St Nicholas Hotel

A handy place to spend the night right in the middle of Colchester. The room was clean and tidy, and the bathroom was lovely and spacious. Nothing to complain about, really.

The room was good and the housekeeping staff were wonderful, but the bar noise made the stay exhausting. It stayed open until 1am, with bass so loud I couldn't watch TV or sleep until the early hours. I left this morning needing to catch up on sleep after what was supposed to be a break. I know it's in a city, but that music was unbearable.

I asked for a quiet room, but outside noise was still very bad, especially on Saturday night. Customer service was poor and there was no sympathy about my sleepless night. I wouldn't stay again.

The first night was rough. I was in room 709 on the first floor, where the carpet was stained, the room was boiling, and noise carried on all evening and night. Closing the windows didn't help much. People on the floor seemed to be partying, with kids arguing and music playing, and the whole level smelled of weed. I couldn't reach the hotel by phone until about 6:45am. I was there for two nights while attending a post grad course at the university, and chose a more central hotel because I thought it'd be more civilised than staying on campus. Check-in was at another hotel, which I hadn't expected. The room itself was large, but opening the windows during the day made the noise problem worse at night. They offered me another room, but said I'd need to pay £10 to upgrade. I agreed and moved to top-floor room 910. It was better and had a balcony, but no WiFi. The coffee machine was there, though the coffee was awful, so I had to buy my own. Noise still kept me awake with the windows shut. When I returned, there was vomit in the hallway; I tried calling reception to report it, but got no answer. A really bad experience. I definitely wouldn't stay here again.