The Copthorne Hotel – Plymouth

The Copthorne Hotel. Don’t be fooled by the palm tree, it’s definitely in Plymouth.

So, I was down in Plymouth this weekend and a lack of available bed space at my other half’s mum’s house (I think that’s the right grammar), meant that we would be staying at a hotel in the centre of Plymouth. Nic comes from Plymouth and it was an opportunity for her to see all of her friends and family for a birthday night out.

I am going to do away with the normal structure I stick to for this sort of thing because I can’t be bothered, this place doesn’t really deserve it. I also began writing a story of my weekend, well forget that too. The key points are as follows: –

• Plymouth is a pain to drive around. The road network makes little sense, the speed limits are 30/40mph regardless of where you are and the level of danger to pedestrians and speed cameras are liberally dotted around the city.
• The Copthorne hotel is not attractive from the outside, although the location is excellent.
• Inside the hotel it is pretty typical of a place decorated in the 90s and it has the usual amenities. Certain rooms have a minibar, but they only contain soft drinks and there’s no price list.
• The room was pretty spacious and the bed was large and quite nice.

That’s pretty much all the relevant facts. At £50 per night it’s not bad value. However, some of my own experiences, which may or may or may not be repeated should you visit were not great.

• Customer service at the hotel is pretty poor. One lady on reception looked after us quite well, but other than that the service and attention to detail is atrocious.
• Cheryl, a receptionist, is possibly in the least suited job imaginable for her skill set. I say this because receptionists almost exclusively deal with the public. Cheryl is not a people person.
• Parking is a movable feast. The likelihood of obtaining one of the hotel’s parking spaces appears to depend on a number of factors none of which relate to whether the hotel is willing to take your money for a parking space.
• Your room may, or may not have the used dishes of the previous occupants left right in front of the door for a period of no less than 24 hours.
• Room Service will typically arrive in the mid afternoon and when finding that your partner has had to get out of the shower to answer the door, will subsequently stand there, having a good look, before eventually being told that ‘no, now isn’t a good time, I am wearing a towel’. They will then offer to come back later and ultimately fail to do-so.

I was eventually lucky enough to get a parking space. Although this was after I had to pay to park at Sainsbury’s (getting up at 9:30am to do so). I then sought a refund for my parking only to find that Cheryl had already added my refund to the computer without having actually given me the cash, so the poor girl the next day had to sort that one out. Finally I learned later on Saturday that 3 car parking spaces had appeared and I eventually managed to park before seeing Spurs’ pretty poor result against Chelsea.

I will give a score, but to be honest if all you care about is a place to put your head overnight, this hotel is fine. If you want to park your car or deal with people who have any interest in looking after you or your room maybe pay a few extra quid and stay somewhere else.

Star Rating ***

Location 4.5/5

First Impressions 2/5

Amenities 3.5/5

The Room 3.5/5

Costs 4.5/5

Customer Service 0.5/5

Overall 2/5