Spending a weekend in Bath, I have a choice between the Abbey hotel and the Indigo. Although the latter being a brand new property that opened just days ago, I was inclined towards the former because:

• I’m a not big fan of Indigo hotels (small rooms and minimal elite recognition)
• I get free breakfast at Tribute hotels
• A couple of friends stayed at the Abbey hotel and really liked it

So I ended up paying 50,000 Marriott points for two nights at the Abbey hotel. Remember that Marriott hotels are no longer obliged to open all standard rooms for award nights, and this hotel does remove its award availability on a few Saturdays.

It’s located at the edge of the city centre, just 5-minute’s walk from the train station. Staying here, You could easily go anywhere on foot.

My room was ready at 12:30pm and 4pm late check-out was granted without any question. As a Platinum member, I was offered daily breakfast or 1,000 points, and it’s not difficult to choose!

My room was upgraded to a Cinematography Room a week in advance(!), and then a Gallery Room the day before my arrival. There’s no suite in this hotel and Gallery Room is the highest room category already.

The room is around 330 sqft, which is decent for a UK city hotel. It’s got a very boutique design to it (cinema-themed it seems) – I’d imagine the idea of Tribute hotels is similar to that of MGallery and Indigo, although individual hotels may have more independent characters.

I was given a chocolate box as welcome gift.

Unfortunately, there are quite a few teething issues with the room. To start with the desk is tiny: as you can see there’s more than enough space to put a much larger desk, so I’m unsure why they designed it like this. It’s impossible to use the desk for any activity, so think twice before using this hotel as a home office.

The basin is also tiny.

A few minutes after I settled in I heard weird tic-tac noises. Upon inspection I found the window was leading water (it’s raining outside), and I had to stuff a towel under the window to absorb the dripping water.

The worst thing is, the room is not soundproof at all. I could constantly hear guests in the next room talking. It’s worth noting that they were speaking in normal volume, so it’s not like they were shouting or anything.

Breakfast is served in the restaurant, which is nicely decorated.

You choose one hot plate from the menu, and there are takeaway bags of continental items. Food quality is good.

I thought it’s a new hotel – however despite it joined the Marriott family fairly recently, the Abbey Hotel Bath has been operating for many years and don’t forget it’s an 18th century building, so I shouldn’t have been surprised by the various glitches I found.

To be fair, its location and service are great, and the presentation of the hotel as well as the rooms is decent too. The next time I come to Bath though, I might give the Hotel Indigo a try instead.