DoubleTree by Hilton York

This hotel is truly a historic building, 140 years old. The breakfast was a standard English breakfast, and the front desk service was good. When I checked in at night, I noticed the room had a fan for ventilation. However, I later saw that the lights were covered in dust and cobwebs. Is this due to the age of the building, or high labor costs preventing timely cleaning?

The room size was decent, but the facilities were really old. The toilet in the bathroom was especially difficult to flush. Many lights in the room were also broken and unusable. The service was also lacking; I called the front desk twice for things and no one answered. The location was quite good, right near an old town gate, and it was only a 5-minute walk to the cathedral.

An absolutely fantastic hotel! Its location right by the York city walls is superb, and it's just a few steps away from The Shambles, the inspiration for Harry Potter's Diagon Alley.

The room design is poorly thought out. It was a maze trying to find my room, and it would be a nightmare with a lot of luggage! Then, you have to navigate narrow stairs, and even inside the room, there are more cramped stairs! The sloped ceiling in the bathroom means you constantly hit your head when reaching for tissue, which is also installed in an inconvenient spot! The towel warmer was broken too. Cleanliness was mediocre; my slipper soles were dirty after just a few steps. I won't be returning! The breakfast was terrible with hardly anything to eat!

Overall, I wouldn't really recommend it. The location is okay, just outside the city walls. However, all the rooms are in the attic, requiring two flights of very narrow stairs, making it impossible to bring up even a slightly larger suitcase. The floors are uneven, and in some areas, it feels like they could easily collapse; even with a carpet, they still creak when you walk on them. What's even more frustrating is that the attic is already stuffy, and a constant instant noodle smell drifts up from the downstairs restaurant. On the night we checked in, we found one of the air conditioners wasn't working, but the front desk said the maintenance staff had already left for the day and could only provide us with a small electric fan.

The hotel's location is excellent, very close to Shambles and York Minster, right by the ancient city walls. The room was quite spacious and clean, offering great value for money in the UK.

Avoid this place! The location is great, right next to the attractions. However, the stay was terrible. It's a converted residential building, and our room faced the street, so it was very noisy even with the windows closed. The floors are wooden, so the soundproofing is awful; it sounded like someone was walking in our room every time other guests moved from the first floor to their rooms. Plus, a spider crawled out of the bathtub drain while I was showering...