Graduate Cambridge

My stay was for two nights with two friends. We had a family room and wanted to sit on our balcony, but no chairs. Requested chair's and were told it wasn't possible as it was a family room, even though there were 3 adult's only in the room. We requested an ice bucket with ice. We received it but the ice bucket inside was very dirty. I rang down for a replacement and was given another. Also I don't appreciate a service charge on drinks when I had been at the bar to order, it was not communicated to me. I only found out later when my friend went to get a drink and took her receipt. On our check out I received an email of the bill and a extra breakfast had been added. I spoke to the young women on reception and she told me basically that we had an extra breakfast, we did not. She repeated again that we had. I at first didn't hear what she said and asked her to repeat it, she spoke to me like I was a child. I do not expect to be treated in such a manner, she was not sincere in her half hearted apology. I will say the lady on the desk in the breakfast room was very pleasant and I suggest she goes onto the reception. Our breakfast was lovely and staff in The Garden Room were excellent. Unfortunately for myself and my friends the issues we have we will not return to The Graduate we will continue going to The Hilton on Downing Street where the staff there are excellent. The Graduate was very disappointing!!

My husband and I stayed in Graduate Cambridge firstly (July 2023) and the experience was all chaotic. We booked one of the highest room categories (large balcony with river view) and upon arrival they clearly allocated us to an inferior room. When complaining, the staff insisted that the room was correct. During the first stay we tried the seating area over the river but there was no service there, you have to go to the bar and grab/order your own food and drinks. There is a lack of training, no service and long queues there, so every time you spend half an hour to place an order. We found the hotel interior nice so we gave a second try since my husband is doing an MBA and we plan coming back to Cambridge once a month. This second time we booked 2 rooms and brought the family. Such a mistake! The service was again completely chaotic, we book a table to seat outside by the river to have dinner and we had to ask the staff to clean the table over and over until a moment that we cleaned ourselves. It took more than 1 hour for my husband to place an oder and when it arrived wasn't even good. Very standard poor taste. The rooms were okay, but the TV in one of them wasn't working which we had to try to fix ourselves. If you call the reception, they will never pick up the phone. The staff is clearly not trained and there is this felling of chaos from the beginning to the end in all experiences. Please avoid if you are used to reasonable hotels!

Stayed over as we had a family lunch in cambridge. Rooms are excellent, food and service was good. What this Hotel has for us is its position, so handy for central cambridge, just minutes from all the main parts and also the garden next to the river makes it, great place to sit back and chill for a few hours.

We loved our stay in a family room at the Graduate. Really nicely decorated from top to bottom, excellent room amenities, friendly service and comfortable beds! Perfect location by the Mill Pond with a lovely outdoors terrace. Great little pool and spa too. I would definitely stay again!

Great location by the river Cam. Restaurant and bar very pleasant rooms. We felt the bar was overpriced e.g. £15 for a 250ml glass of white wine ! Breakfast was not included in our room rate, it was £15 per head with no charge for children < 12. Pretty mediocre below average breakfast in our view. Limited choice and range of foods e.g. only fried eggs (more hard boiled than fried !), on both mornings some hot food stations were empty and we had to wait for them to be replenished. Also be aware that they slapped a service charge on the cost of the breakfast without making it clear this was done. Bit of a cheek since it was entirely self-service ! Like many hotels they had one of those ridiculous toasters which takes what seems like 10 minutes to make one slice. Day 1 it took three cycles round to get the bread even slightly toasted. Day 2 one side of the bread was incinerated in 2 cycles. Room was ok and clean enough, the small balcony area was disgusting and hadn't seen a brush or duster since Isaac Newton's days. Would have benefited from some shelving / storage space in the bathroom as nowhere to stand stuff really. Cleaning staff came in the 1st morning to replenish the room, they artfully folded some towels but failed to leave any milk, replace the used teacups or provide additional toilet rolls. We told reception and they brought more milk and toilet rolls (but didn't replace the dirty cups). Staff we encountered were all friendly and helpful.

The family room is spacious. It provides two queen beds which is hard to find in UK

Very Clean and beautiful hotel. The location is great. Very Good option for a family.

Overall a lovely stay at the Graduate. We were a family of 4 (kids 12 and 10) staying in the family room with two double beds. The beds were very comfortable and the room was spacious and clean. However, the room did have a few down points - the shower would suddenly change temperature, the USB charging points were not really working properly and there wasn’t a plug socket next to each side of the two beds, the lighting was not great - only two spot lights in the whole room and some lamps; part of the room next to one of the beds was so dark we couldn’t see in our suitcases so we had to move them near the balcony window, and lastly the lack of storage - one very small cupboard for the 4 of us. We were somehow missed during the room turnaround in the morning and had to ask for our room to be cleaned whilst out for dinner in the evening. Check in was also late - it was a very busy bank holiday weekend and the hotel was full so we didn’t get access to our room until 3.30. Despite all these issues, we still had a wonderful 2 night stay and the staff were amazing. Upon checkout we were offered money off our parking (usually £26.50 per day) for the issues we had. The kids made use of the great pool - only 16 people at a time so get there in advance during peak as we had to be put on a waiting list. The breakfast was great quality and the bar had some great cocktails. The location was perfect, we walked everywhere and the punting dock is literally outside. I would recommend staying