The Harrogate Hub - 6 Bedrooms & Pool Table

For a group of 8 attending the convention centre, this was an utterly perfect property. The location was excellent, the facilities were everything you needed them to be (including great water pressure in the showers), and the split of rooms and areas meant that people being on sofa beds was less invasive than a "wheel and spoke" layout. The upstairs lounge is a great space for hanging out as a big group, and the kitchens had all the stuff we needed to sort our own food.

There was nothing I "didn't like" for a self-catered location - it still came with tea and stuff! I would note that the pump in the downstairs shower is quite loud, but that's definitely a "don't be worried if..." tip, and not a problem.

The apartments were clean, well maintained, comfortable and spacious and had all the amenities required for a large group or a family. Hosts were great, communication was through, location was perfect to head into town. Parking permits were provided, games room was a plus as there aren't many apartments with a pool table.

Initial impressions were not good at all - see below. Apart from these the property was comfortable, spacious and mostly met the expectations of the description. The decor was new and very nice indeed. The location was perfect because it was only 5 to 10 minutes walk away from the city centre shops and entertainment. It should be made clear that the property is comprised of two flats over four floors: one on the group floor and basement, the other on first and second floors. The living and kitchen areas are on the ground floor and first floor. There are 3 bedrooms in the basement and 3 on the top floor. There is a bathroom on each floor. We were an extended family group and the overall layout suited us very well because it allowed us to have a sleeping child on one floor while the family could gather in the very attractive and spacious first floor living room. The kitchen equipment which we used all seemed to work ok (but see below) and the bathrooms & showers were good (but don't be too alarmed by the noisy pump which operates in the basement in order to extract the waste water). The towels were good quality. Daily parking permits were provided which allowed family members to park for free on the street. WiFi was good (after confusion was resolved). There is an excellent Indian take-away just across the street.

In the lead up there was a dispute over the price to be paid because we reduced the number of adults booked in. A refund of the difference was eventually paid. A damage deposit of £300 was added to our credit card ahead of arrival and this was not removed until 9 days after we left the property. I suspect this puts people off submitting reviews. First impressions on arrival were very poor: Retrieval of the keys was OK - each flat had a key for the external door and a key to the flat itself. The keys for each flat were awkward to use. Cigarette butts littered the ground outside the front doorstep. One of the freezer drawers in flat 1 was dirty and had not been cleaned (someone had spilt a drink which had frozen inside) and another drawer was broken (and dangerous with sharp plastic fragments). The ice cube trays were made of floppy plastic. A chest in one of the basement bedrooms was broken (broken hinges and pneumatics). Some of the roller blind restraints were not screwed into the wall (a hazard). Wifi confusion: the router in flat 2 (top floor) did not work at all; the router in flat 1 (ground floor) worked OK and covered the whole property - however the WiFi password which was provided by the property company was incorrect. All of the above took up too much time because we needed to document and send photos to the property company. This took away from the enjoyment of what was nice property to stay in. It seems that they rely on the cleaners to inform them of problems and perhaps do not inspect the property themselves.