DoubleTree by Hilton Stratford-upon-Avon is located within the historic town centre of…read moreStratford-upon-Avon, most famous for being the birthplace and home of William Shakespeare. The hotel's location is good, it is within walking distance from all of the town's attractions and is right by the Railway Station and hospital.
It is a reasonably small hotel, but not in a bad way, it was fairly easy just to walk up the stairs to my room, despite being on the top floor.
I arrived at the hotel in the evening, as I had already checked in online via the Hilton Honors app, I just decided to swing by the front desk to sort out parking and pick up a tangible key. I was able to do this quite quickly and the staff member at Reception was friendly. I was given free parking at the hotel during my stay due to my status. Strangely, when I checked in, the lady at the front desk referred to me as a "Gold" member, and gave me the Gold-branded key holders, when I'm in fact a Diamond member.
My first issue with the hotel was that even though they advertise 24/7 room service, this is not the case, after attempting to order food, I was advised that they did not serve room service after 9 p.m. in the evening. They also didn't appear to offer this service for Breakfast with no order hangers on the door to request it. This meant with limited options in the town nearby for gluten-free, I went to sleep hungry on an empty stomach.
I only felt partially valued as a Diamond member on this occasion, I wasn't offered the traditional cookie at check-in, nor were drinks vouchers or bottled water provided at the front desk or ready in the room for me.
Diamond perks provided included an upgraded room to a Deluxe Room (no suites were available during my stay, and I checked the app myself), breakfast (I didn't try this as it ended too early for my liking) and free parking.
I was upgraded to what I'm told was a Deluxe Room, my room was fairly comfortable, obviously with it being in an old building, it was showing its' age in some parts. The room was well-lit, but each light appeared to have an individual light switch, and it took some time to get used to what button was for each light. There was a plug socket beside the bed and enough plug sockets around the room, such as behind the TV for my Fire Stick, and at the desk, for using my computer.
Overall, the room was comfortable, especially the king-sized bed, and the pillows were also very good, I've noticed many Hilton-branded properties have changed to smaller (cheaper?) pillows, but this location hasn't made the change yet.
The room had everything I needed, including a modern TV of a decent size, a mini fridge, as well as a desk and ample storage space.
The bathroom could use some work though, the shower was inside the bath, I much prefer a standalone unit, and it was reasonably small. As seems standard now, they used big bottles of soap instead of the cute mini bottles which I prefer, there was also no bar soap provided, with just a liquid hand wash beside the sink. The plug in the sink also wasn't working properly, and I had to take it out just to use the sink.
There was some noise in the hotel, but it was pretty much standard hotel noise. I didn't sleep well on the first night due to going to sleep on an empty stomach, but on the second night I slept reasonably well.
Housekeeping did come into the room between the nights of my stay, they did a good job at keeping the room tidy, but I rather wish they wouldn't have bothered. They turned the heating down in my room to the lowest setting and left the window wide open so I came back to a freezing cold room, which isn't what you want with the nights getting darker and the weather getting colder. Granted, if my room was too hot for the housekeepers, fine, turn it down, but at least leave it to the setting they found it and keep the windows closed.
The other members of my party who stayed in a separate room, commented that their bathroom was even worse than mine. They also said they were unhappy with the quality and selection at Breakfast, which I decided against getting up for as it stops at 10:30 a.m.
The hotel seems to be one for the early bird too, with check out as early as 11 am and the weekly fire alarm test at 11:30 am on a Friday morning, I do feel both of these are just far too early, it was lucky I didn't stay on a Thursday night and was able to request a late check-out, although I felt I had to push harder than I should have to get 13:00.
Overall, many positives for sure, I'm not sure if I would return to the hotel though, but it isn't something I'd actively avoid either. 3*