voco St. David's Cardiff by IHG

Location and staff were really nice

Bit expensive

The location was ideal and the view fantastic

This was an anniversary get away for me and my partner and the overall hotel was perfect. It looked clean, fancy and lovely. The room was a very good size and had a lovely little balcony with an excellent view of the bay. The bed was big and very comfy. Both of us thought the sleep was possibly one of the best we'd had in a hotel and considering I take awhile to sleep that's a good thing. The spa was one of our main interests and while I wish we could have had longer in it it was great, nice mix of pools and Jacuzzis. The restaurant was also quite nice too. I've seen some reviews saying the staff was rude but for us they was very very helpful and nice, constantly smiling and wishing us a good stay. Which considering the constant arrogant looks from richer guests we had, was nice to see.

This is obviously a high end hotel so you must expect the prices to be very high. However it's still incredibly expensive for the place. We had to give them a £50 card holding fee, which I do understand but I perfer how cheaper hotels don't do this, which is easer for guests on a budget etc. However it meant we could have a breakfast taken out of the £50. But £25 per person, so £50 in total for the breakfast we got was quite shocking. Its not bad, but your paying for all the variety they have. Which there was a lot but as you can only really have one of the choices and some small sides. We had an English and some melon. But we got twice the size and stuff for around £23 at spoons. Just because you have money doesn't mean you should throw it away and not respect it. Get value for money. While I also loved the pools etc, they are a lot smaller than the pictures show you. It was also alittle hot in our room so we did have the door open on the balcony for a few minutes to let the air in. We also had room service come in without our request to. We had no sign on the door etc and while I appreciate it, we had valuables that we didn't put in a safe yet. Finally the guests here are arrogant rich snobs. We're not poor and we're not filthy looking either but the amount look downs we got from obviously wealthy people was getting me angry and frustrated, I didn't say anything but did once at a man who refused to share the lift with us. My partner was also laughed at getting into the pool, she struggles with anxiety and has been recovering from a eating disorder and so it took alot for her to feel comfortable to even come with me to the pool, which I was very proud of her for, so this made me very angry. After half an hour she was comfortable to do so. I really wanted to complain but it's not the hotels fault. But if it wasn't for the fact that i didn't want to make a scene and get thrown out I'd confronted them.

Staff were nice and friendly

No way this is a five star hotel. Old and shabby. Not very comfortable at all. Breakfast was OK, restaurant and bar were not very comfortable. Bedroom was serviceable but the aircon was extremely noisy. No charging point unless you left the light switched on.