Oakham Hotel

Convenient Location: Frequently praised as central, near shops, restaurants, and public transport .

Room was very small, no window.

We booked three rooms at the Oakham Hotel on a Saturday night. Hands up, we were looking for keenly priced accommodation and that is what attracted us. Basically, this is rooms above a restaurant, right in the centre of Oakham. The hotel is right on the street, with a public car park less than a hundred metres away; arriving after 6.00pm, we didn't have to pay charges and parking on a Sunday is free, so no issues there. Not sure whether charges would be applicable overnight during the week. The building has undergone extensive renovation, everything clean, lovely new oak doors and a lift for those who need it. All the housekeeping paraphanalia had been left in the corridor, handy for helping ourselves to a second towel as there was only one in the room, but not so good from an aesthetic point of view, particularly as there seemed to be a number of doors to spaces that were not numbered as rooms, so no lack of cupboard space. Routers had also just been plugged in along the corridor and left standing on the floor. They worked - internet connection was good - but potential for damage there. The rooms are simple - small wardrobe, table with stool and amenity tray, a chair and that's about it, other than bed and bedside tables. Having read reviews that the hotel had been cold, I had gone prepared with warm pyjamas, only to find that all three rooms were stiflingly hot. We opened the window before going out for supper and left it open all night to try and keep cool. However, with the restaurant on the ground floor, this did mean that the room was in danger of being overwhelmed by the smell of cooking, not always pleasant. Whilst bed comfort is subjective, my other half felt the bed was really uncomfortable, poor quality bedding, although there were a couple of spare pillows in the wardrobe. Ensuite modern and perfectly acceptable. Our biggest issue was the procedure for checking in. We booked with a third party, ie: not directly with the hotel. On arriving, we found a number of key boxes on the wall next to the front door, but had received no instructions as to how to access our rooms. Another couple were also in the same position as we were. We rang the number on the board at the front of the building and were told that a text message had been sent to our mobile phone. No message had been received and on giving them an alternative number, it took about half an hour for the message to come through. We have family in the town, so had somewhere to wait, but it was still frustrating and would have been even more so, if we had had to wait around. It all just started our stay off in a negative way, whereas actually the rooms are fine for the price (we paid £60 per room). Objectively, although the rooms per se seemed good value, by the time you have gone to a neighbouring hotel or restaurant for a Full English type breakfast, you are probably not going to be saving much on the price of a conventional hotel. So it comes down to ch