Novotel Southampton

We stayed for one night pre-cruise at the Novotel Southampton. The hotel is well situated, easy to find, an easy walk to the pier head and Mayflower Park for ship spotting, friendly staff and clean bedrooms. I would give the bedroom 5* however the bedroom would have been better with air-conditioning (I was informed at the time of booking there was no air-conditioning but a fan was available) and it had been installed, what looked like years earlier, but obviously the system was broken and had not been maintained. The toilet was also in a separate small room by the entrance door, which initially we thought was a good idea if one of us was using the shower/bath at the same time but after using the toilet you have to walk back into the bedroom, walk around the corner and then go into the bathroom part to wash your hands - it just doesn’t work. The small fridge was nice and cool and contained 2 complimentary waters. Breakfast was very busy but the staff were great, friendly and very hard working and we didn’t have to wait too long to get a table, there was a good selection of food and eggs were cooked to order if you didn’t want a fried egg. The bread for toast was delicious. Good car park with plenty of spaces available even though there was an evening wedding celebration taking place - the charge was £12 for parking.

The biggest plus point for this hotel is that it is walkable distance from the Pier from where we were taking the cruise ship. It was a one night stay. Room was okay but thebAC was not good enough to cool the room. (It was a hot summer day). Breakfast did not have much choice though it was just okay.

Rating: ★★☆☆☆ (2 out of 5) I recently stayed at Novotel Southampton with my family, and unfortunately, the experience did not live up to the usual Novotel standards I’ve come to expect. The overall quality of the hotel was quite disappointing for the price paid. Compared to other Novotel properties I’ve stayed at globally, this one falls short in several key areas. • The standard of the rooms was low, with noticeable maintenance issues — particularly, the sink drain was not working properly. • The room lacked basic toiletries, which is quite surprising for a hotel in this category. • For a family room meant for four people, we were provided with only two bottles of water, which felt insufficient and unthoughtful. Based on this experience, I would not rate the hotel more than 2 stars. That said, the only positive aspect of our stay was the front desk staff, who were very friendly and helpful throughout. Special thanks to Mr. Surandar at the bar counter — he was extremely polite, attentive, and accommodating. He deserves 5 stars for his excellent service. Novotel Southampton needs some serious attention to detail and quality control if it wants to keep up with the brand’s usual reputation.