Leeds Centre by Charles Hope

The apartment was beautiful, spacious and well decorated, and it’s amazing value. The theatre is perfectly located nearby, and I found the late checkout at 14:00 very helpful. It’s a cool setup: you call a nice person who guides you to the room and opens the door remotely from across the world. Reception staff don’t work for Charles Hope, but they confirmed I was in the right place and offered to help if I got stuck, which I appreciated. A few things let it down: female sanitary items had been left in the bathroom bin, the shower seemed blocked and I had to wait for the water to drain before finishing, and the bed was softer than I prefer. I’d still highly recommend booking based on my experience.

The Leeds apartments are modern, clean and well equipped, with a perfect location. My only drawback was the lack of parking. I also want to commend James and Jason at Charles Hope. They’re fantastic people and have been extremely helpful throughout my booking. I hope management recognizes the excellent customer service they provide.

Charles hope don’t own any apartments; they sublet at Moda Leeds. Moda aren’t allowed to sublet apartments for holiday stays, so nobody at Moda will help with check-in.

This was my second stay, arriving at 3:30 PM on Sunday, 30th September. I’d asked for the name of the woman on the phone, though I’m not sure she gave me the right one. My first check-in had been quick, but this time took more than 30 minutes and made me miss an important appointment I’d left extra time for. I called the number for apartment 7 and was met with an unfriendly staff member who told me to climb about 10 large stairs to the upper ground floor. I knew there was lift access from my previous visit, and she kept saying the apartment was at basement level without directing me downstairs to the lift. With a 23kg suitcase, I wasn’t willing to haul it up or down stairs when a lift was available. She didn’t offer help using it. Instead, she suggested I wait for someone to carry my bag, which would use up my check-in time, or leave it unattended in the lobby while I looked at the apartment. Neither option made sense. After about 15 minutes of arguing back and forth, she said she’d call housekeeping and get back to me. A kind building staff member then appeared and let me use the lift, which fixed that immediate problem. But when I called the check-in number again, I was told my apartment had been changed to 705, despite being told earlier there were no others available. The lift wouldn’t stop at the upper ground floor where I was waiting, so I left my luggage, went back down the stairs, and had her call it from the ground floor. I stopped at upper ground to pull in my suitcase, then continued up to the seventh floor. The apartment was clean, but it looked as if housekeeping had rushed: the floor was wet and rubbish had been left under the sofa. The apartment and facilities were decent, but the check-in left a bad impression after my smooth first visit. I hope this was a one-off, though it’s made me hesitant to book again. If it happens another time, I’d consider staying elsewhere.