A while ago I read about a great Sunday night deal offered by Hotel du Vin, so I thought I’d give it a try. The deal allows you to book a room for the night for as little as £30, with the condition that you spend a minimum of £75 on Sunday evening in their bistro. The deal price of £30 does not cover all 17 locations as some of the more premium locations cost slightly more (£50 per night). but even so it’s still an amazing deal. For this trip I decided to book a stay at the Hotel du Vin Cambridge as this was the ideal location for a place that I wanted to visit in the vicinity.

My Meal and Stay at the Hotel Du Vin Cambridge

Hotel Du Vin Cambridge

The hotel is located along Trumpington Street, which is one of the main routes into Cambridge city centre, and it’s about a five minute walk from the centre. If arriving by car you can self park or the hotel offers valet parking for £25 per night. If you can find a space there is on street parking right outside the hotel which was free after 5pm on Sunday, until 8am the next morning. This means you would only need to pay outside these hours. The decor in the hotel is very classic, as with all the hotels in the group, and is set in a period building which just oozes character. The hotel is arranged over 4 floors: the basement is home to the Cellar Bar, the ground floor houses the reception, Bistro and meeting rooms, and the rooms are arranged on the upper floors. There are 41 rooms ranging from standard rooms to suites.

My Room for the Night

Hotel du Vin Cambridge is one of the more expensive locations in this offer, a Sunday night stay here is £50 for the night, with the same minimum £75 spend in the bistro. After booking I received an email asking if I would like to bid for an upgrade, and was sent some room options with upgrade prices. The second upgrade option on the email was £26 for studio suite, so I decided to bid for this room. The upgrades work on the basis that if there is a room available at check-in at the level you bid for, then this is automatically upgraded for you. If none are available then you get the room you originally booked and are not charged any extra.

Upon arrival I was automatically upgraded to the studio suite which was absolutely fantastic. I was shown to my room after checking in and was greeted into an extremely spacious room with a king size bed, two lounge chairs and a chaise at the end of the bed, as well as a desk, minibar and a gorgeous roll top bath in the bedroom. The bathroom had a huge walk in shower as well as a toilet and sink. There were more than enough fluffy towels on hand, and it was stocked with Ren products.

Dinner at the Hotel Du Vin Cambridge Bistro

Before dinner I visited the bar in the basement to enjoy a gin and tonic, then I headed upstairs to the bistro for dinner. The stipulation is to spend £75 per room to qualify for the room rate as advertised. If you spend less than £75, then the remainder of the £75 is added to your bill on checkout, but in all fairness it would be difficult not to spend the required amount on a two course meal with wine for two people.

The bistro has a fantastic menu and with so much choice it’s difficult to decide what to have. After much deliberation I decided to start with their roasted tiger prawns and a glass of sloe gin spritz. Both were absolutely fantastic. For my main course I shared a chateaubriand served with fries, tomato and onion salad and a bernaise sauce, accompanied with a carafe of Chateau Bauduc. I chose this wine purely for the reason that it was also the name of my suite. It was a very beautiful wine and by complete coincidence paired extremely well with the chateaubriand. I’m not a massive dessert person, but to finish I enjoyed my absolute favourite, creme brûlée with a glass of grahams 30 year old tawny port. I couldn’t fault the meal or the service and it was an all round perfect meal, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

My Final Thoughts…

On the whole, the value of this deal is outstanding. All the Hotel du Vins are in great locations, and are all finished to a very high standard. The cost of a room for the night and a meal in the bistro with this deal is fantastic value for money. The only downside is that it is extremely easy to over spend in the bistro, but if you opted for the prix fixe menu you should be fine. However, if you’re a true foodie like me the food bill can easily start to climb! All in all though, a fantastic deal, one that I’ll be taking advantage again and again very soon!