Location is the entire pitch, and it is a good one: the Park Inn sits on Mary Ann Street directly opposite the Motorpoint Arena, five minutes’ walk from the St David’s shopping centre and barely ten from Cardiff Castle and Cardiff Central station. If you have an arena ticket, this is the hotel that lets you hear the encore, walk one minute and be in bed before the car park has emptied.
Inside, expectations should be set at cheerful mid-market. Rooms are compact and contemporary, with comfortable beds, walk-in showers and soundproofing that copes surprisingly well with match-day Cardiff outside. RBG Bar & Grill downstairs does burgers, grills and a generous breakfast buffet, more useful than memorable, and the bar earns its keep on event nights. Some floors show their age and breakfast queues build when the arena has emptied a crowd into the city, but service stays friendly under pressure.
For business, there are flexible meeting rooms, and Central Station makes London or Bristol day trips painless. For everyone else the arithmetic is simple: a clean, dependable room in the exact centre of the Welsh capital, usually at a rate the big four-stars cannot touch. We would stay here for an event or a one-night city hit without hesitation.
