Stayed at the Ibis for 1 night, couldn't really find any fault with it. Its location is good, only a few minutes walk to most of the City Centre. The room was basic but comfortable and clean, I didn't do "hunt the hair" so perhaps I could have found some dirt had I tried harder. We were on the road side, on floor 1, near the lift/stairs, but it wasn't noisy, and as it was a Friday night I expected it to be noisier at club closing time, but we remained undisturbed. There was a concert on across the road. Didn't eat or drink in the hotel, so can't comment on those facilites. TV doesn't cost ?10 per night as reflected in another review, its free unless you want the movies. Tea and coffee in room if required. There were also internet connections and a telephone so probably fine for business trips. The room was very warm, even though the outside temperature was around 20 C by day and 12 C by night, but didn't try the air conditioning unit.

I travel quite a bit and have stayed in a few very good Ibis hotels, but I was very disappointed with this one, for three main reasons: 1) One of the main issues was the apparent inability of ANY of the French staff to speak fluent English. This made checking in and communication with the staff a nightmare. One may expect a language barrier when travelling abroad, but front of house staff in a UK hotel should have at least a grasp of English, whatever their nationality. 2) After a long day, once you’ve finally checked and found your room, there’s nothing better than a nice cup of tea, is there? Well, maybe not if you’re staying at Ibis Cardiff, as you might find, as we did, that all the cups in your room are dirty. I went down to reception, explained the cups in the room were dirty, and asked for a new set. The member of staff on reception, after leaving me waiting for ten minutes while they did something on the computer, at first didn’t seem able to comprehend what I was requesting and, when I’d finally managed to get them to understand, virtually accused me of lying! Why anyone would lie about the cups in their room being dirty is a mystery to me. 3) Prior to arriving at the hotel I called to ask if they provided a left-luggage facility, and was told that they did not. However, on check out I noticed that there was indeed an in use left-luggage room. In summary, the room was clean-ish, but the hotel was severely let down by the service, attitude and incompetence of its staff..

My wife and I stayed there just last week, and we contacted the hotel to reserve by phone. We were told that it would be cheaper if we made the reservation on line; over the phone a double room would cost us ?55, whilst over the internet it would be ?45. This was so, we stayed 2 nights, and on our arrival we found the staff quite helpful, warm and pleasant. The room was very nice, spacious but not extremely big. The bathroom was not entirely spacious, it had a shower and toilet, but it was very clean. The room was also very clean, nice bed, was a bit cold during the night, so I switched on the heater, and it was very pleasant. Down side was that if we wanted to watch TV we needed to pay ?10, and if we wanted continental breakfast we had to pay ?5.50 per person per day. There was also tea and coffee in the room but naturally that also incurred a charge. Overall our stay was very nice, very close to the city centre, and we would definitely stay there again and for a longer period.

I guess it depends on what you are looking for. Most people will stay here either on a stag night or hen night or just for a night passing through. These chains though, with their ageing hotels and poor service are starting to look quite expensive. The general assumption that chains like Ibis rely on is: "you know what you are getting". But is ?65 a night really so cheap for something so ghastly? On our recent Welsh holiday we stayed in brilliant bed and breakfasts for only pounds more, where the owners benefit from no economies of scale. These chains, like most poor quality hotels, will make sure that the reception area is moderately inviting as this hotel's is, although the female receptionist ensured a marose introduction to Cardiff. Don't these people realise that they are affecting people's first impressions of a town or city? Behind the scenes, once in the room, it's one of those places where you have a sinking feeling the minute you walk in. The bathroom "pod", as another reviewer describes it, as if it is something quirky or interesting, is an univiting plastic-come-fibreglass moulding, with less style than a tupperware box. The toliet and sink both blocked during our stay. Another problem with these hotels is that former smoking rooms are now sold as non-smokling rooms since the recent change in the law. Ours was undoubtedly a former smoking room as it stank of stale cigarrette smoke. If you are unfortunate enough to book this hotel bear this in mind. Irritatingly, to cap it all the television kept switching off. You are unlikley to have a good night's sleep, not just because the pillows are as thick as wafers, but because people are likely to come back in the early hours shouting and screaming (unless that's just their reaction to the hotel). Don't bother with this place it's dreadful.