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Reviews of Hitchin Priory

3.5 out of 5
Hitchin Priory
Tilehouse Street, Hitchin, England

Reviews

7.2

Good

Rating 10 - Excellent. 20 out of 89 reviews" "
Rating 8 - Good. 34 out of 89 reviews" "
Rating 6 - Okay. 18 out of 89 reviews" "
Rating 4 - Poor. 11 out of 89 reviews" "
Rating 2 - Terrible. 6 out of 89 reviews" "

7.8/10

Cleanliness

8.2/10

Staff & service

6.2/10

Amenities

6.4/10

Property conditions & facilities

Reviews

4/10 Poor

Verified traveller

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service
Not somewhere I’d stay again
Had to move rooms once as no TV 2nd room, wrapper found in room on radiator so unconvinced on level of clean. No headboard on the bed so sat up against the wall with the one pillow available Earliest breakfast 08:00 so despite paying with the booking was unable to get food before having to leave for work.
Stayed 1 night in Oct 2020

10/10 Excellent

Alexandra

Business traveller
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 1 night in Oct 2020
Response from Reception Manager on 30 Oct,2020
Thank you for the 10 out of 10 Alexandra. We're delighted to see your stay was excellent. We look forward to seeing you again in future.

10/10 Excellent

Paul

Business traveller
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stunning location
Stunning hotel set in a beautiful setting. Fantastic food and great staff
Stayed 1 night in Oct 2020
Response from Reception Manager on 23 Oct,2020
Thank you for your kind words Paul. We are delighted to hear that your stay was a 10 out of 10. We hope to see you againin the future. Thank you for staying with us.

8/10 Good

John

Liked: Staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 2 nights in Oct 2020
Response from Reception Manager on 19 Oct,2020
Thank you for the review John, we're glad to see you're stay was positive! Thank you for staying with us and we hope to see you again in the future.

4/10 Poor

Dylan

Business traveller
Liked: Staff & service
Disliked: Property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 2 nights in Oct 2020
Response from Reception on 17 Oct,2020
Thank you for leaveing a review score and for staying with us.

8/10 Good

John, Grimsby

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service
The hotel staff made every effort to make our trip a success. The food we had was excellent. On the negative side: I paid extra for a large double room to enable my wife and I to have room to sit in view of restricted movement within the hotel. Our room was large but the space was taken up by an extra bed and we only had one chair! I wanted to book a meal in advance but the hotel's meal booking system told me there were no places available. When we got there we could have booked any time. The hotel needs to provide much more accurate information before guests arrive.
Stayed 3 nights in Oct 2020
Response from Reception Manager on 12 Oct,2020
Hi John, thank you for taking the time to provide us with a review. We appreciate all feedback. We're delighted to hear that the staff went above and beyond for you. I will also pass your comments about the food onto our chef, we're glad to hear you enjoyed your meal. Please accept our apologies that the room did not meet your expectations. We are always happy to help our guests find a room which is more comfortable for them if they have any issues. In regards to booking the restaurant online we have rectified the issue with your help and the system is now working correctly, we apologise for the inconvenience. We will also endeavour to make the information more readily available for bookers going forward. Thank you John, we hope to see you again in the future.

10/10 Excellent

Martin

Business traveller
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
on hotel
Amazing old priory building. Service first class. Wonderful hotel.
Stayed 1 night in Sep 2020
Response from Luke on 18 Sept,2020
Thank you, we greatly appreciate the feedback. We're thrilled you enjoyed your stay and hope to see you again in the future.

6/10 Okay

alex

Travelled with group
Liked: Cleanliness
Safe place to stay during COVID
Great COVID precautions- felt very safe there. The down side of this was that service was slow but we accept this at these times. What would have been a stunning building has been somewhat wrecked with not so modern alterations/additions which is sad. Fantastic location & grounds.
Stayed 1 night in Sep 2020
Response from Luke on 18 Sept,2020
We're happy to hear you think we're doing well during the current COVID situation. Before we had the properties closure back in march we were in the middle of a refurbishment plan, unfortunately we were not able to complete this. We hope to contiinue from where we left of soon. Thank yo for staying with us and we hope to see you again in the future

8/10 Good

Michele, St Mary's Bay Kent

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
The property was beautiful and a very convenient location
Stayed 1 night in Sep 2020
Response from Luke on 18 Sept,2020
Thank you we greatly value your feedback. We hope to see you again in the future.

8/10 Good

Neil, Uk

Travelled with partner
Liked: Staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Excellent slice of history to stay in, grounds were beautiful and peaceful. Nothing was too much trouble for the staff. A special mention for Luke who made our stay even better
Stayed 2 nights in Sep 2020
Response from Reception Manager on 19 Sept,2020
It's great to hear that your stay was enjoyable and our staff helped to make it even better. We hope to see you again in the future.

6/10 Okay

Anthony

Liked: Room comfort
Quiet night but room tired and really ready?
It was the first week since reopening post Covid lockdown and things were clearly still working up. Bed very comfortable and room quiet - major pluses for us. Surprised that things not quite working such as shaver socket, dripping hot water tap in sink, door lock took a lot of twirling before it engaged, wet patches on carpet in entrance part of room - perhaps recent cleaning that had not dried properly. All reported as leaving to local management for attention. Shower easily controllable and good flow Breakfast (Hotels.com clients asked to pay extra) - delivered to rooms currently - asked when we wanted it said 9:00, suggested it'd be busy we said OK 9:15, by 9:30 had not arrived so called, told on way, when still not there 9:45 rang again to chase. Eventually delivered 10:00. Not all expected contents as advertised - no fruit or cereal, nor milk for coffee / cereal. Enjoyed bacon bap albeit coolish - room a long way from reception and kitchen. We solved mystery of where our previous breakfast had been delivered to on way out - a bag clearly labelled for 41 sitting on floor outside 47 On site Parking arrangements (400 yards from hotel) OK too Double billed - I said I thought I had already paid but assured not, sorted out once returned home and in doing so hotel promptly refunded duplicated charge + most of supplement we were charged for breakfast. Restaurant and bar unused as an overnight to save driving home after a meal in a favourite local restaurant
Stayed 1 night in Sep 2020
Response from Reception Manager on 24 Sept,2020
Hi Anthony, thank you for taking the time to provide us with feedback. We're happy to see that you found the bed comfortable and had a good nights sleep. We appreciate that you reported the issues that you noticed too, ,maintenance has been informed and we are in the process of rectifying them. Please accept our apologies for the breakfast mix-up. We have since changed how breakfast functions and we now offer plated breakfast in the main restaurant via bookable time slots as too avoid overcrowding in line with government recommendations. We hope to welcome you back in future with a better stay and should you wish to book again please contact us directly (details on our website) for the best deals. Thank you for staying with us Anthony.

8/10 Good

Emma

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Super hotel.
Delightful hotel. Beautiful room in the old coach house with door straight to the outside. Very peaceful place and helpful members of staff.
Stayed 2 nights in Mar 2020

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Stayed 1 night in Mar 2020

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Stayed 1 night in Mar 2020

4/10 Poor

Verified traveller

Disliked: Property conditions & facilities, room comfort
A tired out and run down hotel
The main building itself looks nice but the annex is in a very poor state with patchy paintwork, exteremly thin walls and a lumpy and uncomfortable bed. The staff were friendly but in general the whole place is a bit run down and poor value for money. We wont be staying again any time soon!
Stayed 1 night in Feb 2020

6/10 Okay

Steven

Liked: Staff & service
Disliked: Property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stopover
Bed very hard, room very dated in need of upgrade
Stayed 1 night in Feb 2020

2/10 Terrible

Verified traveller

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Tired, disappointing, basic & needs major refurb
Hotel very tired, and just doesn’t resemble the photos advertised in the slightest. From the moment we arrived in the car park, which was covered with parking warning signage, we were sceptical. Polite and pleasant staff checked us in, but then allocated us a room which, at best could be described as tired, dilapidated and basic. The whole annex in which the room was housed felt dated; the walls covered in dots and dabs of paint covering old marks etc; the carpet threadbare and the room looked more 1980s than 2020s. It really didn’t stand up against its price tag, when a comparable price got a clean, modern and more relaxing double room at a nearby Premier Inn. We opted not to stay the night in the end - as we just didn’t feel comfortable, though credit to the staff they were apologetic for the inconvenience. Couldn’t fault them, simply the hotel and dated facilities.
Stayed 1 night in Jan 2020

8/10 Good

ian

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 1 night in Dec 2019
Response from Reception on 11 Jan,2020
Thank you for staying with us. We are glad to see your stay was satisfactory.

8/10 Good

Simon

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, room comfort
Stayed 1 night in Dec 2019
Response from Reception on 11 Jan,2020
Thank you for staying with us. We are glad to see your stay was satisfactory.

6/10 Okay

Sean

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service
Disliked: Property conditions & facilities
Stayed 1 night in Dec 2019
Response from Reception on 11 Jan,2020
Thank you for staying with us. Is there anything we could have done better during your stay?

10/10 Excellent

Stu

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 1 night in Dec 2019
Response from Reception Manager on 29 Dec,2019
Thank you for the 10 out of 10 score and thank you for staying with us.

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Staff manning the Reception were excellent, and very good quiet night's sleep. (I found the pillows were perfect for me).
Stayed 1 night in Dec 2019
Response from Reception Manager on 29 Dec,2019
it's great to hear that you found the staff to be excellent, I will pass on your kind words to them. Thank you for staying with us and we hope to see you again in the future.

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Business traveller, Travelled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
I had a great experience. Thank you. ...............
Stayed 1 night in Dec 2019
Response from Reception Manager on 29 Dec,2019
We're pleased to hear this, thank you for staying with us.

8/10 Good

Thomas

Stayed 1 night in Dec 2019

6/10 Okay

Verified traveller

Business traveller
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities
Disliked: Property conditions & facilities
Beautiful building in an amazing setting, nicely decorated in the public areas and evidently maintained with care and high standards. But... breakfast was completely self-service and the two toasters only worked at half their capacity: 4 of the 8 toasting slots failed to heat up. The demand for toast is always high, so this created an impression of inefficiency and/or carelessness. My ‘economy single room’ contained the most uncomfortable bed l’ve ever paid to sleep in. The spavined springs complained with every movement, and a ratty old duvet had been inserted under the mattress protector in an effort to reduce the impact of lumps and failed suspension. I’ve seen better at the tip! All this came to light when l remade the bed, which was necessary because the bottom sheet lifted off when l turned back the upper duvet. It hasn’t been tucked in, let alone made with hospital corners. Overall, a class act spoilt by a couple of false economies!
Stayed 1 night in Dec 2019

10/10 Excellent

Paul

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Helpful friendly staff Great location Nice bright clean room Good Breakfast Have stayed before , will be staying again
Stayed 1 night in Nov 2019
Response from Reception Manager on 9 Dec,2019
Thank you for the feedback Paul, we're pleased to see your stay was a 10 out of 10! We look forward to seeing you again in the future.

8/10 Good

Jules, North West

Business traveller
Liked: Staff & service
The main property has character although bedrooms need more care and attention
Stayed 1 night in Nov 2019
Response from Reception Manager on 28 Nov,2019
Thank you for the feedback Jules. We are currently refurbishing all of our bedrooms and we hope to have this complete next year. It would be great if you could come back and give our refurbished rooms another chance! Thank you for staying with us.

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service
Disliked: Property conditions & facilities
This hotel is in need of updating and looks tired.
Stayed 1 night in Nov 2019
Response from Reception Manager on 12 Nov,2019
Thank you for the feedback. We have yearly refurbishment of public areas, which includes painting and carpet replacement. Also we are in the process of refurbishing all of our rooms and we hope to have this completed by early next year. However we are somewhat limited when it comes to refurbishment in the main house due to it being a Grade A listed building.

2/10 Terrible

Verified traveller

Business traveller
Liked: Staff & service
Disliked: Amenities, property conditions & facilities
The grandure of the main building, location to town centre
Stayed 4 nights in Nov 2019
Response from Reception Manager on 9 Nov,2019
It's unfortunate to hear that your stay with us was terrible. We would greatly appreciate it if you could get in touch with us regarding the negative aspects of your stay. We are unable to rectify any issues our guests face if we do not know what they are. Thank you.

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Liked: Staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 1 night in Oct 2019
Response from Reception on 7 Nov,2019
Thank you for the rating.

8/10 Good

Melanie

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, room comfort
Great location,wonderful historical context.
Pretty and historical location along side a pretty village. Great breakfast, Rooms very basic but good size and clean.
Stayed 2 nights in Oct 2019
Response from Reception Manager on 31 Oct,2019
Thank you for the feedback. We are currently in the process of refurbishing our rooms and hope to have this finished by early next year. We look forward to seeing you again in the future, King regards.

8/10 Good

Richard

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, room comfort
Stayed 1 night in Oct 2019
Response from Reception Manager on 24 Oct,2019
Thank you for the positive review

4/10 Poor

Verified traveller

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness
Disliked: Staff & service, amenities
The front desk was not a friendly start. We were a bit early and the gentleman said we were too early, didnt check if our room was possibly available as not high season and said to come back. We came back 3 hours later and the girl daid she was too busy to help. Finally checked us in. The room was extremely small, overlooked the front entrance so we had to keep the curtains closed so as not to be seen from the street. The bedside light was broken. There was no water oressure for a proper shower. The beakfast was mediocre. Had to make our own coffe and they started clearing food away before others had had a chance to go up and get something. All in all very disappointing. Lovely grounds and beautiful old building.
Stayed 1 night in Sep 2019
Response from Reception Manager on 20 Oct,2019
Thank you for the feedback. I'm disappointed to hear that your experience with reception was unsatisfactory. As a matter of course I will investigate why this happened to prevent a recurrence. The comments about breakfast will be passed onto the F&B manager to look into. I apologies for the shortcomings you experienced and I hope you will give us another chance in the future, we are currently refurbishing all our rooms and hope to have them completed by December.

8/10 Good

Gareth

Business traveller
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 1 night in Sep 2019
Response from Reception Manager on 24 Oct,2019
Thank you for the positive review

6/10 Okay

Verified traveller

Travelled with partner
Liked: Staff & service
Hitchin is not a tourist destination so the Priory meets the demands of those who use it. The staff are friendly and helpful but don’t expect state of the art accommodation
Stayed 1 night in Sep 2019
Response from Reception Manager on 25 Sept,2019
Thank you for the feedback. We pride ourselves on our customer service and our team are always happy to help. Currently we do have a refurbishment program in place which we hope to have complete by the end of December.

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, room comfort
Decent Hotel. Lovely grounds.
Breakfast excellent, location excellent, staff great. I had a single room, which was fine - a tiny bit run down but perfectly acceptable.
Stayed 1 night in Sep 2019
Response from Reception Manager on 11 Sept,2019
Thank you for your feedback, I'm happy to hear that you enjoyed your stay with us. We are currently undergoing a refurburishment plan however, due to the nature of the building it will take some time to complete. We look forward to your next stay with us. Kind regards,

2/10 Terrible

Verified traveller

Travelled with family
Liked: Staff & service
Disliked: Property conditions & facilities
Bedroom had just been painted &the smell was awful.Noise outside of room really bad.However when reported to reception they promptly moved us.Breakfast was cold & delay in getting fresh items.
Stayed 1 night in Aug 2019

4/10 Poor

Verified traveller

Business traveller
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service
Disliked: Amenities, property conditions & facilities
I liked the location and the character parts hotel had. but I didn't like there was no beside lamps or anything over than the main overhead lamp which was very bright. no shelf for toiletries in shower had to be on floor. single bed a small single with a small duvet. mattress uncomfortable. walls quite thin. woken by people coming back at 2a.m slamming doors and creaking floor boards and baby crying in another room.
Stayed 1 night in Aug 2019

4/10 Poor

Verified traveller

Disliked: Amenities, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 1 night in Aug 2019

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service
Stayed 1 night in Aug 2019
Response from Reception. on 7 Aug,2019
Thank you for submitting a review, is there perhaps anything we could have done better to have made your experience a 5 out of 5?

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
This is a beautiful property in an excellent location right in the heart of Hitchin but very quite with extensive grounds. The staff were excellent and the room large and clean. However some areas would benefit from a little refurbishment.
Stayed 1 night in Aug 2019
Response from Front Of House Manager on 5 Aug,2019
Thank you for taking the time to leave us a review. We are delighted to hear your stay was satisfactory. We do have a refurbishment happening currently with bedrooms being uplifted. We hope to welcome you here again soon.

8/10 Good

Jay, Merseyside

Business traveller
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service
Stayed previously and both close to work and in the process of improving the rooms. Old hotel with character in the main house. Only issue was a poor WiFi service.
Stayed 1 night in Jul 2019
Response from Front of House Manager on 1 Aug,2019
Hello, thank you for your review. We are in the process of updating our wifi as part of our planned maintenance. We look forward to seeing you again in the near future.

6/10 Okay

Verified traveller

Business traveller
Liked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities
I have never been in a restaurant where they forget to serve the starters and bring the wrong vegetables AND there was no offer of free deserts or free drinks to apologies. My chicken was good BUT my guests lamb shank was average which is not what we expected based on price etc.
Stayed 1 night in Jul 2019
Response from Front of House Manager on 1 Aug,2019
Hello, Thank you for leaving us a review, i believe this has now been resolved with you and an explanation given. We look forward to seeing you again

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Stayed 1 night in Jul 2019
Response from Front of House Manager on 1 Aug,2019
Thank you for reviewing us on Expedia. We hope to welcome you again in the near future.

4/10 Poor

Ciara

Disliked: Property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Meh
The hotel is very basic. The rooms are old-fashioned and extremely hot with no air conditioning. There are no fridges or water provided, all in all below average.
Stayed 1 night in Jul 2019
Response from Front of House Manager on 8 Jul,2019
Thank you for taking the time to leave us a review. We are a listed building therefore cannot install air conditioning however fans are available on request. In regards to fridges most hotels do not provide fridges these days. Water is provided in our premium rooms and the tap water is drinkable in other rooms. Hope this helps

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Travelled with family and small children
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Nice enough for a hotel. Late night party with loud music.
Stayed 1 night in Jun 2019
Response from foh on 2 Jul,2019
Thank you for your review. Regards

6/10 Okay

Michael

Liked: Staff & service
Disliked: Property conditions & facilities
Stayed 1 night in Jun 2019
Response from FOH on 2 Jul,2019
Thank you

8/10 Good

Terry

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 1 night in Jun 2019
Response from Front of House Manager on 26 Jun,2019
Thank you, we hope to welcome you back again soon. Regards

8/10 Good

Yvonne

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Disliked: Room comfort
No hot water
I was delighted to be able to check in early although I was charged for it,as I needed to get ready for a wedding it was important I checked in before 3 o'clock. Unfortunately my room had no hot water and when I told the receptionist they just told me that they knew that as their boiler was broken. This marred the whole trip.
Stayed 1 night in Jun 2019
Response from Front of House Manager on 26 Jun,2019
Hello, Thank you for your review, I apologise our hot water wasn't working, we did have a new boiler fitted and experienced some teething issues, our reception team should've offered you a solution in regards to a new room and I must apologise if this is not the case. If you return to us in the future please directly book with myself (front of house manager) so I can resolve this for you.

6/10 Okay

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service
Disliked: Amenities, property conditions & facilities
I really loved the location, inside and out it has been made beautiful. The staff could not have been better they were very well trained and very helpful and welcoming. However, my single room although beautifully clean and well designed with an excellent shower was noisy all night with a generator running continually, the bed was extremely hard and the curtains did not pull together as one was jammed and this let in light from the floodlighted front of the house, also I was troubled by the smell of a very strong cigar whose smoke got in somehow. The breakfast was very good.
Stayed 2 nights in Jun 2019
Response from Front of House Manager on 19 Jun,2019
Hello, Thank you for taking the time to leave us some feedback, we take all our guests feedback on board. I am delighted to hear all our hard work and improvements are starting to show. Our next phase is the bedrooms to be refurbished and re decorated, i will ask housekeeping to check the curtains in all our single rooms and rectify this. We hope you will return to us again.