Staying at Hy Hotel Lytham St Annes

For an end of summer getaway, I decided to make use of my Tesco clubcard points as some were due to expire. As I don’t drive as much now, I don’t gain as many points as I used to, but they still add up. We booked through Hotels.com although you can get better deals direct. I converted my vouchers into just under £500 of rewards, then paid the remainder for the Hy Hotel Lytham St Annes.

For those locals who have fedback and are particular about the location, the hotel is in St Annes on Sea, Lytham St Annes as the overall area which comprises several areas, Lytham, St Annes on sea, Fairhaven and Ansdell. The hotel calls itself Hy Hotel Lytham, so I’ve referred to it as Lytham St Annes to encompass the wider area.

Arrival at Hy Hotel Lytham

While it just looks like another hotel on the outside, the reception area is lovely with gorgeous tiling decor at the entrance. We had a warm welcome from all the women we’ve seen in the reception area during our stay. 

The lounge area is pleasant and there’s complementary Starbucks coffee/hot chocolate from the machine, although 2 days into our stay the hot chocolate part broke, and although fixed, it obviously wasn’t as the hot chocolate wasn’t as it should. It was provided as a manual option you could make up, but we weren’t keen. There are also other snacks and cold drinks to buy.

A real treat for children, there’s a pick and mix sweet trolley with little tongs. This is all free, and N definitely made the most of it.

There’s a bar which is open evenings that’s quite nice to sit and have a drink, although there’s no beer garden, just some seating in the front, in the car park. 

Parking

The hotel is right on the main road from Blackpool into Lytham St Annes, and there’s a fair sized car park.  The car park always seemed full. There was only 1 day of our stay when the car park had several spaces free in mid afternoon, most days were we ok getting a space. But we did come back one day before check in time, and still ended up having to park on the road. 

It would be nice to be able to confirm 1 space per apartment that was guaranteed, and then have further spaces bookable for those having more than one family to an apartment. There is street parking although none available close on Sunday or Monday due to the music festival happening opposite over the bank holiday weekend.

Leisure facilities at Hy Hotel

You can book gym or pool slots before you arrive by ringing, emailing or directly on the website before arriving. The pool slots are an hour long, allowing for 10 mins either side for your changing room slot. We only managed to get a slot for our first day on arrival, because we didn’t then book in advance – having not known what time we’d be back from days out. I like that slots are bookable because there’s limited numbers in the pool. But you do need to be organised in advance if you’re going out and about.

The pool is gorgeous and a good size for a hotel pool. There’s also a jacuzzi, steam room and sauna. With 2 changing rooms being booked too, there’s tonnes of room for whole families to use them if needed.

I didn’t swim this time, but N did and said it was lovely. Plenty of room for the 3 groups booked (7 people) across the slot to swim or play.

If you like a spa, you can book treatments through the independent company that runs those.

Apartments

There are 4 apartment ‘blocks’ and we were right at the top floor of the end one. It meant we weren’t disturbed by others coming upstairs or walking past. Although the carpets were new and thick, with no creaking floorboards yet, so you’d probably not hear much anyway. 

With 4 flights of stairs, it was a bit of a killer on the legs. So if you’ve got lots of bags and young children, it might be a struggle getting up and down so many flights of stairs. So it’s worth booking early and requesting ground or lower floor apartments. 

The walls were still very thin – we could hear people showering at 11.30 at night, kids running around and shouting, conversations – all of these late at night. I wish people would realise that sound travels at night, and that hotel walls really aren’t soundproofed!

Our apartment was suitable for 6 people, with a double bedroom, twin room with bunkbeds, and a double sofabed in the lounge area. There were fans in all rooms which were needed because it did get hot.

The decor was great – a striking look with copper metal finishes in the kitchen. There was a bench, and chairs around the table. The chairs didn’t quite suit the rest of the decor and were a bit low for both N and myself compared with the table height. I don’t think you’d have enough seating for 6, although there were a couple of low stools that could be used for the ends if needed. 

There was everything you’d need for basic self catering – crockery, utensils, cutlery, washing up liquid and sponge, fridge with a freezer shelf, washing machine, induction oven.  The microwave was very complicated. I couldn’t work out how to use it, and because it was in the corner, I couldn’t get close to read the buttons. We ate out for all our lunch and dinners anyway, but if we’d wanted to, there was everything we would have needed to cook.

There are also large freeview tvs in the open plan lounge/kitchen, as well as both bedrooms. N was very excited that he’d be able to put on the tv if I was still asleep rather than having to wait until 7 for his phone/laptop to be unlocked!

The bathroom was gorgeous, although the toilet seats like so many, are very narrow and trendy. Bigger toilet seats please for those of us who aren’t a size 10!  The double sized shower had a rain shower head, plus a lower small shower head. The only thing I was missing was a shelf, or somewhere to put shower toiletries within reach, rather than on the floor. But that’s just me being fussy.  I couldn’t get the water temperature hot enough for me. It was lukewarm, which was fine for the hotter weather, but I’d have liked to have had it hotter.

The one thing that’s missing for 5* accommodation is air conditioning. There was a thermostat on the wall, but I don’t know if it was for heating. Instead they provided fans in each room which worked fine.

The hotel is on a fairly busy road but with the windows closed it wasn’t too noticeable, even for us who live in the middle of nowhere. N will sleep through anything, but my room was at the back, so I heard nothing anyway. 

Breakfast

One of the things that N loves about hotels is a cooked breakfast. But he was happy to try staying in an aparthotel, so we paid for the breakfast option. There’s only continental breakfast on offer, but we could live with that.

Breakfast was served from 7 til 10, which is a great time compared to other hotels when you’re lucky to get a 7.30 start.  You collect breakfast from the lounge area, and either eat there bringing cutlery/crockery from your room, or like us take it back up to your room.

They had lots of different mini pastries, croissants, boxes of cereal, milk, yoghurt and fruit available.  And obviously hot Starbucks drinks from the machine.  We found we had plenty of choice and food for us, and the staff were attentive over replenishing pastries when they were running low. 

We were down for breakfast around 7.45 and it was never too busy to get what we wanted. It worked really well.

The service

One thing that Hy Hotel do really well is the service side. I sent a message after booking asking when I should book the pool, then got a call back from them (although I’d since found the online booking for that). The day before I received a call to check if there was anything they could do ahead of our visit.

There was a warm welcome on arrival, and whenever we arrived for breakfast or the pool. The team at Hy Hotel are happy to help with anything if needed. We returned one day to find our keycard didn’t work, but they quickly changed it and reset a new card for us.

With it being an apartment, I’m not sure how often or what the cleaning was meant to cover. Ours bins were emptied 2 days before we were back in the afternoon but not emptied on the third day. Extra towels were left in the hall if we needed them on the first day. But we didn’t have beds made (other than what we did), and towels weren’t straightened in the bathroom, like hotels usually would. This might be the norm for this type of accommodation, and it wasn’t an issue for us.

Overall we had a great stay at Hy Hotel.  While it’s not a cheap option (unless you pay via a booking site with Tesco vouchers like I did), it’s a great way to holiday with the whole family. We saw several families with a couple of generations on holiday together. 

It’s right opposite Ashton Gardens, and it’s only a 5 minute walk to M&S food hall, Aldi, and various restaurants and cafes. The beach is only around 5 minutes walk. Not forgetting you’re around 3 miles from Blackpool – easily cyclable along the straight road alongside the dunes, or by bus.

Have you ever been to Lytham St Annes? What’s your preferred type of holiday accommodation in the UK?

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