hopefully after July, when the UK tobacco ban comes into force, this won't be a problem.

One of the better mid-range Hiltons in the UK. My first visit and I'll definitely stay there again.

diamondman2006

Further to my last, the Manager telephoned me this morning, to apologise about the smoke. Apparently, anyone who smokes in the hotel after July, will get fined! Good for him! I was impressed.

stifle

I know it's technically against the rules to repost in a thread over two years old, but it seems more logical than opening a new thread about the same hotel. I'm sitting here at the moment. The structure is extremely similar to the Hilton Newport, South Wales. Location is a bit rubbish if you don't drive (£12 taxi from Northampton railway station) but as mentioned up-thread is handy if you do as it is near the M1 motorway.

Everything is nice and clean; BTOpenzone wifi throughout the hotel (rather than the rubbish iBahn) and of course it is free to me as a Diamond.

Will update regarding breakfast tomorrow.

Abidjan

stifle, thanks for the report. I have family in Northampton and have always been curious about this property.

stifle

Breakfast was average quality, above-average range. All the usual hot and cold items, good range of fruit, cold meat and cheeses, and pastries.

There was a nutritionist fair there when I was leaving, which didn't look very good!

stifle

I'm back and am going to be doing a considerable number of nights here on business over the next few months. This evening the clerk just nodded at me when I came up to the reception but when my status popped up he straightened up quickly and couldn't have been politer He remembered everything without having to be prompted. I don't imagine they get a lot of diamond guests.

I am now sitting in a decently-sized deluxe room with separate desk and work area. Two bottles of water, one quarter-bottle of wine and a bar of Cadbury's Dairy Milk.

Internet code I got didn't work, but I just phoned reception and got the same clerk, and a new code.

Can't really recommend the restaurant/bar, which charge standard Hilton prices (or even slightly more) despite the location well into the country. My dinner expenses limit would be hit with just a main course and a drink. Hearty recommendation on the other hand for the Toby Carvery a mile up the road (towards central Northampton) where two gigantic courses and a drink came in at £13.86. (After 7pm meals include unlimited curries Mon-Thu.)

BotB

Quick update and some pictures.

Stayed here this week and thought I would update the thread.

Arrived around 21:00 during a week with snow in the UK...road to the Hilton is clear but the car park itself was not cleared so about an inch or two of snow/ice in entire car park area. Definitely worth driving straight in when entering the car park if it is snowing as otherwise you end up going up a small hill...

Anyway, hotel was quite busy which is good to see. ^

Check in went quickly and all the necessary bits covered: membership number on file, welcome to the hotel, internet code (which worked fine even during peak business hours the next day), drink voucher for the bar.

My 'my way' preferences were provided which was nice (away from elevator).
^

Lobby area is nice and brightly lit with people having discussions or coffee (costa coffee area). Restaurant over to the right as you enter the hotel and breakfast was free as a diamond (full English). plenty of seating for busy times. As Stifle mentioned good variety and average quality of food. Bar area straight ahead behind coffee bar area and nice as well. I had a club sandwich and a couple of drinks which were actually very good and service was excellent.

There is a gym here which is one of the american life? branded ones...at the end of the lower level guest rooms hallway.

Only two floors to the place, maybe there is an elevator but I didn't see one...so stairs it is if you are on the second floor...I don't mind and tend to use them anyway but if you had quite a few heavy bags then it may be a bit of a pain.

Room was okay, booked a standard double bed (as in two beds in a room) room and was upgraded to a deluxe room. The soundproofing is excellent. Because of the cold weather I definitely had to use the wall mounted heater which worked well but I did notice there is no heater in the bathroom and this has an exhaust fan which is permanently on...so the bathroom was cool and would suck the heat out of the room if you left the bathroom door open for any length of time.

Bathroom was big, water pressure was only medium and could have been stronger.

No bathrobe, no slippers in room,

Standard UK diamond amenity of bottle of Strathmore water and a chocolate bar.

Hairdryer is in the desk and the desk has a section that lifts up with a mirror.

Beds were comfortable once laid down in it...but to sit on it...the bed felt way too soft for me.

The hotel offers a quick check out by signing the bill under your door and placing it in a special box near reception along with your room card. (pretty much standard in most hiltons I know but not all and I have starting using them more to check out quickly and get going...so started noticing that some hotels don't offer this in some form...)

All in all, a decent hotel for the UK, I would definitely stay again and recommend it. The hotel is clean and nice enough but as others have said: an older design and not as nice as some of the London hotels or newer Hiltons.

Pics to follow in next post. Hope this info is of use and interest.

BotB

Pictures of Northampton Deluxe twin bed room:

Room from Entrance:


IMG_0427 by BA_pics, on Flickr

View to entrance from opposite end:


IMG_0428 by BA_pics, on Flickr

Hairdryer and desk vanity mirror:


IMG_0430 by BA_pics, on Flickr

No air con so fan needed in Summer and wall mounted heater in Winter:


IMG_0432 by BA_pics, on Flickr

Standard UK Coffee and Tea service:


IMG_0431 by BA_pics, on Flickr

Bathroom:


IMG_0420 by BA_pics, on Flickr

stifle

The Hilton Northampton has neither a lift nor a second floor. If you are on the first floor you will need to go up the stairs.

BotB

I politely disagree (about your predilection to use 'first' floor in this case).

If this UK Hilton wished this to be the case, I believe they should have and would have numbered the rooms on the lower floor in the range of 1-xx and the upper floor with rooms 101-1xx.

However, it is viewed as an American chain, with a hotel in the UK that has the lower floor rooms showing 101-1xx and upper floor with 201-2xx.

So as a Canadian, I feel very justified in saying my room number 227 was most certainly on the 'second floor'.

However, long may we remain divided by a common language. ^

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storey

ab007

Hi,

I'm looking to stay either here or at the Milton Keynes property in a couple of weeks time for one night. I'll be arriving fairly early and intending to make use of gym/pool.

Both same price and convenience in terms of location for me, so I just wondered if anyone had any preference between the two?

The Northampton property looks slightly nicer... the DT MK is not available on the night I need.

Thanks in advance ^

stifle

They're both very middle of the road. The DT MK is much nicer and quite unique (being built into the side of a football stadium) so it's unfortunate you can't get in there.

ab007

Yes I've been wanting to try the DT for a while, would have been an easy decision but alas it's not an option on this occasion.

Think I'll go with the Northampton property then, I'll probably be in MK a fair bit over coming weeks so I'll try them all and see which I prefer.