University of Essex - Colchester Campus

Super pratique

Clean room. Difficult to find way round campus at first. God value staying here.

The security desk on square 3 made check in very easy. Luckily I know my way around the campus but she did give me a number to call if I got lost. Got to the room, it was clean and tidy and plenty of towels and loo roll provided. Only a bar of soap so your own shampoo is required. Only downside is checkout is EARLY!! 9:30am.

Super hard to check in - no guidance or signage

Where do I start? The booking for the room came with no (zero) information on how to locate the room within the entire university. This is a big campus, and you will be provided with no information apart from an incorrect, utterly useless postcode. I started with the first head office which was near the (incorrect) postcode, but they directed me to the other end of the campus, to another head office, which I couldn't find. Because of roadworks, this was a 10 minute drive away. I did find the security office, who were very helpful & said that "they get people asking all the time". The pleasant security lady took me to an obscure office door which apparently was where I was supposed to be. The (also helpful) person in this office then directed me back to the first end of the campus to my dormitory. The room itself was bare minimum but served the purpose, and was clean and tidy. How difficult would it be for someone at the university to create a welcome sheet that explains how to get to the (appropriate) office? I was provided a postcode which turned out to be useless. It took me about an hour to finally get my car parked in the appropriate carpark (another 10 minute drive)and my bag into the room. On campus there are plenty of eating places, and a fairly well equipped gym, all within 10 minutes walk from my room. Would I stay again? Probably not. But at least if I do, next time I'll know the routine instead of feeling like I'm a contestant on some reality tv challenge!