Name: Clock Tower Hotel
Address: 16-17 New North Road, Exeter, Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4HF, United Kingdom
Rating: 6

Smoke-free property

Heating

Terrace

All Spaces Non-Smoking (public and private)

General

Non-smoking rooms

Family room

Hairdryer

Flat-screen TV

Shower/Bathtub

Shower

Rooms

Kettle

Meals

Free Wi-Fi

Internet

Parking

Free parking nearby

Free Parking on Premises

Family/Kid Friendly

Kids

Pets Not Allowed

Pets

Location

At the hotel

Room amenities

St Martin's Church

Exeter's Underground Passages

Bill Douglas Centre

Barnfield Theatre

City Wall

Exeter Livestock Market

Exeter Northcott Theatre

Cygnet New Theatre

Customs House

Quay House Visitor Centre

Exeter International Airport

Plymouth Airport

Clock Tower Hotel

Exeter

child-bed

child-bed-fee

external-private-bathroom

private-bathroom

shared-bathroom

10-beds

11-beds

12-beds

13-beds

14-beds

15-beds

16-beds

17-beds

18-beds

19-beds

2-beds

20-beds

21-beds

22-beds

23-beds

24-beds

25-beds

26-beds

27-beds

28-beds

29-beds

3-beds

30-beds

31-beds

32-beds

33-beds

34-beds

35-beds

36-beds

37-beds

38-beds

39-beds

4-beds

40-beds

5-beds

6-beds

7-beds

8-beds

9-beds

king-bed

queen-bed

limited-time

lounge

treatment

no-window

bay-view

bosphorus-view

canal-view

city-view

courtyard-view

garden-view

golf-view

harbour-view

inland-view

lake-view

land-view

mountain-view

ocean-front

ocean-view

oceanside

panoramic-view

park-view

partial-ocean-view

partial-sea-view

partial-view

pool-view

river-view

sea-front

sea-view

street-view

sunrise-view

sunset-view

water-view

with-view

annex

basement

main-building

1-bedroom

2-bedrooms

3-bedrooms

4-bedrooms

5-bedrooms

6-bedrooms

not-guaranteed

wired-internet-access

smoking

sauna

duplex

safe

mini-bar

breakfast-for-1

breakfast-for-2

pets-allowed

wi-fi

park access

The hotel is fairly dated throughout but otherwise I had a comfortable stay. The room is basic but functional. The staff are friendly and efficient . The hotel has a good location a few minutes walk from the city centre. Breakfast is good although they could do with a vegetarian alternative to a full English. 

Comfortable stay 

Business-related, lay-my-head for the night choice, but still pretty pricey at £70pn for what you get (even accepting the Exeter premium).
Perfect location for station, in a quieter part of town. Super polite and friendly FOH/breakfast waiting staff, but overall a v basic place with creaks and squeaks and (literally) leaks, esp in toilet/shower. 
Poor night's sleep as a result, which was a shame. 
Just needs a bit of love and modernisation and would be a lovely guesthouse.

Convenient, great people, poor infrastructure

Shabby guest house in need of cleaning and updating, need to use good quality baked beans and sausages at breakfast.  Would have paid half the price for our stay and that would have been too much.  Shower was very small, water would change temperature all the time, lino stained, cobwebs and damp spots on bathroom ceiling.  Bedding did not smell very fresh!! bedding very outdated.  Windows filthy and window sill all peeling off and covered with algae (outside).  Room dusty , generally needs a good makeover.  he

Disappointing visit

Stayed here for work during December. At first the room I was in was horrible. Door didn't shut fully if you didn't pull it closed. Bathroom had just enough space for basic shower, toilet and sink,if I was a larger person I would have struggled to even get through the door. Couldn't put anything in the wardrobe as if you did then the door wouldn't close. Complained to my company who booked the room they then spoke to the hotel the next day just as I got back from work and was told by the receptionist that I should have said something sooner. I arrived late on a Sunday night. Was moved to a different room the next day which was slightly better but not by much. Because the sheets were dark I am unsure if they were changed in between the previous tennant and myself. Bathroom slightly bigger but again tiny shower! If I were you I would not book here!!! 

Avoid! 

Truly awful! That is not to say that it was all bad, the staff were very good (receptionists and waitress staff) but the manager who was the decision maker was nowhere to be seen!

It started off poorly when I ended up paying for parking in a nearby carpark as when I arrived at the hotel I could see no carpark (so why would I assume that I would be given a roadside car parking permit) but that was probably an error or oversight on my part so not really something to judge the hotel on.

When arriving and being shown to our room (33) on the very top floor the stairways are narrow and dated, very drab, almost unloved is the word I was looking for but this is a communal area so I didn't think too much of it. When arriving at our room be sure to duck your head if you are over 5ft 6" as you will keep banging your head as the room in ion the roof space. When we opened the door there was what can only be described as a foul stench, I soon opened the window and just thought (optimistically) that the room needed airing out... how wrong could I be?

We left the hotel and went to meet my son who is studying in Exeter - we spent the afternoon with him and then went back to the hotel to get ready to go out for the evening. When we got back in the room the stench was now unbearable, basically, the smell of sewage had come back up through the ensuite in the bedroom and made the room smell awful, I proceeded to shut the ensuite door and went down to reception to see if they could resolve the issue.

The lad on reception was very pleasant, he came up to investigate and agreed that the smell was awful and he would see what he could do. I asked to be moved but he informed us that there were no more double rooms available. At this point had it of not been so late in the day I was contemplating trying to get a refund and leaving but I left it with the receptionist to see what he could arrange - I also asked for the receptionist to contact the manager and get him to give me a call.

Around 30 minuted later the receptionist came back to our room and said that they had a cancellation come in and a king size room (16) had become available, I went down and had a quick look inside, room seemed far larger than the previous (rather cramped room 33) it didn't smell so I thought the problems were all resolved.

My wife and I proceeded to move our belongings down the flights of stairs to the first floor and moved into our new room. My wife immediately noticed how cold the room was and proceeded to see if she could turn up the radiators which were almost cold to the touch (although there was a slight warmth which stopped them being freezing). I thought that the heating probably was not turned on for this room as there was no means to control it on the radiator so I went back down to reception to ask them to turn it on for us. The receptionist looked alarmed and said that the heating was on all over the hotel! I touched the radiator in reception and it was piping hot, as was our previous room but alas not the new room 16 - the receptionist then proceeded to say that he could give me an extra bedspread as he had just 10 minutes ago handed out the last portable heater! clearly, there are heating issues all over the hotel.

I said once again - please get the manager to call us, there is no way you could stop in that room as the temperature outside was around -2 (turned out it was the coldest night of the year on February 2nd). Once again no call!

I then contacted booking.com who I had made the booking with and they were excellent, they contacted the hotel and insisted that they try to resolve the issue for us, if not then they should refund our fee for the nights' accommodation.

We then went out for the evening, I was hoping that the heating may spring back to like but didn't hold out much hope. The evening was good and at around 11:30 we went back to the room, this, however, was after we went back to my son's house to pick up a heater, just in case the heating was still not working. Suffice to say it was still freezing.

I could go on and complain about the bedding being like something out of a youth hostel, the fact that the king size bed was actually two single mattresses pushed together putting a ridge and valley in between the two up the middle of the bed. Whenever you rolled over in bed the poorly fitted sheets would come off revealing the bare mattress. The bathroom was disgusting, it may have been cleaned (I am not 100% sure) but it was grubby. Suffice to say the night was not great.

Other reviews have complained about road noise, we were at the front of the hotel and I can honestly say I didn't notice this, however, the bedroom above room 16 woke up at 6 am on a Sunday morning and proceeded to talk, bang, stomp and be inconsiderate to other guests, you could hear every word - not a direct fault of the hotel but the walls and floors are paper thin.

The ONLY saving grace was the breakfast which was very good, not going to win an award but very well cooked, presented and against some other reviews quite tasty I thought. The Bacon and Eggs were lovely, Hash brown was nice, as was the tomato but the sausage was a bit of a letdown.

At breakfast the receptionist popped over to the table and asked if I could see her after my breakfast - I finished my coffee (again nice) and went to see what she had to say. She was very apologetic and had made contact with the manager who offered us a discounted stay next time we were in Exeter - as you can imagine I said, in a very calm and considered tone "no thank you" I would like a refund, please! To cut short the negotiations I ended up paying £37.50 which was half of our £75.00 room fee. The receptionist was happy and thanked me for being understanding and I can say that she was simply the one who passed on bad news from the hotel owner or manager - they manager never did call me by the way.

I am a keen reviewer and if something is good I will praise it, if it is bad I will warn others. I would say that this hotel (more like a guest house really) is substandard. I don't lord it up in posh hotels but this was particularly poor on most levels. The decor was tired and dated, one other reviewer said it is like visiting an elderly relatives house and I wholeheartedly agree. The bedding, towels and linen is all in blue, is faded and also dated - the rooms may be clean but areas of carpet are threadbare and the lino in the bathroom is scuffed and marked making it just look dirty.

Spen a few more pounds and get somewhere else - we booked here because other hotels were booked - the location of this hotel is fantastic though! so if you don't mind roughing it for a night, this place is fine. Stag Parties or such like will be OK here! me on my own OK me with the wife, no not really!

Clock Tower Hotel

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Kids

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