Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: Accor

  • Warsaw – Mercure Warsaw Ursus

    Warsaw – Mercure Warsaw Ursus

    I’ve worked my way around most Accor hotels in Poland and nearly all of them in Warsaw, but this appears to be a relatively new opening. Although it’s not in the city centre, it’s located opposite Warsaw Ursus Station and so doesn’t take long to get to by public transport.

    The reception area, all clean and modern. The staff member at check-in was personable, welcoming and engaging, all rather lovely first impressions. There were sanitisers conveniently located as well, it felt like a safe environment.

    I was fortunate enough to get a room upgrade, which got me a top floor room with a view over the railway station. There’s no getting away from the reality that this is a beautiful suite, well-appointed, clean and functional. The air conditioning worked and so the temperature was easy to get right, always handy as I like hotel rooms to be on the colder side.

    The room also came with a microwave grill, a fridge, coffee maker, kettle, cutlery, plates and far more things than I probably needed. I was pleased that I could understand the coffee maker, that was a nice treat compared to the sachets I’d expected. Although the hotel had put those in the room as well in case they were needed, along with numerous flavours of tea.

    A welcome gift selection, with white wine, biscuits and fruit. I very much appreciated this.

    The fruit was fresh and wasn’t just a cut-up apple.

    And the wine, how rather lovely.

    I was given this card giving me 10% off in the restaurant, so I felt it impolite not to take advantage. I didn’t have breakfast in the hotel, so this was a chance to see the large restaurant and bar area. Which, like every other part of the hotel, was spotless. Actually, on that note, I suspect that many hotels aren’t really cleaning any more than they normally did, they just pretend to. Not here, I noticed a three-man cleaning team going around ruthlessly sanitising rooms. This hotel is impeccably clean.

    The menu options, a reduced standard menu as well as their burger offer. Reasonably priced and a well-balanced selection of choices. The restaurant wasn’t particularly busy, but there were a few guests and the atmosphere was laid-back and welcoming.

    I’m never quite sure whether Zywiec Porter, one of my favourite drinks, is available or not with the welcome drink offer (we’ve had this debacle before). It should be given the text on the card, but some Accor hotels allow it, some don’t. I just asked what dark beers I could get with the welcome drink and the staff member in the restaurant suggested this, so I didn’t intend to turn it down. And, the staff member was also genuinely personable and welcoming.

    This was beautifully presented with a selection of cheeses and meats. The portion was larger than it looks in the photo, with the quality of the meats and cheeses being high. And I always like some pickled treats, so they were welcome. All of the ingredients seemed fresh and of a decent quality, so this was reasonable value for money for the £7 or so that I paid.

    I don’t like lard and I dread getting it with bread, as is some Polish tradition. But, not here, I got butter.

    So, in conclusion (this sounds like a write up after a science practical), this hotel was the best Accor location that I’ve stayed in. I don’t know who the manager is, but he or she is doing a fantastic job, this hotel was clean, the room beautiful and the staff endlessly friendly. Accor should be delighted at this Mercure hotel, it reflects their brand impeccably. And I’ll probably go back next week and just have to hope it’s just as good, although I’m confident that it will be.

    For anyone wanting to book the hotel, it’s here.

  • Hull – Ibis City Centre (Visit 2)

    Hull – Ibis City Centre (Visit 2)

    This is my second visit to the Ibis in Hull city centre, I’ve already wittered on about my first visit.

    The reception area has been turned into a queueing area similar to that at an amusement park, and although I appreciate the effort, I didn’t see anyone use it and they queued in a different manner. As an aside, the hotel has been responding to my e-mails promptly, but my booking was a postponed one and it has been lost on the Accor system now, so I suspect I’ll be e-mailing them in a few days.

    The stairs, I don’t know why I liked this imagery of the stairs…. Anyway, I digress.

    The room was sufficiently clean and comfortable for my requirements, but some surfaces clearly hadn’t been cleaned. Towels and bedding was all clean though, it was perfectly adequate for me.

    The view from my room, with that building at the back being the rear end of Wetherspoons.

    The coffee and tea selection has been put into a bag. I don’t quite know how this helps to be honest, but it’s pleasing they were still supplying hot drinks.

    The light fitting was slightly broken, which isn’t ideal.

    I no longer get overly excited by these in an Ibis hotel as there’s rarely much of note. The hotel did though offer Boddington’s last year, which I can tolerate, so I was sufficiently pleased by that.

    And, I feel the need to comment negatively again on the range of drinks offered by Ibis, especially now the Boddington’s option has gone. Their selection looks ever more dated compared to other pubs and hotels, with a total defiance against stocking anything which might be considered as craft beer or real ale. This was the best of a bad lot, and I didn’t finish it, it’s what I would consider another generic lager (and Nathan can tut all he likes that it’s a slightly above average generic lager). It is a shame that Accor is trying to rebrand Ibis into something more on-trend, but yet soft products like this remain entirely off-trend.

    All told, for the price, this was a marvellous location and the hotel staff were friendly and engaging. I would have to note here though, there was a murder in the hotel a few years ago in room 231, and given that one of our party (not me) was woken by police in the early morning in case he’d heard anything in a neighbouring room this time, there seem to be some challenging issues for the hotel.

    My final comment about the hotel is that the welcome gift appears to have been scrapped. Disappointing….

  • London – Ibis Styles – Kensington (Second Visit)

    London – Ibis Styles – Kensington (Second Visit)

    I stayed at this hotel a couple of weeks ago and thought that for the money, it was entirely reasonable. Clearly, as I booked to come back, and I have another reservation here next week and two friends have now booked the hotel as well. On my last visit, the hotel was clean, although there were elements that suggested to me that things hadn’t been checked, such as an empty shower gel dispensers.

    This time the hotel kindly upgraded me to a family room, which was room 16, the Mozart Room.

    Interesting theming on the inside of the door, Ibis Styles remains my favourite of the Accor brands.

    And the room was absolutely spotless, and I had no reservations here about the cleanliness. The bathroom was also clean, although perhaps needed a little modernisation. However, this was a lovely room, although the view was a little limited. Not that that’s a complaint, it was much better than the room I’d paid for.

    My view that more Accor hotels should offer a craft beer option is unchanged, but I was willingly given the Bud as a welcome drink. And, on this note, the staff members I encountered were friendly, engaging and really welcoming. Customer service here isn’t a problem, it’s a comfortable environment to be in.

    The breakfast bag, with coffee available in the basement as it was before. Perfectly acceptable under the current circumstances.

    And, overall, this proved to be excellent value for the money I paid. Especially since I got a bonus 500 points from Accor (worth €10) and with other discounts, this managed to take the room price to just over £20 including the breakfast. Quite marvellous.

  • London – Ibis Styles – Kensington

    London – Ibis Styles – Kensington

    This is my first stay in an Accor hotel since March, with an offer rate of just over £25 per night including a basic breakfast. I’m not sure that I’ve seen that rate in a relatively central London hotel operated by Accor, so it seemed appropriate to take advantage of it.

    The bar area, located next to reception. I think I encountered four staff members during my stay and I’d say that they were all friendly, welcoming and engaging, so that was rather lovely. Check-in was swift, informative and polite.

    The sign at reception explaining what’s changed. Cleaning is now only offered on the third day and breakfast has been switched to a bag offered at reception. I had guessed this, but it’s perhaps inadequate that Accor don’t make this clear. Accor’s press office says that every hotel offers the same breakfast (I had wanted to ask numerous hotels what breakfasts they were doing, something they’re communicating badly), but this is a complete nonsense and their PR agency does no-one any good by suggesting it is. They didn’t offer the same breakfast before, so why they should be now, I have no idea. Anyway, I digress.

    The wall decoration in the reception area, a really quite nice and decorative map of the local area.

    There’s a Japanese theme to the hotel. I’m not sure why and it seems a bit of a half-effort, but I do like Ibis Styles themes.

    This is the single and small room, a feature of many hotels in the Kensington area of London (and many other areas of the city as well). In terms of cleanliness, it met my expectations, but I saw no evidence of a deep clean for a few reasons, such as the staff hadn’t realised there was nearly no soap left which I’d suspect would be obvious if everything was spotlessly cleaned and checked. But, expectations have to be a little measured given the room price and how many staff they have to clean the rooms. I thought the cleanliness was fine, just not perfect.

    That floating ‘l’ annoyed me. Not in a big way, but just a little bit.

    The breakfast, which remained the same every day other than on my final day when they mixed it all up by swapping the Coco Pops for a Frosties bar. It’s a nice effort, I thought the hotel did fine on this.

    The drinks voucher was offered, the welcome gift wasn’t. In normal times, that is rare for an Ibis Styles, but my expectations were more measured given everything going on.

    There was a choice of what I would considered to be three bloody awful beers and this was the best of a bad lot. It’s fair to say though that most people aren’t as bloody awkward about beer choices as I am (although I can name one). But, having said that, Ibis Styles is meant to be an on-trend brand, it’s time it moved on from rubbish beer like other hotel chains have done. Well, some hotel chains.

    In normal times, this was the breakfast area.

    The coffee machine, alongside spare coffee sachets and tea bags, was kept in action for those who wanted to venture down to the basement.

    So, all told, I thought that the hotel was doing really well. The staff seemed happy, they were engaging and friendly, the hotel public areas were kept clean and there were no noise disturbances. The air conditioning was better than in some hotels, but it never really chilled the room to the temperature that I like (frozen). There’s nothing essential that I thought that needed changing (a better beer selection would please me, but it’s hardly critical), so the value for money was excellent given what I paid.

  • Travelodge Hotels Being Rebranded into Accor?

    Travelodge Hotels Being Rebranded into Accor?

    Poor Travelodge has been rather battered about over the last few years, primarily as it never really caught up with the resurgence of Premier Inn. Travelodge has been financially damaged, not least by its internal structure, and it forced a large number of its hotel building owners to take a reduction in the rent that they could collect. This didn’t thrill the owners of many of these properties, who joined together to form the Travelodge Owners Action Group.

    This week, this group of landlords has revealed that they are considering switching hotel brands, which they can do thanks to a handily inserted break clause which they have. A spokesperson for the group said:

    “Our mission as an action group has always been to protect the interests of domestic savers and investors, who have been forced to contend with the aggressive tactics of offshore hedge funds willing to expend unparalleled resources to protect their profits, even at the expense of their own stakeholders. We are carrying on the fight against this unjust abuse of insolvency law that has been fuelled by weak government intervention and will do everything possible to mitigate the damage caused by this CVA.

    Following the inclusion of a landlord break option for over 500 Travelodge hotels within the terms of the CVA, we are in talks with a number of leading global hotel brands aimed at providing savers and investors with the long-term stability they require. Advanced discussions are ongoing with major operators such as Accor, Marriott, IHG, Hilton, Jury’s Inn, Magnuson Hotels and others. The purpose of this is to present a range of alternative options to Travelodge landlords, so that they can decide which structure would work best for them.”

    So, there are numerous hotel chains which might take over some of the sites, forcing Travelodge out. The one that I’m most hopeful about is Accor, they could operate a fair number of these sites and probably pay a larger rent than Travelodge are managing to. It’s unlikely to come to anything in the near future, but if Travelodge don’t work out their CVA in the next couple of years, that might mean an increased number of Accor locations for me to pop along to….

  • Accor Hotels – Platinum Welcome Gift

    Accor Hotels – Platinum Welcome Gift

    As Hilton, IHG and Expedia have obfuscated and delayed my refunds with the current situation, I’ve been genuinely impressed by Accor Hotels and the response from their hotels. And, I’m also pleased that the chain gave me Platinum status, which I would have reached anyway this month, without making the stays. Which is a little difficult at the moment.

    This arrived through the post today, and I like little surprises like this. Like a kid really.

    I nearly did an unboxing video, but that would have perhaps been a little excessive.

    Well, how lovely.

    And these wireless earphones are genuinely very useful as I don’t have any and was thinking of getting some. I’ve got them set up and although I’m not an expert in these matters (or indeed many matters at all) they seem decent quality.

    I can now definitely say that Accor Hotels are my favourite hotel company. I’m so easily bought with gifts…..

  • Accor – Platinum Status

    Accor – Platinum Status

    Wooooo – of no relevance to anyone or anything, but the changes to the Accor Limitless loyalty scheme means that I’ve reached platinum status for the first time. They made those changes due to the Coronavirus restricting people’s opportunity to travel, although I can imagine it’ll be some time before they get the IT to actually reflect the new status.

    There’s not much change from being gold, other than it means access to a free suite night upgrade once per year, but every little helps.

    As a footnote, it transpired it just took one day for their IT to update. Very impressed.

  • Vienna – Ibis Wien City

    Vienna – Ibis Wien City

    And yet another in my series of hotels which I didn’t get to visit because of the Coronavirus. But, I wanted to acknowledge somewhere (so, here) the very fast response from the hotel to my e-mail confirming that they’d offer a refund. I will most certainly be offering my loyalty to this hotel as soon as I can get to Austria, which is hopefully this year. Another effortlessly professional response and I remain delighted at Accor’s hotels at how they’ve handled all of this.

  • Salzburg – Ibis Salzburg Nord

    Salzburg – Ibis Salzburg Nord

    And another in my series of posts, primarily to remind myself, of hotels that I never got to stay at because of the Coronavirus. This hotel seemed effortlessly professional though, responding almost immediately to my e-mail and confirming that they’d refund the two non-refundable stays that I had booked here. This would have been my first trip to Austria, but I’ll get there soon enough no doubt and get to stay at this hotel sometime in what is hopefully the near future. I remain impressed with Accor Hotels, they’ve been marvellous in terms of offering these refunds.

  • Bristol – Ibis Bristol Temple Meads

    Bristol – Ibis Bristol Temple Meads

    I can’t write much about this hotel, as this was a cancelled stay due to the Coronavirus. But, I wanted to note how helpful the hotel was in what must be trying circumstances for them. I paid for this booking, which was for the two days after the now cancelled Rambers General Council, primarily through loyalty points and the helpful hotel staff member wanted to check with Accor that I could get the points back if they processed the cancellation. They confirmed I could and I have within just a couple of hours got them back in my account.

    Swift, efficient and polite – an impressive response time from Accor.