Urban Hotel Grantham

If I could, I’d give this zero stars. The place is shabby and rundown, and it doesn’t look like the owners have invested in improving it since accepting their 30 pieces of silver from the government. The hotel was freezing even with the heating on. If you need somewhere to stay, I’d suggest contacting the Salvation Army instead, since at least they offer a warm bed and hot meal.

The staff were genuinely lovely, helpful and polite. That’s the one thing I can praise. I wouldn’t come back or recommend the place. My room was freezing in mid-September. I slept fully dressed with the duvet folded over, and still shivered. The wallpaper was peeling, the decor felt dated, and the carpets were worn and not especially clean. There were cobwebs by some of the furniture, too. The hairdryer looked older than me, the TV didn’t work, and there were no plugs near the bed to charge a phone. The restaurant and spa were closed, which I only found out after booking, and there wasn’t even anywhere on site to buy a bottle of water. I don’t usually leave reviews, but this felt necessary.

We left on the morning of 31st October, two days before our planned departure, and had to find somewhere else to stay ourselves. We’ve emailed to try to sort this out, but they’re ignoring the matter. The room was in a very dated and, in my opinion, uninhabitable state. The bathroom panel was coming away from the shower, there was visible scum, and the hose kept detaching when the shower was turned on. The duvet, pillows and mattress were dirty and worn well below what I’d expect for a paid hotel stay. The room also smelled strongly and unpleasantly. We could tell the sheets hadn’t been changed because there was perfume on parts of them, and we couldn’t sleep that night. We told the night porter when we arrived on 30th October. He said housekeeping would deal with it in the morning. A large group we were with also had to change rooms three times before being given one with an unsanitary toilet, faeces left behind and an unmade bed. The night porter and receptionist again said housekeeping would come in the morning. We told staff about the situation when checking out.

The bed was comfortable, and there were enough pillows. Even so, I wouldn’t put this hotel on my list for another visit. As a solo female traveller, I want to give an honest review, and this is probably the worst one I’ve written since I usually try to find something positive. My room wasn’t clean. There was soap scum in the shower dish, stains on the furniture, wallpaper peeling off the walls, and brown marks on the cups. The bed base was torn, and the stained, creased decorative panel looked like it had been pulled from a skip. After I washed my hair late at night, I was told I had to move to another room because mine didn’t have a hairdryer. The place looks as though too little has been spent on renovations. People gathering by the front door, which seems to be a smoking area, made it impossible to leave the window open because of the noise and smoke. Part of the carport seemed to be used as a truck park, and loud engines woke me up.