The unveiling of a new meetings space is a great excuse to experience an untried city-centre hotel. So, when an invite from a luxury Cardiff property, housed in a former 19th-century grandiose Post Office building, dropped through my letterbox, I headed to the Welsh capital for a first-class weekend at The Parkgate Hotel.
The 170-room Parkgate Hotel is part of The Celtic Collection – the hospitality group behind 10 Welsh properties, including ICC Wales’ neighbour, the Celtic Manor Resort.
It’s located next door to Wales’ national rugby and football arena, the Principality Stadium, and occupies a heritage building, which first opened as a Post Office in 1897 to mark the year of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee.
It was transformed into The Parkgate Hotel and reopened in 2021. It features a rooftop Elemis spa (where you can spy on the stadium from the thermal suite’s hydro-therapy pool), a two AA Rosette-awarded restaurant, plus a 360-capacity ballroom and pillar-free conference space, the Postmaster Suite.
Through a door off the Postmaster Suite is the newly opened 40-capacity Mail Room. It’s perfect for smaller team meetings (16 board-room style), presentations, and additional support space for the larger events held next door.
The Mail Room can also facilitate hybrid meetings, with features including a 98-inch touch screen with a fully-integrated Microsoft Teams camera setup and table microphones.
The Parkgate’s bedrooms are smart, with design details such as the headboards carried through from the hotel’s impressive blue vaulted lobby ceiling. Downstairs, the Cwrt Lounge and outdoor Cwrt Terrace are ideal for afternoon tea. But honestly, the experience to truly savour is dinner in the Michelin Guide-listed Sorting Room (the food is spectacular).
After a good night’s sleep and a leisurely breakfast, I left The Parkgate Hotel feeling revitalised, impressed with this historic gem of a hotel, and a little richer after backing the winning Grand National horse the day before. This former Post Office has already stamped its mark on Wales’ business events landscape. The addition of The Mail Room will only add to its ability to deliver.
