I came to the Holiday Inn this evening to attend a Diane James for Leader rally in the Hacienda…read moreSuite, which is located on the -1 floor.
I'm going to be honest and shed some embarrassing news that I originally turned up at the wrong hotel, with there being two Holiday Inn's in Manchester center, one being more central and an "Express" hotel round the back of the Crowne Plaza, meanwhile this branch is located more towards Piccadilly, and right next to the Hilton Doubletree hotel.
Moving onto my regular review, this is a really nice hotel, especially for a budget chain like Hilton, and I'd even go as far as saying it is just as nice, perhaps nicer than the Double-tree Hotel next store, run by Hilton.
When booking in advance the rates did seem quite reasonable at around £100 a night for a standard room, which was the average when booking a a full week including week-ends, which is reasonable but for some reasons for a stay on a Tuesday night, 3 months from now worked out at around £120, which seemed rather expensive, as even the Hilton would have charged less.
Holiday Inn is quite a cheaper brand, however this branch does seem quite high end, and on the inside it seemed really modern with a bar area, and some cool seating even on the basement level, and multiple suites.
The suites didn't seem really nice, they just seemed average, for the event I visited the Hacienda Suite in the Basement, really wasn't nice and modern as the rest of the hotel, and there was even music from outside which disrupted the event, and made it harder to hear Diane James and co speaking, which was a shame.
The toilets were very nice, they seemed spacious and clean and the design was all but plain, it just seemed nice, however the toilet paper did need replacing as it just seemed to be almost empty, apart from half a slice which made the class fall down, like going from Jamie Redknapp to Harry Redknapp straight away.
Overall, this hotel is average, which is ruined by the fact that some things including the suites are basic, and that the prices do seem really high when the brand Holiday Inn is supposed to be a cheaper chain, not a high-end one, the service seemed okay, even the Reception desk didn't seem too helpful, so sadly I feel this Holiday Inn has only done enough to earn 2 stars, I would have been willing to give 3 if just one of the flaws was improved such as service, pricing, making it clearer to distinguish between the two hotels in Manchester or of course they didn't play loud music outside, which disturbed the event when they were fully aware it was going on.