The Private Traveller

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How Voco St. David's Cardiff Transformed My Stay: A Hotel Review

The Private Traveller

Overview

Cardiff was somewhere I’d never been before, so being invited by Eat PR & Marketing for a short weekend stay at Voco in Cardiff Bay, I was looking forward to the opportunity to visit a new location and new hotel, as well as being my first Voco hotel stay too (a group of currently 41 open hotels with 34 more in the pipeline). Any reviews though by The Private Traveller are completely independent.


Hotel website: https://www.ihg.com/voco/hotels/gb/en/cardiff/cwlcd/hoteldetail

Would I stay here again?   Yes, a fabulous location and such a great welcoming hotel. One of the best spa treatments I’ve had in a hotel.

Cardiff Bay - voco St. David's

Location

I’d flown to Cardiff from Edinburgh with Loganair, a short flight of less than an hour albeit a bit of a delay as they “needed to find a part to start the plane which was in another part of the airport”. Returning would be slightly more complex, flying Emerald Airlines (the new regional division of Aer Lingus) but under a codeshare BA flight from Cardiff to Belfast City, then Belfast City. There was also another direct Loganair flight, but it wasn’t until late evening.

About half an hour away from Cardiff International Airport (by car), voco St. David’s is a premium waterfront hotel in the heart of the Cardiff Bay area, situated next to Mermaid Quay. Within only a few minutes walk to bars and restaurants, but a bit more of a walk to the main shopping area (though easily got to by Uber), the hotel was in a great location and perfect for a weekend getaway. 

Accommodation

There are 142 rooms and suites across 7 floors, all located around a huge central atrium so that all accommodations benefit from an outwards facing Cardiff Bay view. I had a fantastic King Bed Standard with Balcony and MiniFridge, but there are also various bed type standard rooms too.  If you really want to go premium, there are two suites as well - the King One Bedroom with Harbour View and the absolute best, the King St. David’s Suite with Harbour View too.

Rooms are modern and spacious (the hotel opened in 1999), mine was spotlessly clean and had a huge comfortable bed, chairs to relax in and enjoy the expansive views as well as a large writing console and lots of storage. There’s an in-room laundry service, and although ‘Mrs’ The Private Traveller wasn’t with me on this trip, I noticed a very new looking iron and ironing board which is always the first thing he looks for.

Food & Drink

There is one main restaurant (Tir A Mor - meaning Land & Sea in Welsh) on the ground floor, this has great views over the waterfront and was only very recently reopened and rebranded just before I stayed. Formerly The Admiral, it’s open for most of the day from early morning to late evening serving breakfast, lunch and dinner. 

Breakfast was buffet style with a huge array of juices, fruits, yoghurts, cereals etc. in one area, with the main restaurant bar being used to display breads, pastries, croissants and toast. In another area of the restaurant is a large hot buffet serving all sorts of cooked breakfast items; servers will take your orders for hot drinks. As with everything throughout the hotel, service was exemplary and it’s a really nice space to enjoy a well-cooked breakfast to start your day overlooking the bay. It is a big hotel, so do pay attention to the notices around when breakfast will be busiest, but if you do have to wait to be seated, they very helpfully provide muffins and apple juice for self-service while you wait, and fresh juices are available in reception throughout the day.

I enjoyed dinner in the restaurant both nights, with a great selection from the A La Carte menu, featuring a lot of local Welsh suppliers and some Welsh specialities. As a vegetarian, I was well catered for on the standard menu, all options being clearly labelled for both vegetarians and vegans. Quality was excellent as was portion size, and the large bar within the restaurant offered a whole selection of drinks in addition to quite an extensive wine menu. Although I didn’t try it, there is a full room service menu all day.

Facilities & Service

Service was excellent throughout, from being welcomed at the doorstep to see if anyone could assist with luggage to the speedy and welcoming check-in; from the spa reception team, spa therapist and wait staff in the restaurant; the friendly service really added to the enjoyment of my stay. My room was serviced daily and was always spotless afterwards, and there was such lovely attention to detail like a Welsh welcome basket in the room as well as some special patisserie cakes on arrival.

Although the hotel has function and meeting rooms too, I didn’t need these as it was a leisure stay, so the main facility other than the restaurant was the St. David’s Spa. Located next to reception, this is a large, well-organised and spotlessly clean facility, offering a large gym (great views over the water) with lots of cardio, weights and fitness equipment (some classes too available mid-week like yoga, spin/abs, pilates, circuits and zumba). Also on the upper floor with the gym is the spa area - lots of treatment rooms and pre/post relaxation space. I had an great combination treatment here with Hema, she was a great therapist and effected an excellent 50 minute deep tissue massage (with the added benefit of being Indian that she was also amazing incorporating Indian Head Massage), followed by a seamless transition into an ishga facial, the Scottish organic seaweed based. I’ll be writing a much more detailed blog on the Spa, where you can read all about this wonderful 100 minute experience.

In terms of the water area of the Spa, there’s a large swimming pool, adjacent to this is the water therapy area with a large area of bubbling water beds, a hot tub area and a water corridor where you end up under swan-neck fountain water jets. There is some poolside seating and recliners to relax after your water or heat treatments (poolside sauna with picture windows) but no steam room.

ThePrivateTraveller’s top tips :

  • Time your breakfast to get the best enjoyment by not having to queue - or order it from room service the night before if you want something post 10am

  • It’s fine going down to the Spa from your room in a robe and slippers/sliders (robes are provided in the room but not slippers or sliders, so take with you). To avoid having to walk through reception, follow the signs on your bedroom floor to Health Club, and there is a dedicated elevator that takes you straight there.

  • Some rooms have adjoining doors so do request to not have this if you’re very noise sensitive.

ThePrivateTraveller’s absolute highlights :

  • Service - everywhere in the hotel all staff were so friendly, from start to finish.

  • Food at Tir A Mor - a great choice and nice waterfront surroundings

  • Fabulous breakfasts

  • The Spa treatments by Hema - just excellent and love ishga as a product range.

Useful website links:

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