Tuesday 9 December 2014

York Premier Inn, Blossom Street South, First Weekend of St Nick's Christmas Market REVIEW

Premier Inn York, Blossom Street South is LOVELY. I can't stress it enough. What makes a GREAT impression on arrival is:

  • The location - SO conveniently close to York Train Station. A short 5 minute walk, which is equally an inexpensive taxi ride if you have a lot of luggage. Reception call cabs for you, no problem at all.
  • The location - just a 10 minute very pleasant walk from town which is a delight not a chore.
  • The location: the hotel is yards away from tourist attraction and photo opportunity: Micklegate.
  • The location: the hotel is right on the street which feels lovely having been in a remote location the night before.
  • So, as for York Blossom Street South, Premier Inn, its location ticked ALL of the boxes for me!
  • The reception desk is a small pod, so feels incredibly open plan and welcoming, rather than a barrier between you and the hotel.
  • The reception greeting is warm, welcoming, bubbly and sincere. Makes you feel as if you are the only person arriving that day (and that was before I said my name in case you think it is because they knew I was reviewing).
  • Checking in on time is no problem, as they have radios, and in seconds find out that yes, of course your room is ready for your arrival.
  • You are given two room keys, as they can clearly see there are two adults staying.
  • The room, as below, is so bright, clean, fresh and airy.
  • The temperature in the room is so easily - and quickly - controlled by digital aircon on the wall. It blows hot and cold, and unlike people, that is a good thing ha ha!
  • You are told all about breakfast at check-in and what time you will need to check-out. A generous 12 midday for checkout.
  • Security is great, where you need to swipe your room card to get from reception to the lifts and from the lifts to the room corridor.
  • There are a choice of pillows. I found the perfect one.
  • The hotel has the NEW BEDS, which are divinely comfortable. If a little high off the ground!
  • The tea and coffee are top brands. Twinings and Kenco.
  • There are towels in the bathroom and in the wardrobe cabinet thingy.
  • The Wifi works!!!! Horrrahhh!
  • The Premier Inn is right on the road, which after being in a remote location the night before, actually felt great (maybe I AM a city girl after all)! I might have made this point already above. Yes I am Irish, but yes, I have spent over 40 years in London!
Like I say, it is right on the street:
We were in the hotel room SUCH a short amount of time, when we headed off to walk to the Christmas Market, as you can already see in two of the pics above. As the receptionist said, it was easily a lovely meander. Not a taxing walk at all despite Aaron being tired. It was the FIRST weekend of St Nick's Christmas Market. I think York saw 600 coaches Saturday and 300 coaches Sunday arrive for it. We were there Sunday through Monday, and I had my first Mulled Wine of the season :-)

Walking back in the dark is no problem at all. Very well lit, and it was very festive. Truly loved it and could have done with staying longer, or staying out later. As you can see in one of the pics, Daddy was carrying Aaron by this point.
Above you can see that there is a key card required from lift to corridor and we were Sssshhh on a quiet corridor. And it was! Quiet I mean!

After having no Wifi the night before, Aaron was thrilled to be able to play computer games on both Disney's and Nick Junior's websites. So that he did, and soundly fell asleep for a "great night's sleep guaranteed" and that it was!
You literally CANNOT FAULT breakfast at Premier Inn York, Blossom Street South. The restaurant is run by Table Table and the team are SUPERB! Bubbly, slick, efficient, sincere, helpful, and more!

You are seated immediately and despite EVERYTHING being self service they are at great pains to explain to you that fried and scrambled eggs are on the buffet but you can ask them for something different. I saw them explain this to about 10 different guests and the script never sounded tired. Everyone was given the same warm welcome. Whilst there Aaron lost a Kinder Egg robot and a kind staff member had kindly kept it safe so we got it back immediately which prevented big tears. I LOVED the unlimited milky Costa Coffee after really missing it the day and night before:
We spent a full hour at breakfast so it was not a hurried affair and I am glad. There is THAT much to choose from you could literally have a 5-course breakfast. I have never seen anyone as happy as Aaron was when he discovered they had Coco Pops, as he had missed them a lot the day before. I made him a sausage sandwich with toast and sausages so he could eat it on our long journey. I snuck it out in a napkin, not that I would have needed to sneak as the team were so amazing they'd have understood it was for Aaron. Very glad I did so as he did eat it. I may have also taken him 2 x mini muffins.

Don't miss breakfast if you stay, and allow enough time to enjoy it. It is SO worth it:
Arriving at York, we'd got the train FROM Scarborough as we'd been reviewing Ox Pasture Hall the night before, so it was very convenient that Premier Inn was 5 minutes from the train station. Daddy insisted on getting a cab though as Aaron was too tired to walk. However on leaving Premier Inn, we were to be getting the Megabus to East Midlands Parkway, where we'd get a connection for a train to Kings Cross St Pancras. Anyhow, Premier Inn is ALSO close to Leeman Road where you get the Megabus. We did wait 45 minutes as it was 30 minutes late but we were WITH the change of driver, so knew 100% it was on the way. We got 3 seats together at the back and it was perfect! 
Thank you so so much Premier Inn.

Disclosure: we received accommodation, breakfast and Wifi for the purposes of this review. ALL words are my own, and I have never been more impressed.

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