Doubletree By Hilton, York

You might remember this hotel being called the Best Western Monkbar Hotel. The £6 million pound investment in the hotel has meant that it has been completely refurbished.

The 143 air conditioned rooms come with a 49 inch flat screen TV, free Wi Fi, Tea and Coffee making facilities, free safe and a comfortable bed.

Check in was friendly and professional and the offer of a complimentary hot chocolate chip cookie at the reception was a novel touch. The reception area gives the hotel a boutique style feel.

Our room was situated on the third floor. Because of the layout of the room the TV was in a strange place. It would have been hard to watch it whilst sitting on the bed, you would have had to pull up one of the two chairs in the room.

The free safe was an added bonus and the Kit Kats left with the tea and coffee let you know about York's Chocolate making history.

It was odd not to find a fridge in the room and the mix and match of styles in the room might not be to all tastes: the 1950's styled bed lights and the distressed metal frame around the full length mirror seemed at odds with the contemporary style of the rest of the room.

Perhaps because of the location of the room, which was at the end of the corridor and the position of the router, the Wi Fi in the room did not work on all 3 Wi Fi enabled devices we had with us. To get any reception we had to go down to the hotel reception which is not ideal if you had some business work to conduct.

The room was light and airy with nice touches like welcome drinks of bottled water and boxes of tissues by the bedside. The bed was very comfortable and a good nights sleep was had. The bathroom had a walk in shower and the toiletries were well stocked.

Meals are taken in the Yorkshire Bar and Grill. Because the hotel has only recently reopened the menu at the moment is not too extensive.

My starter of Baked Goats cheese, smoked almond crumb and dressed mixed leaves was cooked just right. The goats cheese was of good quality whilst the plentiful serving of my partner's crispy whitebait was said to be perfect.

I went for the sustainable fish and chips but was disappointed with the fish as there was more batter than fish and it is unlike me not to finish a meal. It must be said though that the chips were cooked just right and were piping hot.

My partner had better luck with her mains of Flat Iron Steak which was described as "brilliant, cooked just right with tasty hot fries". I wish I had ordered the steak too as it looked very moreish.

Desserts of Carrot Cake and my Dark Chocolate Brownie were of top quality and it only seemed right that coffees should be served by Giorgio from Milan.

Breakfast is buffet style with full English and Continental being offered. Everything here was of a high standard and items were quickly replenished. The cooked breakfast was one of the best I have had in a long time.

We had a look inside some of the other rooms in the hotel which were of the same standard as ours and some were better laid out than others.

The hotel is in a very convenient place for sightseeing or shopping in York.

Depending on which room you get (you might get a view of York's walls) it can make a real difference to your stay as they are not all identical due to the nature of the hotel building.

Doubletree by Hilton York, St Maurice's Road, York, YO31 7JA
Telephone: 01904 638086
www.doubletree.com