Impossible Motel

This hotel is a fantastic find with an unbeatable central location—just a 10-minute walk from the train station and directly opposite Betty’s Tea Rooms. My wife and I stayed for two nights and loved every moment. We received a call an hour before check-in to let us know our room was ready, and from the moment we entered, we were impressed by the décor and the warm welcome at reception. Our first night was in the Bank vault down in the basement which was a unique and memorable experience. The original vault door, stylish décor, large TV, strong WiFi, and great heating/air-con made the stay comfortable. We already knew about the quirks—like the open bathroom and occasional noise from above—so nothing came as a surprise. For the second night, we stayed in the Stella Solarium room with a private rooftop hot tub, and it was incredible. Spacious, beautifully decorated with original features, impressive views, and the hot tub pre-heated to 40°C. The hidden door leading to the Pink Bar was a fun touch too. Overall, this is a charming, character-filled hotel with plenty of personality. So if you're looking for a unique and quirky hotel with friendly staff you definitely won’t be disappointed. Highly recommended—10/10.

This motel is… hard to make sense of. It’s in a prime spot in the heart of York and has a dark, intriguing speakeasy vibe—but that’s about where the positives end. The service and rooms feel questionable for the price. The staff have a kind of bougie attitude without being truly accommodating. Our room didn’t have doors for the toilet or shower. Romantic for the shower? Sure. Toilet? Dealbreaker. The shower light wasn’t working, and despite our complaints, no one came to fix it. No elevators here, so hauling luggage is a workout. The staff will help, but it still feels inconvenient. Add to that the bar noise from upstairs, and the experience is… challenging. If you go in with low expectations, an adventurous spirit, and a partner you’re madly in love with, maybe you can overlook the flaws—especially if you’re in one of the top rooms with a jacuzzi, which could make the stay worthwhile. Otherwise, most rooms are just… impossible to like.

The room we stayed in was small and rather dark. It was advertised as a Superior room. Bed was very comfy. However, the room was showing signs of wear and tear. The shower room/toilet was very small. TV was damaged as there were green lines showing g at the bottom of the screen. Maybe just not our scene. However, the positioning of the hotel was perfect 👌

After just one night in this hotel, i most definitely will not be coming back. I have three major complaints 1- The room itself. We booked the basement room, and got what felt like a prison cellar instead. There were copious amounts of black mould covering the brick (see attached photos) which left both of us feeling poorly after just one night. To add to the prison esq vibe of the room, the toilet was also situated right behind the bed with no door. The rooms have little to no noise insulation and we could hear EVERYTHING in the adjacent room - the kettle boiling, every conversation, and worse. 2 - Lack of disclosure when booking Around ~9pm, we started hearing incredibly loud thumping music and heavy footsteps. We learnt our minimally sound-proofed room was placed directly under the hotel bar, and had to listen to the racket until 3AM. The placement of our room was not mentioned anywhere on the booking. 3 - Rude, borderline incompetent service from staff. To combat the aforementioned bar noise and make the most of our stay, we decided to turn on the TV in an attempt to drown out the sound. We connected our phone to the TV to cast a movie, only to learn the TV had a limit of 15 volume. Any time we attempted to increase the volume it shot back down to 15. We couldn’t hear a word over the noise from the bar, and had to turn on captions just to watch the TV. We decided to ring the service desk to ask if there was any possibility of increasing the volume, to which we were told “well we’ve never had a complaint about it before” and no attempt at a resolution. I can’t speak for the non-basement rooms, but based purely on my experience, i would not recommend this hotel to anyone.

Visited York for one night and stayed in this hotel. The room itself was very cool and an experience on its own. Unfortunately there were a few things bothering us considering that we paid £150+ for it. The bodywash in the shower was empty, provided water bottle had bits of unknown material in it, water glasses had some stains on them and the TV wouldn’t connect to wifi. Despite those few things, I think the hotel is still worth a visit if there is a slightly cheaper offer available.