Copthorne Hotel

On our reticent trip to Cardiff we stayed here at the Copthorne hotel for one night, we where told by one the guys that was with us not to expect much here as the hotel was a little out dated.
Check in was was easy, quick and painless we where checked in by Ethan from the front desk.
I was surprised that we has rooms all to ourselves, the rooms where what l call traditional than modern, the rooms where spacious, king size bed.
Bar area had plenty of seating where you had the option of comfortable sofas or arm chairs, with several massive tv’s to watch the football, restaurant was in the next room where breakfast was served the next morning.
Meals are served here, but we went to a burger place across the road, a few in the group had the fish & chips & it looked great.
Breakfast was served in the large dining room where most tables where set for two than for larger groups.
Breakfast was served buffet style, and there was a good selection to choose from hot or cold, there was a chef at the counter cooking eggs fresh every few minutes.
Negatives where that you could hear a guy in the next room using the toilet, and traffic from the outside, apart from that it was a pretty good hotel and better than some five star places that I’ve stayed in the past.

Only stayed here for one night and it was a painless experience. The staff were all helpful and things where they said they would be.
The rooms could use a bit of a freshen up as the bathroom looked a bit tired. The bed was comfortable and very large!
The location of the hotel is good if you are down that way to watch Cardiff play. You can get free wifi but only for 24 hours and if you sign up to their loyalty scheme after that it is the usual extortionate price for a bit of wifi. The signal wasn’t the best but hey I was only their for one night so that was fine.
The food was the usual standard hotel kind of stuff, if i had the opportunity I think I would have gone out for a meal.
It is next door to a good sized shopping complex which seemed to have the usual shops available so if you have forgotten something shouldn’t be a problem to get what you need.
They have a large parking area and to be honest I am not sure if they charge for you to park there.
The hotel was clean tidy and secure which is always a plus for me.

could not fault the place nice room decent bar area and good breakfast

Hotel macht netten Eindruck. Personal freundlich und Hilfsbereit. Frühstück konnte reichhaltiger sein vorallem mehr interkontinental.
Die Zimmer sind sauber aber die Betten viel zu weich.

hotel ist schon etwas älter, aber dafür nettes personal.
frühstück war eher durchschnittlich, aber preis-​leistung waren in ordnung

Very rarely am I motivated to write a letter of complaint (no drama please, I’m British), but there’s one in the bag, fellow Unilocalers. Until then I shall vent my spleen via my favourite medium. We were well and truly screwed at the Copthorne.
Screwed, not in the empty thrill of that «ooh, I feel dirty, I feel naaaaughty» feeling, when it’s kind of worth it. You know, as my father-​in-​law would say, «Well, you might as well bend over and enjoy it.» Nope. This is screwed in the weirdo’s basement, Marcellus Wallace style. It ain’t pleasant, it’s humiliating, you feel violated, it inspires nightmares and you agree never to discuss it again. The only difference is that this ordeal can’t be ended with an impressive sword. Now, I’m not letting the being-​stuck-​in-​traffic-​for-​seven-​hours-​prior-​to-​arrival affect my opinion of the hotel, because to be fair, an amusing sense of camaraderie was created between three people going slowly insane in the confines of a car with only Tooty Frooties for comfort. It all started before the journey even began, with my better half being told the hotel room cost £100. It was last minute and he was desperate, but later finding out that his sis and brother-​in-​law were staying in an identical room for half the price? The only difference was that we’d opted for breakfast, and unless that morning meal included champers and caviar… a bit ridiculous, wethinks.
Then, things got progressively worse. After the party we’d attended, the four of us returned to the hotel hankering for a midnight snack. Room service was no longer providing hot food but they assured us sandwiches were available. For over a fiver each, we were suspicious. «Are they nice?» asked the BF’s sis, sweetly yearning for a bit of honesty and decorum. Because really, we were tempted to head over to the nearby McDonald’s and stuff our faces with fries, but the swiftly nicknamed ‘eunuch’ at the front desk (it truly was like an opening scene from a horror movie) insisted we couldn’t go there unless we were in a motor vehicle. We were told these sandwiches were the bomb. Fresh, delicious and awesome. We really should have trusted our gut instincts on this one.
What arrived at the door, late I might add, were insipid, uninspiring fillings a child could have put together on pallid, sad-​looking stale white bread. This cost us the best part of £20. Surely the food could get better. Perhaps that expensive breakfast was where it was at. Of course it wasn’t. Three kinds of juice, watered down to weak cordial level, were not the sharp, fruity wake-​up call we desired. Stewed beans, sweaty mushrooms, anemic-​looking tomatoes… the hash browns were nice enough but they were bite-​size, which was a tad confusing. And I received word that the eggs and the mystery sausages left much to be desired.
It wasn’t all negative at the Copthorne, hence its second star. The bed was lovely and comfy and I slept like a baby, the room was clean, and the staff were ever so sweet and pleasant. But other than that it was a stay to forget, save for the awesome company that night. Really, what else can you do as a group when greeted with extortionately expensive greasy sandwiches but… laugh? And laugh we did. Heartily. Or else we might have cried.

I played a gig in this place last Saturday, and it was an absolutely lovely place.
It was a wedding party, and on those occasions, everyone is dressed better than you are. I’ve found that hotel staff have a tendency to get a little snooty with the band at these events. There’s an air of «Oh. So you’re here to make loud noises until everyone goes home, yes? Right this way then, peasant». It’s rarely a pleasant atmosphere, is what I’m saying.
Which is why the Copthorne, a thoroughly «posh» hotel, was such a pleasant surprise. When we entered, we were greeted by the Maitre d’ himself, who served as our guide throughout the evening. He led us into the main ballroom where we’d be performing and told us he’d just cleared the guests out, giving us the afternoon to set up. He put up a stage and placed down the dancefloor for us and was just generally lovely and accommodating.
The surrounding were lovely; the ballroom was beautifully decorated and our green room was a rather large function room itself. On top of this, a quick wander around the hotel found it all decorated with wonderful taste. For functions, this hotel is highly recommended.

Hmmm location is well out of the way and it is aimed at car drivers. £12 in a taxi or £1.50 (standard day rate) on the bus, although there is only 1 every half hour and it drops you around the corner on the dual carriageway. The hotel is very rough around the edges, with smeary windows and curtains hanging off the rails. The bed and the room itself were very comfortable (I was in a room set up for wheelchair users, and I would say it was pretty good in that respect) with large bathroom and all the general amenities. Th restaurant was expensive with a flashy menu, but it fell far short of what I expected. Tasteless food, served up on nice plates. The view over the little lake was nice, but the sound of the traffic detracted (as did the boy racers screeching around the roundabouts for half the night). The breakfast was ok, and the service done with a genuine smile apart from the barman. Not bad, I have had worse, but a lot less than I would have hoped for at a Copthorne. Best thing? The pool was pretty good!

This is a comfortable good quality hotel. It is located at Culverhouse Cross which is an out-​of-​town retail centre with easy to access from junction 33 of the M4. It is also just a short taxi ride away from Cardiff (Rhoose) airport. There is a bus service from here into the centre of Cardiff. This is a popular hotel with both business people and families. There are usually ‘leisure break’ deals if you stay at weekends. It has good conference facilities and has a restaurant and bar snacks. There is a small swimming pool and gym which hotel guests can use free of charge. About once a week there is entertainment in the form of live music or a theatre play but for this you pay extra.

Quite a nice room, nothing ground breaking but a nice décor and all the usual things you would expect from a decent hotel. (TV, shower, double bed etc).
The main restaurant was fantastic. A real cut above most food I am used to. When I went it was £25 for a three course dinner, but included an extra pre-​starter ‘compliments of the chef’. Some really different stuff on the menu, including ‘basil ice-​cream’ which was far nicer than it sounded!
Breakfast was also fantastic with a really large selection on the buffet, including things you wouldn’t expect such as jam doughnuts.
When I went it was a special offer, so it didn’t work out too expensive. I could imagine that if it was full price it wouldn’t have been quite as good of a stay, but there does seem to be regular special offers.
The location is a bit out of the way, close to neither the bay or the city centre by public transport, but would not be that far by car.