It has been named as the worst hotel chain in the country.

Britannia Hotels was recently ranked bottom of the list for hotel chains in a survey based on value for money, comfort and food and drink.

The Royal Hotel in Hull city centre fared slightly better than many other Britannia hotels and has a score of 3.5 out of 5 on TripAdvisor.

Hull Live reporter Anna Riley checked in for an evening this week and this is how she got on.

Checking in

The reception area was busy in the hotel
The reception area was busy in the hotel

Despite Britannia being described as the worst hotels in the country, the Royal Hotel in Hull seems to fare pretty well when it comes to reviews.

Having checked out what people say on TripAdvisor, I was quite looking forward to my stay and upon checking in, I was impressed with the reception area, bar and the quaint old-worldy nature that the hotel retained.

With a nights stay setting me back just £33, I was pleasantly surprised - until I got to my room.

The room

Opening my door with the plastic key, I was instantly hit by a fusty waft of air.

As I walked further in to the room, it just got even more musty and smelt very unlived in.

The pine effect furniture and headboard looked rather dated and the red and white decor along with some spotted curtains were not to my taste either.

The Royal Hotel in Ferensway was damaged last year
The Royal Hull Hotel in Ferensway

The bed looked smaller than I expected it to be and there was no plug next to it to charge my phone, which was annoying.

The chair next to the desk area was stained and the 'hospitality drawer' filled with a kettle, mugs and coffee and tea looked rather uninviting.

There were also passive aggressive notes littering the desk in front of the chair with warnings about fines for smoking and tampering with the smoke alarm. There was also a warning not to leave valuables in the room, which was a little unsettling.

If I'm being picky, the television was also pretty small, but what was worse was the remote, which was covered in dirt and had clearly never been wiped down before.

The small double bed in my room
The small double bed in my room

When I had a look around the the bathroom, it was better than I had expected. Compared to everything else I had seen, this part of the room seemed closer to being modern.

It even had some complimentary shampoos and body wash, which I thought was pretty decent given the price of the room.

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However, upon closer inspection, the were some suspicious-looking hairs in the bath, which was pretty disgusting.

I was contemplating having a nice relaxing bath, but as soon as I was confronted with curly hairs both around the top of the tub and near the plug hole, I was repulsed by the idea and had to hose them away before jumping in for a very quick shower.

The chair was stained
The chair was stained

I hurriedly washed my hair, not wanting to linger in the bathroom for any longer than possible and left the room as quickly as possible, dreading the thought of what might be in my bed.

I then got severe thumb ache whilst drying my hair, as the hotel driers were the type where you have to hold down the button permanently to keep the power going. The heat wasn't that high so it took forever and my arm was aching at the end of it.

To make matters worse, the main light in the bedroom kept going off while I was trying to dry my hair, plunging me into semi darkness.

I thought it must be on a motion sensor, so ended up waving my arms around to try and get it to work, with no success.

I had to go stand up, turn it on and off again and then sit and start drying my hair again until it cut out once more.

There were pubes in the bath
There were pubes in the bath

The hairs I had found, combined with the light issue and the grubby remote made me incensed enough to make a complaint but I couldn't find a number for reception on any of the paper work, so had to go downstairs in my pyjamas and coat to explain the situation and then go back up to wait for the manager.

He apologised when I explained the situation and did offer to let me move rooms. By then it was 10pm and I had unpacked so I decided against it. As a compromise, I was offered a glass of wine which I took as a nice gesture, but was still annoyed about the dirty bathroom and the light.

The bar

The bar area was nice and relaxed and a hive of activity, so there was plenty of atmosphere in there.

Not wanting to sit in my room all evening, I popped down for a pint and some chips because I was feeling a little peckish. I chilled out on my phone for a while and had my drink.

While I was on my phone, I was frustrated to see that I only had 20 minutes free wifi and would have to pay £8 for a 24-hour pass. In this day and age I just presumed internet access would be included in the room price.

I was a bit annoyed not to be able to watch Netflix back in my room as I didn't have enough internet for that.


One of the most important aspects of booking a hotel room is that there are parking spaces available.

Nobody wants to lie awake all night worrying about their car if they have had to leave it some distance away from where they are staying.

The television was rather small
The television was rather small

There is an option of parking at Royal Hull Hotel, but again it came with an extra cost, so I decided to leave my car at work and just walk over to save a bit of money.

A good night's sleep?

After all the problems I'd had, I really wasn't looking forward to getting into bed. I cranked on the radiator so that I'd be warm and pleasingly it worked.

Gingerly pulling back the covers, I was pleased to see that they were clean at least and when I got in, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the bed was actually really comfy, maybe even comfier than my own.

I had a really good night's sleep and didn't actually want to get out of bed when my alarm went off in the morning because I was so cosy.

What did annoy me though was having to get out of bed to turn my phone alarm off, as it was over the other side of the room on charge.


The hotel breakfast
The hotel breakfast

Breakfast cost an additional £8 and was a buffet style selection with juices, tea, coffee, pastries, fruit, cereals and yogurts as well as a hot food selection.

There was the option of sausages, bacon, black pudding, hash browns, beans, mushrooms and eggs.

I went for a fry up option along with a coffee and a juice and thought it was pretty average for the money. I've had much better breakfasts.

Final thoughts

For £33 I suppose you can't really complain too much for a Hull city centre hotel. But the hairs and the broken light put me off another stay, regardless of the price.

If I was to have paid for parking and the internet, the price would have also crept up a lot more, along with the additional cost of the breakfast, which all in all meant that the hotel didn't offer the value for money it would appear to.

There are definitely better hotels on offer in Hull for a similar price that are a lot more modern, and most importantly, much cleaner.

I did have a good night's sleep and a free wine for my troubles though, so I can't complain too much.

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