Ravenswood Penthouse (Chester City Centre) By PolkaStays

Clean, comfortable apartment, very convenient for exploring the town. Positive: Great location for visiting and exploring Chester. Clean and comfortable apartment, heating easy to use so can be warm or cold as you prefer. Good kitchen and bathroom facilities. Quiet place despite lots of people and traffic outside. Responsive host. Negative: Reflecting previous feedback: There are a lot of stairs, accessing and within the apartment. If you find these difficult or have large amounts of luggage this place is not for you. If you like old buildings and can manage stairs easily it is fine. The kitchen is good, but a long way from the dining area (up stairs). The bathrooms are good, the water is very hot and the temperature cannot be adjusted. Maybe this makes for quick, money saving showers (although my son opted for a bath instead, so maybe not!). They are also both together, away from 2 of the bedrooms. The penthouse apartment does have 3 bedrooms, but the information is slightly misleading as one is accessed through another with no closing door. If you want/need total privacy this could be awkward. The photos show all the apartments, check which one you will get. Despite these comments we (a family of 4 with 2 teenagers) were comfortable, had a lovely time and would go there again!

Perfect location, homely, comfortable and clean. Would definitely return. Positive: The location was excellent, in the middle of Chester. The apartment was lovely and spacious. Had all amenities. Would recommend. Negative: Obviously being in the middle of the town centre outside noise from rowdy people was heard, but that can’t be blamed on the property.

Not Luxury Positive: Location Negative: This property is not fit for purpose and should not be advertised as a luxury apartment. We stayed as 4 adults and 2 young children and encountered serious issues from the moment we arrived. The apartment was freezing cold, poorly prepared, and not properly cleaned. The kitchen and bathroom were below standard, the dishwasher still contained items from previous guests, and the oven appeared used. Basic amenities were missing or insufficient. Shampoo was not refilled, tea bags were not replenished, and there were only three forks for six people, which is completely unacceptable. The most serious failure was the complete lack of hot water for the entire two-night stay. Each morning there was no hot water at all, meaning we were unable to shower or wash. We contacted the host immediately on both mornings. Despite instructions being given and a visit to activate a “boost” function, the issue was never resolved. Hot water is a basic, minimum requirement for any accommodation. Its absence alone makes this property unacceptable, particularly when travelling with children. This stay caused unnecessary stress and inconvenience and fell far below basic hosting standards. The property is misrepresented, poorly managed, and should be avoided. We will not return and do not recommend this apartment.

Unfortunately, the accommodation provided was not what we booked or paid for. Positive: The location is very central and convenient for Chester Negative: We booked a two-bedroom penthouse, but on arrival were informed it had been double booked and was unavailable. We were moved to a one-bedroom apartment with sofa beds instead, which was a clear downgrade with reduced privacy and comfort. This caused stress from the start of the stay, especially as it was a special family weekend.

Positive: Perfect central location Negative: We were informed only shortly before arrival that one of the toilets was out of order and advised not to use it, with assurances that a plumber had been arranged. However, upon arrival, the main toilet in one of the flats had not been flushed and contained a large faeces, which was both unhygienic and unacceptable. This left only the en-suite toilet available, which was inconvenient for our group. More concerning was the discovery of a discarded bag in the living room containing what appeared to be remnants of Class A drugs. This was deeply troubling, especially as we had children staying with us. We raised these issues with the owners, who offered a 5% discount on a future stay with Polka Stays. Given the seriousness of the concerns, we escalated the matter to Booking.com, who provided a substantial refund. While the location and facilities were otherwise good, due to the hygiene, safety issues encountered and a lack of accountability from Polka Stays, we would not choose to stay with Polka Stays again in the future.