Star Anglia Hotel

Awful place to stay in, room was small as anything including the bathroom and TV didn't worked, room door never locked properly and room was very unbearable to sleep in and then a week into my stay found out they have bed bugs. They don't warn you when testing the fire alarms. So won't be staying ever again. This booking was through the council

The hotel required ALL guests to have ID including my 2 year old daughter but this was not in their booking terms & conditions. They kept asking and asking & I was explaining no I didn’t bring my 2 year olds birth certificate with me & she doesn’t have a driving licence yet. In the end I decided to leave to stay elsewhere, I informed them we wanted to stay elsewhere & he said he would give us our IDs back in 5 minutes. I said ‘no, you don’t need them’ & he refused, only giving them back when my partner said he would come and get them. Bad vibes. I also arrived before 10pm but all the doors were locked. Had to phone to get let in & find out where parking was (smallest car park ever). Prior to all this I had said that we were going out for dinner, so did I need to phone to be let back in & he just kept asking when we would return, I kept saying I didn’t know & he just kept saying he needed a time. Decor is tacky but never saw inside a bedroom.

Well not sure where these bad reviews come from we have stayed here on several occasions when visiting family members around Colchester! We arrived Friday afternoon (6 of us) to attend a 60th birthday celebration. Upon arrival we were met by Mrs Karrie and a couple of the staff all were extremely welcoming and made every effort to ensure we were happy. There was a problem with the heating in our rooms this was rectified immediately until the problem was solved. The breakfast was fine a full English and should you require extra all you had to is ask. We had two comfortable quiet nights sleep. We had a pleasant stay and will definitely use this hotel again when visiting Colchester..

Extremely comfortable bed slept like a baby both nights. Friendly welcome when I checked in. Nice clean bathroom but thats where the positives end. The breakfast was dire! The sausages were undercooked still pink in the middle and had a weird mushy texture to them. Yolk of the egg was underdone and white was overdone and crispy. Hash brown was burnt and toast was barely browned. Cup of tea with uht instead of fresh milk (never had that at hotel breakfast before!) Croissant not warmed as per my request and no butter was offered with it. It wasn't soft and crumbly and I felt it had been sitting in the kitchen a long time. Then they had the cheek to charge me £10! On the website it clearly states that you can enjoy a continental or full English breakfast for £7.50. The receptionist insisted I paid £10 as that was what the boss quoted him. However more serious was when I tried to check out of the hotel at 7.35 this morning I could not get out of the building as all the doors were locked. The reception is manned until 10pm then they lock up and go home. I had to ring two emergency numbers to get someone to let me out! The fire safety department have now been informed and they were not impressed. For this reason alone I can only give this hotel a one star rating

Very dated hotel, looks like they've scoured the local charity shops for their furniture & fixtures. The room was large, dated & was so extremely hot. Curtains pulled all the time to help keep heat out and windows only opened a little due to seagulls on the flat roof. We had to buy fans just to be able to sit in the room! Bathroom was not nice at all. Shower very poor & sink plug blocked. Breakfast (had to pay extra!) was advertised to start at 7.30, went at 8.15 to find one lady working the kitchen, phones and reception on her own who said no breakfast until 9. Went back down, not a great choice but ok. A man came to reception wearing old joggers, t-shirt & sliders to help (he had been very helpful to us the previous day) and another lady came and turned the world service on the radio. (why were there ash trays on the tables?). Very expensive at £200 room only. Poor quality.