The Galleon Hull

The negative reviews had me expecting very little, but I’m glad I gave the place a chance. The room was really clean, I slept well, and the staff were great. I’d happily stay again if I’m back in Hull. Don’t always trust the bad reviews.

The bed was genuinely comfortable, the building and room were clean, and the staff explained things clearly and were brilliant. Parking for 24 hours at £3.50 seemed fair. But the rest of the stay had plenty of frustrations, and I’d only come back for a bed near town. I wouldn’t pay for the extras again. We booked the Plus option for a top-floor room and the so-called premium extras, including WiFi. The room felt like a section of a caravan, with surprisingly few basics for modern life. At check-in there was no way to get staff’s attention if nobody was at reception, so we had to wait until someone noticed us. Once we had the access card, we were left to ourselves. It was stiflingly hot as soon as we entered. We opened the window for air and switched off the electric radiator, but the nearby major junction made so much noise that we had to keep the window shut overnight and endure the heat. Emergency vehicles woke us as well. There’s no air conditioning, and the backlit headboard gets hot, so don’t leave anything on it. Our bottles of water warmed up quickly. There were no sockets by the bed at all. The only ones were at the desk and across from the bed by the radiator. The open-plan cupboard had enough hangers and the chairs were comfortable, but some of the room’s design choices made little sense. In the restroom there was one coat hook, on the back of the door, plus two shaver sockets. Everything was crammed in, making it awkward to use the toilet and reach the toilet roll at once. We ended up using the door handle as a holder. The tiny shower was pleasant but weak. The extractor was silent and seemed to work, though condensation dripped down the window in the morning and there were signs that black mould had been removed. We paid for 24 hours of WiFi. It was okay, but sometimes struggled to load media, even Amazon product pictures. There weren’t many places to plug in devices either. The all-you-can-eat breakfast had a decent spread of cereal, bread and pastries, but we didn’t enjoy the cooked food. The scrambled eggs sat in watery liquid, the Cumberland sausages were bland and mushy, the bacon looked boiled, and the hash browns seemed reheated in a microwave. The coffee was weak and watery. Orange and apple mixed juice was the only juice available.

We booked at the last minute for one night and got a good price on a top-floor room with a few extras. The reception and cleaning staff we met were all very friendly. It’s also well placed for the city centre.

We only needed a night’s stay while attending a funeral. The place was basic, but clean. Our room was noisy all night because the hotel sits by an A road and traffic lights, with sirens passing and vehicles revving as they pulled away. That noise wasn’t caused by the hotel guests or staff. The bath was so small it was really only big enough for a child, not an adult.