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Wednesday 5 November 2014

Mayfair Hotel, St Helier, Jersey


Recently we travelled to Jersey with condor ferries and enjoyed a great family holiday on the island. Condor kindly arranged our hotel accommodation with one of the hotels that they partner with when arranging holidays through them. We stayed at the Mayfair Hotel in central St Helier and it was fabulous to be able to head out for a spot of shopping, a bit to eat or to enjoy the local culture on foot.

Location
The central location is excellent. It was also good to have a large car park at the hotel so we had the car handy for when we wanted to explore further afield. I believe in the height of summer car parking can be an issue but it certainly wasn't in the October half-term. A word of warning though space is tight in Jersey, so get good at reverse parking and using small spaces!

The hotel building itself is not the most glamorous to look at but the important stuff is all there. The hotel is very clean, it is well maintained and there was nothing else I needed in my hotel bedroom. The kids described the hotel as 'well posh', likening it to 4 stars we have stayed in in London but I'd describe it as old-fashioned and decorated to suit an older market to be honest. Again this isn't to say there was anything wrong with it, it is just that emerald green carpet, fussy floral curtains and pink table clothes are not to my taste.

Catering for children
We were really pleasantly surprised to find that the hotel catered well to its child guests and there were quite a number of them. Apparently in summer and at Christmas there are tons of kids. In the school holidays when the hotel has more than ten children staying they organise an on-site kids club for a few times a week. My girls went to two of the evenings and they had a ball, one night making craft times and watching a movie and another evening having a disco party. It was very welcome to get my evening to myself from 7-9pm on a couple of nights, I sat in the public lounge and made the most of the free wifi (the area where this is available is quite limited though - literally reception and the lounge - not the restaurant or coffee shop).

We didn't eat at the hotel in the evening but there is a children's menu but it seemed a bit limited with things like chicken teddies, burger in a bun and fish fingers. I'd like to have seen more family type meals like Shepherds pie but then I suppose they cater to the guests they have.


Bedrooms
In regards to bedrooms we had two good sized interconnecting rooms. One with a very large double bed (two singles zipped together) and a single bed and the other room had 3 single beds. Of course both had a large fully equipped bathroom. We were supplied with tea and coffee making facilities, remote control TV, hair dryer, complimentary toiletries, a desk area, some comfy chairs and plenty of mirrors and lighting options.

The views from the rooms were pretty naff but to be expected in a busy town. Probably the biggest issue for us was that the hotel seemed really hot, we had our windows open at all times as much as we could without them being dangerous but still it felt too hot quite often. Air conditioning would be an absolute god-send but I realise probably prohibitively expensive.

Public Areas

As you can see the public areas are pleasant, the reception is spacious and the staff working there were friendly and helpful. There are two computer terminals with Internet access in reception if you just need to use a computer briefly. There is a bar area where there is live entertainment a few nights a week. We were there for bingo (not my bag) and a singer and actually we really enjoyed him and I sung along. The prices in the bar were reasonable and better than UK pub prices I would say. Opposite the bar was a lounge area with loads of comfy sofas and seats and this is where we mostly sat.

There is also a nice sun deck up by the leisure club which would be fabulous in the summer.

We ate lunch in the coffee shop one day (this is open the whole day and early evening) and the food was excellent. The menu was not that varied but it was as we would expect and the surroundings were pleasant.

Facilities
There is a children's games room on the first floor by the kids club and my kids liked to hang out there and spend 20p on the teddy grab machine. There is also a coin operated laundry room available for all in the hotel to use which was well equipped and clean.



Leisure centre
We went along to use the swimming pool as a family and had a great time. For a small club I was super impressed with how nice the changing rooms were. Good private showers, lots of lockers and hairdryers available. The pool itself was not very big but big enough to have fun and there were lots of inflatables and hoops etc for the kids to play with. My husband enjoyed using the steam room and Jacuzzi bath.

We did not get to use the gym as hubby had a cold but it looked a nice facility.



Breakfast
We had breakfast in the hotel each day and this was a continental buffet and English breakfast served to the table. The quality of the food serviced in general was excellent and we really enjoyed it. We did find on the first day when we came down later, about 9am (breakfast was served 7.30-9.30am) that the buffet had no croissants, ham or cheese but when we asked for more it was replenished. Breakfast is served in a large room which looks like it might be used as a ballroom sometimes, it was a packed with tables and was serviceable but hardly a pleasant surrounding. We did find the staff really friendly and attentive though.

Conclusion
In all I think the Mayfair is a really good middle-of-the-road hotel. It offers everything you need from a 3 star hotel. It seems to be geared up for the coach/ package holiday market but also managing to work well for individual families. If we were coming to Jersey again I would happily stay there.

Top selling points
  • Large bedrooms
  • Central location
  • Free on-site parking
  • Good English and continental breakfast
  • Fabulous kids club in school holidays
  • Free swimming pool on site
Check out the Mayfair Hotel's website for the current special offers and also follow them on Facebook or Twitter for up-to-date news.

Disclosure: We were provided with 3 nights B&B accommodation for our family as part of our review holiday to Jersey. A massive big thank you to Condor Ferries, Jersey.com and the Mayfair Hotel for such a nice half-term stay.

2 comments:

  1. I love having interconnecting rooms now the children are older. It makes everything easier. We have never been to Jersey.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think to be able to stay in St Helier with a car park is a big plus - and for you to be happy to stay there again says alot. The kids clubs sound like a boon too - not to mention the leisure facilities! As far as the food is concerned - it's such great quality in Jersey in general that I'd be glad of an excuse to eat out lol! So glad you had a good time. (And btw, when people compliment me on my parking I always say that it's good because I used to live there and it had to be!). X

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for your comment, I will respond real soon. Mich x