May 7th, 2010
I have recently had to travel to Blackpool on business and have found myself staying at the De Vere Herons Reach Hotel on East Park Drive, near the Zoo. I know it is near the Zoo for two reasons. 1) The sign near the hotel that says Zoo and 2) I could hear elephants shouting for breakfast each morning.
This weeks visit was very typical. I arrived at reception to check in and found a mixture of other follows guests made up of tourists and business people alike. You can spot the business people quickly and not just because they mostly wear cheap boring suits, but primarily because they looked stressed, miserable and grumpy. The tourists however, look relaxed, happy and content with life.
This week, my check in didn’t result in a free upgrade, so I was off to a bad start. The upgraded rooms I should say are nothing special, so I was particularly concerned about what I would find as I entered standard room 364. As it happens, it was a reasonable size, with a good king size bed but the bathroom was tiny and dated. The coloured bath suite took me back to my childhood.
Anyway, I didn’t have any plans for the evening so decided to take it easy with a spot of room service and bit of TV. The TV was very poor. Not your flashy LCD variety, but an old, fuzzy CRT with bad reception and crackling sound. I didn’t hold out much hope for room service so was actually surprised by the food that arrived. The ingredients were a bit basic (the steak was a very cheap and tasteless cut), but at least it looked good and was presented hot and fresh.
Finally, I settled down for the night and awoke the next day still feeling grumpy. I put this down to the lack of air conditioning and a window that could not be opened. I promised myself to try another hotel next time I visit Blackpool. What worries me is that this is one of the best.
Pryordurkin rating. 2 stars.
Posted in Accomodation