The Samuel Ryder Hotel St Albans, Tapestry Collection by Hilton

Basically, no facilities, and breakfast was ala carte and no second helpings. No vanity kit at all. Water is also on request. Parking was good.

Location is good. Just opposite to the Cathedral Church. Lots of restaurants, cafe nearby and so no need to worry about dining

Decent hotel, right in the centre of St Albans

The location is great. Located on the street where all banks, stores, supermarkets and restaurants located. The st albans cathedral abbey is just located opposite of the hotel. However, for the amenities, it would be best if they could provide hair conditioner.

We stayed here on a recent trip to London. The location is ideal for those wishing to visit The Harry Potter tour at The Warner Brothers Studio. The hotels location is great and is surrounded by nice restaurants and bars. Although the hotel does breakfast, lunch and dinner are room service only but staff are more than happy to recommend the local eateries. The bedrooms are a great size and the beds are extremely comfortable. The St Albans Cathedral is directly opposite the hotel and is a lovely day out. A highly recommended place for a romantic stay.

Given the amount of other hotels available in the area and for better rates, I'd give this a miss. Parking, annoying but did get parked fairly quickly. We had parking instructions emailed 3 days prior to arrival but no mention of a road closure which meant the main car park was inaccessible as it is down a one way street which was closed to traffic. Pulled into another car park nearby and went to ask for more information and the receptionist kept confidently telling us to drive down the road to the car park which was quite clearly shut at the time, but we managed to get parked in one of the other available car parks about 5 minutes walk away. I had booked two king size rooms in advance. The rooms were nice and clean, but there was no bottled water in the rooms and each room only had one towel so I had to go and request another for each. Not the end of the world but a slight annoyance at the price paid for the hotel. We didn't really spend much time at the hotel itself as we were in the area for a wedding, however on checking out I was advised that my card ending such and such numbers would be charged. I queried it immediately explaining that I had paid in full for the rooms in advance, the receptionist said that this was a holding charge and it was going to be charged on check out. Again, I explained that I had paid in full as it had been charged on my credit card previously and I had a statement but they weren't very helpful, so I left it thinking I'd be able to charge it back via my credit card company as I have proof of payment being made already and email receipts. However, after checking out I received an email invoice for £71.75, a random amount unattached to the room amount (I wish it had been £71.75 a night!!). These were bar charges spread over the first day of our stay, where we did not buy anything, let alone even spend any time in the bar area. I immediately called the hotel to query this, and after being placed on hold I was told that "there are a number of receipts" and one of the charges was their colleague "remembering" that it was my mum ordering a three cheese pizza. Not only would my mum not have ordered a pizza, but I was with her throughout the stay and they would either need to check their mistakes or check CCTV to see who was charging things to our rooms. Given the service, I honestly wouldn't be surprised if they were just trying to get some more money out of us and were hoping that a busy group in and out of a hotel for a wedding wouldn't notice the extra charges. I was told that they would investigate and to allow 4 days to do this, which I did. At the end of the 4th day when I had not been contacted at all, I chased this up and was told I'd be contacted by the General Manager Dipen the next day. The next day, I heard nothing. I chased this up again at the end of the day, and eventually had an email response to say that they had refunded the amount with no further information as to what was found during the invest

Our main aim for choosing to stay in this hotel was because we wanted somewhere with easy access to the railway station as we would be heading into London during our stay. It's rare these days I would choose a town centre location as parking can be an issue (and expensive) but this hotel did have its own free parking. We were given instructions on how to access the hotel by car but this was nothing less than confusing as the approach was down the side of the hotel and we had probably driven past it at least three times before realising we had missed the back entrance. It really needs some decent signage. After checking in, we were allocated a space on car park 3 and it was a short, maybe five minutes, walk back to the hotel. Although I did go back to check on the car each evening as it was not a secure car park, I was told there had never been any incidents. Our twin room was on the ground floor. It had two small double beds, probably the most comfortable I have ever had when staying away from home. There were plenty of power points in the room, reasonable wifi, a hospitality tray with biscuits, hair dryer and also toiletries in the bathroom. The staff were exceptionally efficient and friendly - nothing ever seemed to be too much trouble for them. Our accommodation was on a room only basis so we paid extra one morning to have breakfast in the hotel but ate breakfast out on the other two mornings. There were a number of places for breakfast. Our breakfast waiter that first morning was Tom, who looked after us very well. One of the major plus points of this hotel was its location, close to the cathedral, restaurants and shops.

After initially having difficulty in finding the drop off car park (needs better signage) we checked into the hotel and were given a warm greeting by the reception staff. Our room was on the ground floor. It was spacious with two double beds which were amazingly comfortable. There was an alleyway outside which a lot of people were using so I am glad I was not a lone female staying in this room. There were two hanging spaces but more hangers are needed. 4 hangers in total are not enough for a few days stay. Also there was only 1 chair which meant that I had to sit on the bed at all times. We had a large bathroom with good quality toiletries and plenty of hot water. We were surprised that a 4 star hotel did not provide bottles of water. I did ask for ice each night so that I had cold water to drink and we were able to get a jug of fresh milk each day rather than have to use the milk jiggers provided. We only had breakfast one day as it was not included in the price. There was a very good choice and we were well looked after by Tom. This was an enjoyable stay. The hotel needs some minor tweaks which is why I have not given 5 stars.