The only good thing about this place is its friendly staff and the lobby looks good, which is completely different to the rest of the hotel, other than that it is disgraceful. It is supposedly a 4-star hotel, but I didn't see a single thing that would put it above a 2 star!
Myself and my partner stayed in room 119, we were due to stay for one night but checked out fairly soon after checking in and booked in at the Premier Inn around the corner, which was far superior!
The carpet in the corridor, on the first floor, was extremely worn and smelt. Inside the room the walls were stained, one wall (with wallpaper) was covered in dust & cobwebs. There was a hole in the wall where the door handle had hit it from previous residents. In the bathroom, the sink was cracked, there was no hand wash, just a rusty holder, the light unit was hanging off the wall, the window wouldn't open, and there was a large crack in the wall. In the room itself there were patches where the paint has peeled away. The soundproofing of the room is also shocking..... I could tell you what next door was watching and join in with their conversations!
My partner was 27 weeks pregnant at the time, this was supposed to be a little get away before the little one comes and it was ruined by this place and neither of us felt comfortable staying in this dump for the night.
We used a Buy-A-Gift voucher for the stay and this was clearly a waste of a voucher, and in the end cost us more money, as we paid for a room at Premier Inn.
This place needs some serious improvements!
Richie Mac134 days ago
Terrible Reception was the only presentable part at the hotel. Bar with no draft desire there being pumps. £3.50 for a can of Guiness that you could have bought from the shops. Carpet is knackered throughout All I smelled was cigarettes before I went to sleep and when I woke up 🤮 Very tired rooms I had to search over 3 floors to find an iron and board. Both had seen better days Corridors smelled bad stale. Sash windows totally shot away and frankly not fit for purpose. Desk space was pointlessly small This place needs a lot of money spending on it to bring it to an acceptable level. No where near a 4 star, not even a 2! Wouldn’t bother
Fiona195 days ago
Our first room was not the best, huge sash windows aren't safe as open wide and straight onto the road, and the radiator was broken and stuck on full. The room we were moved to was much better. Nice facilities in the room, friendly and helpful receptionist.
Scottish Traveller226 days ago
First time ever using the OYO Chain of Hotels. I hadn't been to Barrow in over 50 years and my recollection of it is, to say the least, nonexistent. Train journey into Barrow was uneventful, reminded me of a journey from London to Cambridge, yep it rained a bit then.
An easy fifteen minute walk from the station. The OYO Imperial Hotel is opposite the impressive Town Hall or rather it's car park Reception was a breeze but I don't understand filling out forms when you've done all of it online during the booking process, can we just stop this bureaucracy and official "fake" rubbish. My journey to my room was by lift, which beeped, no, it more like squealed a beep after you summoned it! Lazy, I took it to the first floor. The Imperial may well have been a modern and exemplary place to stay when it was first built but frankly it's interior is like a Municipal Office Building that has been renovated into a Hotel. A maze of firedoors and extremely hot corridors. You may ask what do I mean by hot? I mean the radiators were all on full bore, I mean HOT as in the Amazonian Jungle, HOT! I got to the room after navigating my way up and down stairs. Surprise the door was open, I don't mean in an inviting way, the door was open as in not closed or locked. This was to occur the next day after the room service staff had done their cleaning and straightened the bedding. Oh! There was a sachet of body wash on the towels. This wasn't replenished through my stay. There was fittings on the wall of the bathroom for washing products but no bottles of products. The room itself had a standard queen. Wallpaper had torn patches and for art on the walls was two Modigliani prints. The usual tea/coffee paraphernalia, kettle and two mugs. Kettle was temperamental had to be coaxed into action. No hairdryer in the room but you just ask for one at the desk.
I suppose you get what you pay for 3 days discounted by £69 down to approx 40 quid a day. Book it for yourself and see!
Abs226 days ago
Images used to advertise rooms are outdated. The hotel is tired and not very clean. Constant noise of the traffic throughout both nights and the town clock rang throughout the night and the early hours of the mornings. The staff were friendly but the breakfast was inedible. The quality of ingredients used were substandard. There is no excuse to serve anaemic eggs, the yolks were grey in colour. The sausage was highly processed, the meat was of poor quality and the mushrooms tasted off. This was all prepaid for and not cheap so very disappointing. Left for days before a supervisor bothered to contact me. After speaking with 4 members of staff, I was told to send an email! Supervisor didn’t bother to call just emailed refusing to issue a refund or offer any good-will gesture. Genuinely appalling service from senior staff. Really let the OYO reputation down.
Zak2 years ago
Would have been five but small things let it down. Rooms have lovely decor and is clean but then the carpet is stained & poor quality. It really shouldn’t have nets in the window as they’re are a dust trap and let the room down. Windows are fine without them. The room was very hot without aircon and windows weren’t opening but they did provide me with a fan. I also needed a hairdryer which was provided. There is no bedside table which is very unusual for a room that is tastefully decorated and the bathroom was nice too but the empty soap dispenser brackets looked messy. The breakfast was amazing and had a great veggie cooked option but the dining room looked messy with stacked tables and equipment on the floors at one side of the room. Again could be easily resolved and sectioned off to avoid customers seeing it. Overall, lovely staff and extremely good value but small things that could easily be fixed let it down. Definitely recommend it as great value and service. Better than the local premier inn in terms of service as they even brought my takeaway to the room.
Rachel Murray2 years ago
Positives: Nice room in general. Staff were lovely and helpful. Reasonable price. Good location in terms of access to the town centre. Negatives: No sleep at all due to chiming of town hall clock across the road on the hour every hour. The hotel should advise in advance of this issue when people book. Also the lift was not working and had not been for some weeks. As someone with a mobility issue and having just had knee surgery I did not appreciate not being advised of this when booking and consequently having to climb up stairs to the third floor of the building. Both these issues ruined my stay.
Antony Saunders2 years ago
Nice friendly staff and a reasonable breakfast but the whole hotel needs a make-over. The torn dirty net curtains in the breakfast room were off putting. We had a terrible nights sleep due to an uncomfortable bed, stifling hot room with no controls, so despite the cold weather outside, air conditioning would have been welcome. The window wouldn't open more than a crack due to the fire escape outside and we could hear the wind whistling through the front door of the hotel all night. Then in the early hours of the morning we were awoken by a load thumping sound which was as loud as the steelworks nearby which was just as noisy during the day! The Car Park next door is convenient but very run down and expect bird droppings all over your car in the morning?!!
Myself and my partner stayed in room 119, we were due to stay for one night but checked out fairly soon after checking in and booked in at the Premier Inn around the corner, which was far superior!
The carpet in the corridor, on the first floor, was extremely worn and smelt.
Inside the room the walls were stained, one wall (with wallpaper) was covered in dust & cobwebs. There was a hole in the wall where the door handle had hit it from previous residents. In the bathroom, the sink was cracked, there was no hand wash, just a rusty holder, the light unit was hanging off the wall, the window wouldn't open, and there was a large crack in the wall. In the room itself there were patches where the paint has peeled away.
The soundproofing of the room is also shocking..... I could tell you what next door was watching and join in with their conversations!
My partner was 27 weeks pregnant at the time, this was supposed to be a little get away before the little one comes and it was ruined by this place and neither of us felt comfortable staying in this dump for the night.
We used a Buy-A-Gift voucher for the stay and this was clearly a waste of a voucher, and in the end cost us more money, as we paid for a room at Premier Inn.
This place needs some serious improvements!
Reception was the only presentable part at the hotel.
Bar with no draft desire there being pumps.
£3.50 for a can of Guiness that you could have bought from the shops.
Carpet is knackered throughout
All I smelled was cigarettes before I went to sleep and when I woke up 🤮
Very tired rooms
I had to search over 3 floors to find an iron and board.
Both had seen better days
Corridors smelled bad stale.
Sash windows totally shot away and frankly not fit for purpose.
Desk space was pointlessly small
This place needs a lot of money spending on it to bring it to an acceptable level.
No where near a 4 star, not even a 2!
Wouldn’t bother
I hadn't been to Barrow in over 50 years and my recollection of it is, to say the least, nonexistent.
Train journey into Barrow was uneventful, reminded me of a journey from London to Cambridge, yep it rained a bit then.
An easy fifteen minute walk from the station.
The OYO Imperial Hotel is opposite the impressive Town Hall or rather it's car park
Reception was a breeze but I don't understand filling out forms when you've done all of it online during the booking process, can we just stop this bureaucracy and official "fake" rubbish.
My journey to my room was by lift, which beeped, no, it more like squealed a beep after you summoned it! Lazy, I took it to the first floor. The Imperial may well have been a modern and exemplary place to stay when it was first built but frankly it's interior is like a Municipal Office Building that has been renovated into a Hotel. A maze of firedoors and extremely hot corridors. You may ask what do I mean by hot? I mean the radiators were all on full bore, I mean HOT as in the Amazonian Jungle, HOT! I got to the room after navigating my way up and down stairs.
Surprise the door was open, I don't mean in an inviting way, the door was open as in not closed or locked. This was to occur the next day after the room service staff had done their cleaning and straightened the bedding. Oh!
There was a sachet of body wash on the towels. This wasn't replenished through my stay. There was fittings on the wall of the bathroom for washing products but no bottles of products.
The room itself had a standard queen. Wallpaper had torn patches and for art on the walls was two Modigliani prints.
The usual tea/coffee paraphernalia, kettle and two mugs. Kettle was temperamental had to be coaxed into action. No hairdryer in the room but you just ask for one at the desk.
I suppose you get what you pay for 3 days discounted by £69 down to approx 40 quid a day.
Book it for yourself and see!
The staff were friendly but the breakfast was inedible. The quality of ingredients used were substandard. There is no excuse to serve anaemic eggs, the yolks were grey in colour. The sausage was highly processed, the meat was of poor quality and the mushrooms tasted off. This was all prepaid for and not cheap so very disappointing. Left for days before a supervisor bothered to contact me. After speaking with 4 members of staff, I was told to send an email! Supervisor didn’t bother to call just emailed refusing to issue a refund or offer any good-will gesture. Genuinely appalling service from senior staff. Really let the OYO reputation down.
Negatives: No sleep at all due to chiming of town hall clock across the road on the hour every hour. The hotel should advise in advance of this issue when people book. Also the lift was not working and had not been for some weeks. As someone with a mobility issue and having just had knee surgery I did not appreciate not being advised of this when booking and consequently having to climb up stairs to the third floor of the building. Both these issues ruined my stay.