The Crescent Guest House York  

Received an email from the guest house informing me that due to family circumstances, I wouldn't be able to check in until 5pm. Not a problem as I had stayed with family just over an hour away. However, had I arrived as originally planned, it would have required me to wander the streets of York for 2-3 hours.General appearance of the guest house was disappointing as was the room. The accommodation web site describes it as "lovingly and sympathetically restored". Don't know when this work was done, but I suspect it was some time ago! Things are starting to look tired throughout the accommodation; the web site photographer has done a great job of making the rooms look a reasonable size.By far the biggest issue for me was the Crescent's wi fi which I could not access at all. The reason given by the owner was that another hotel across the road had a very strong signal which prevented people from accessing their own wi fi.The Crescent's owner very kindly obtained the log in details for the other hotel (which they normally charge for), which I though was a great solution. However, the practicality of it was something to be desired. Apart from the signal repeatedly being lost which required another log in process, anything that required more than a minimum signal was just too problematic. Throughout the week, I found myself carrying out a variety of contortionist manoeuvres as I held my ipad or laptop up by the window in a vague attempt to gain some connectivity.This was a pretty cold week in York with temperatures as low as 6 degrees, so when the heating didn't work on Wednesday, I was not too happy. Unfortunately, the owner had gone away and left somebody in charge who knew nothing about the heating system and effectively abrogated their responsibility by stating that they shouldn't even be there and that the heating system was continually breaking down because it was old!The only saving grace of the whole experience was the breakfast. By far the best sausages I have tasted in a long time and the lady who cooked and served breakfast was great.Overall, the location is good for York centre, one or two nights would be ok as long as you didn't need wi fi and the heating was working.

Central location - excellent. Rooms very tiny but exceedingly clean so no difficulties for the occasional stay. Late weekend arrival when there was off street parking. During other times this could be problematic.

Pros: Clean room and toilet, nice staff to help carrying luggages, good breakfast
Cons: No internet in my room