Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: Accor

  • London – Hounslow (Borough of) – Ibis Budget Hounslow

    London – Hounslow (Borough of) – Ibis Budget Hounslow

    I’ve been in London this weekend to have a rather lovely time seeing Liam and his wonderful two boys, a really nice day on the cable cars, the ArcelorMittal Orbit (which we have to go back to as their slide was a bit jammed yesterday), Downing Street, the Houses of Parliament, Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace, M&Ms World, the Lego Store, the London Transport Museum and about 62 trains. There weren’t many cheap accommodation options, so the best value that I could find was the Ibis Budget in Hounslow.

    The usual basic room, which seems to be the older design, judging by the lovely new set-up at hotels such as Ibis Budget Whitechapel. It was very clean, no issues there. The hotel also isn’t currently offering daily cleaning of the rooms and they’re claiming Covid-19 restrictions, but that is now becoming rarer in hotels within Accor and other chains and is perhaps not entirely believeable now. If they’re short of staff or saving money, I’d personally rather that they were honest about that.

    The main public area on the ground floor, with the staff being friendly and engaging, which seems to often be the case at Ibis Budget hotels. There are no free hot drinks in the rooms at this Accor brand, but there is free tea at reception and there’s chargeable coffee.

    The breakfast buffet arrangement, which only costs a few pounds and I find really quite good value. There’s cereals, jams, Nutella, ham, cheese, yoghurts, orange juice, coffees, porridge and so on, basic but perfectly acceptable quality.

    I was very brave and used the toast machine, although I’m always slightly nervous I’ll set the hotel on fire. All went well actually with the whole breakfast arrangement and I didn’t break anything which is always a positive way to start the day. It was quite quiet in the breakfast area, but I did go down early on both days.

    The breakfast arrangement I went for, or at least, part of it. The coffee was of an unusually high standard, I very much liked that.

    The reviews of the hotel are mixed, although the staff and location are well reviewed. It’s rated a lot better for solo travellers than it is was friends and families, which is entirely understandable. One guest left a negative review, but I liked the hotel’s reply of:

    “I believed that the fact that you kept extending your stay on numerous occasions meant you were satisfied with the hotel”. It’s a fair point from the management……

    I had expected a weekend at Ibis Budget to be a little louder than it was, but there was no internal noise or disturbances at all. Being under the flightpath of London Heathrow was more annoying at 06:00 though, my sympathies to the local residents as the aircraft do indeed make one hell of a noise. I liked this hotel, it’s a short walk away from Hounslow Central underground station and the staff were friendly. I’d happily stay here again if it was competitively priced.

  • Accor – New ALL Credit Card

    Accor – New ALL Credit Card

    This is positive news (for me anyway), a credit card linked to Accor’s Limitless hotel loyalty programme. I’ve got the IHG credit card where spend is rewarded with IHG points (and extra points when paying for IHG hotels), although I originally only got it solely to get automatic Gold Status. The ALL credit card is currently only being rolled out in France, but it looks like it’ll be coming to the UK in 2022. I accept that once again I probably need to get out more if this is the sort of news that I find exciting….

  • Accor Hotels – ibis Berlin Hauptbahnhof

    Accor Hotels – ibis Berlin Hauptbahnhof

    Just as an irrelevant aside (another one…), I wonder how bad the room description text must have been for someone at Accor to reject it with the words “you can’t use this text – it’s just too directly suggestive”….

  • Bingley – Mercure Bradford Bankfield

    Bingley – Mercure Bradford Bankfield

    Hotel prices at weekends are at the highest levels I’ve seen them in the UK at the moment, which has required me to be quite creative. There’s near 100% occupancy in chain hotels across the north of the country, a result of people wanting to have some weekends away. For my Saturday night stay the Mercure at Bradford Bankfield was showing at £45 for a double room, which was very cheap compared to everywhere else and seems to be a quirk, perhaps someone just cancelling. I also have a heap of Accor rewards points, so paid for most of it with that.

    I walked for twenty minutes from Bingley to get here and it’s an impressive building and I tried to ensure that I didn’t include the wedding party in my photo who were having photos taken outside the front of the main entrance. Unfortunately, Mercures in country locations in the UK generally have a poor reputation, and I had low expectations of this one, usually the grand frontages hide some dated rooms in cheap extensions.

    “Set in a Gothic style mansion house surrounded by landscaped gardens, the Mecure Bradford, Bankfield Hotel is a peaceful retreat and a short stroll from the banks of the River Aire.”

    The above is what the hotel has written, and ignoring the issue they can’t spell the hotel name, they’ve probably set up expectations here of a grand country house that they clearly can’t deliver on. Most of the hotel isn’t in a Gothic style mansion house, it’s in more modern extensions that are quite rickety. That means guests expecting they’ll be in lovely historic rooms won’t get what they hoped for.

    I also only realised after leaving that the hotel has been dumping inventory on Groupon, which in nearly all circumstances I’ve ever encountered is a sign that there are huge problems in getting customers and it’s almost always a last resort. They’d perhaps be better just reducing their prices on Accor’s web-site rather than handing over a big cut to Groupon, but there we go….. It could be claimed that it’s great marketing, but it doesn’t look like that, they’ve got some devastating reviews because they’ve over-promised a country house luxury stay and haven’t delivered on that to Groupon customers.

    Anyway, I digress.

    The main hall. The welcome at reception was helpful and the staff member apologised that he couldn’t offer me a free upgrade as they were full. To be fair to them, I was aware of that as the hotel filled soon after I booked the room that I did, so they were being entirely honest there. They didn’t bother with the welcome gift though, which they should have done, although the drinks voucher was pro-actively offered. I was nearly charged the wrong amount for the room, but it was soon fixed.

    I was aware that the bedroom was small when I booked, probably too small for two people, but fine for me.

    I think that the bathroom was about the same size as the bedroom….. There were some basic maintenance issues that needed addressing here that the hotel probably should have already fixed, such as the state of that window ledge.

    I took my welcome drink back to the room as I didn’t want to get in the way of the wedding that was taking place. As a drinks option, this Goose Island bottle is perfectly acceptable to me.

    The room wasn’t really clean enough, although it sufficed for me as I have relatively low standards here, otherwise I’d permanently be at receptions complaining. The bedding was clean, but the floor wasn’t and they had left half-used shower gels in the little bottles in the bathroom rather than replace them. That was shoddy and cost-cutting they shouldn’t be engaged with. Those mini bottles are a slight environmental disaster as it is, but they should be thrown away if they’re part-used.

    There’s no air conditioning in the room, although it’s an old building and so that’s not surprising. But, they haven’t bothered with putting fans in the room, and even Travelodge and Premier Inn do that. This to me is an omission, they should be doing this. I was also staying only for one night so this doesn’t affect me, but the hotel is saying it isn’t cleaning rooms for Covid cleanliness reasons. This is a little disingenuous, every other hotel I’ve stayed at recently is now moving back towards the usual housekeeping schedule. If they are short staffed then that’s fair enough, but they shouldn’t be claiming they’re doing it for cleanliness reasons, especially when they’re not properly cleaning the rooms anyway.

    The reviews for the hotel aren’t great and they should perhaps be most alarmed about how they’re doing badly on service looking at Google Reviews, that should usually be around 4.2 to 4.6 out of 5, but it’s down at 3.5 here. It’s easy to assume reviews aren’t reliable, but trends like that usually tell a story. There are a lot of negative reviews, although this one was quite blunt:

    “Worst hotel ever, no staff on reception. No food despite being pre booked my room has no lock and the door can be pushed open easily. The bedding was dirty. The curtains were falling down. The walls are like paper thin. I could go on for days. So instead of staying here give yourself a free upgrade and just sleep in a cardboard box outside the conditions will be much better”

    No lock? That’s not ideal. The walls were quite thin, although this was only evident to me in the morning as I could hear the television next door. The doors probably also need door closers on them as well to try and reduce noise, rather than them slamming shut.

    “Getting my bill right was clearly a major problem for the lady and she didn’t manage it (a subsequent charge to my credit card) as, in her words, she was emotional over the death of a disabled pigeon that morning. Clearly the cycle of nature passed her by. Food was adequate (no pigeon on the menu) but expensive as were the drinks. Bedroom was comfortable but the shower was unadjustable – fiercely hot all the time and unusable. A totally unsatisfactory stay and despite its convenience we shall not return.”

    I don’t want to make light of the disabled pigeon, but that review did amuse me.

    I can’t complain too much because the room rate was one of the cheapest in the area, but they often charge higher rates and I’m not confident they’re offering the standard of service that they should be. For my stay, it was entirely acceptable, but I wouldn’t stay here again.

  • Barnsley – Ibis Styles

    Barnsley – Ibis Styles

    The Ibis Styles in Barnsley, which is around a 30 minute walk from the centre of the town. I had thought about getting the bus, but I couldn’t be bothered and so just walked there and back every day. Sometimes it’s just easier to walk than try and understand the bus ticketing policy. For those who don’t like walking everywhere or getting the bus, there’s a free car park on the site.

    This hotel wasn’t built as an Ibis Styles, it rebranded a few years ago when it became part of Accor, so it’s a slightly different design to what I’ve seen before from the chain.

    Every Ibis Styles has a theme, sometimes quite quirky, although this hotel seems to have gone for glass which is in fitting with the new Glass Works development in the town centre. The room was spacious, had a modern bathroom and was very clean.

    I quite like the look of all the lights, but I was slightly concerned that I’d break one. Not that I actually break much stuff, but it’s good to have something to worry about. I didn’t break any incidentally….

    The hot drinks arrangements, with a carton of water.

    My view from the window, there’s actually the M1 in there as well, but the railway line is more visible in this photo. I quite like the noise from the road and railway, something a little different. The windows open in this hotel which is quite handy, saves me complaining about sterile rooms.

    The welcome drink, which was satisfactory to me even though it’s from Greene King. I wasn’t given a drinks voucher and had to ask for one, which is never quite ideal. Friendly barman though and there was a choice of around eight different beers across the taps and fridges, which isn’t bad at all.

    The breakfast area, although I didn’t eat at the hotel and went to the neighbouring Toby Carvery on one morning.

    The reviews for the hotel are broadly positive, although the management seema  bit abrupt in their responses to the negative ones. They had a run of complaints about the decor and they responded:

    “The rooms are not dirty, however we have steam marks on most of our bedroom walls as the decorator who did our refurbishment in 2015 used the incorrect paint and we now are unable to remove any marks from the walls and the steam marks have stained the walls, we have tried our hardest to remove the marks. All our bedrooms now require a full re paint and this will be completed soon.”

    That must have been a bloody nightmare, go through a refurbishment and they end up worse than when they started. Anyway, it all seems fixed now. I really quite liked this hotel, it was all quiet and peaceful with the room cleaned and restocked every day.

  • Ibis Styles – No Longer Serving Free Breakfast

    Ibis Styles – No Longer Serving Free Breakfast

    I forgot to write about this a few months ago, but it’s relevant (or slightly relevant…) to the next post I’ll be making.

    Last year, Accor decided to change the brand image of their Ibis Styles network of hotels and remove the need for them to offer a free breakfast. It had been a little bit clunky for years though, some offered a basic continental breakfast only (which I liked, Ibis Styles Croydon did that) which was free, and some offered a paid-for cooked breakfast on top as well. That set-up was never really viable as it seemed to just annoy customers who thought they were getting free bacon and eggs, but had to fork out another £5 or so.

    That meant that an Ibis Styles hotel could offer a free continental breakfast, which would be fine for me, but they disappointed people who wanted a fully cooked breakfast. I asked at Ibis Styles Kensington earlier this year why the change had been made, as I worked through numerous breakfast bags during my many visits there and then they suddenly stopped. They said that Accor recognised that the free breakfast wasn’t meeting the demands of the customer and so hotels were given flexibility on what they offered. Apparently this process started before the health crisis, so must have been an ongoing problem for a few years.

    I like the differentiation of Ibis Styles, their branding is often quite fun and different, with a theme to each hotel. In a few locations, some of the themes are quite half-hearted and I can’t see why a hotel has picked to become an Ibis Styles over a simple Ibis. Anyway, the breakfast situation was clearly muddled, with hotels paying quite a lot of money out when there were two people and two kids in a room, and it’s not hard to note the guests who pinch stuff for their lunch and the like. Whether or not they should be doing that, it comes at quite an expense to the hotel.

    So, it was probably the right decision from Accor, although I’d like them to start offering the hotel deals which include breakfast again, I liked those. They were stopped during the last couple of years as breakfast rooms are already at, or near, capacity, but it’s definitely time for them to return.

    I mention this now as next door to the hotel I’m staying at, Ibis Styles Barnsley, is a Toby Carvery and so I went there for breakfast this morning instead. As it seems did a fair few other hotel guests, but that’s a different matter.

  • Accor Hotels – London Mercure

    Accor Hotels – London Mercure

    For my three loyal readers who have been following my London Heathrow Mercure debacle, I’m pleased to say that it has been resolved by the hotel. I’m distinctly unimpressed by Accor’s customer service, which seems to have messed their Mercure hotel franchise around just as much as me.

    Anyway, resolved, which means I can stop moaning on about it now.

  • Leicester – Ibis Leicester City

    Leicester – Ibis Leicester City

    This is the sort of centrally located (it’s very central if you’re at the railway station, more like 10 minutes away from the city centre) Ibis Hotel in Leicester. It has 94 rooms and is part of the Accor hotel and I’m pleased to add that I no longer need to start posts with a mention of problems with their customer service (since my long standing issue seems to have now been resolved).

    Guests entering on the ground floor see this little reception type area, although the main reception and all of the staff are on the first floor. The check-in process was all efficient and the staff member seemed very keen to be helpful, a kind and warm welcome.

    The Ibis room, which is pretty much like all the others in the chain around the world, although the television was a little small (not that I ever turn them on anyway). I wouldn’t say that the room was spotlessly clean, but it was sufficient for me.

    The view out of my window of the railway station. I was pleased that the window opened, the sound of trains was quite smoothing. Well, the sound of what sounded like a freight train braking at 3am was less exciting, but it’s all part of the character of the area.

    The welcome drink of Boddingtons, which I consider to be an acceptable option, so that keeps everyone happy.

    I had a look at the reviews of the hotel, and it’s pretty much in the middle of ratings, it’s managed to upset a fair few people, but also pleased quite a lot. Alongside some of the ridiculous reviews, such as an angry guest who was annoyed that the hotel wouldn’t put balloons in their room, there are more worrying ones such as one which says a previous guest had been smoking in the room and the hotel didn’t resolve the smell issue, with another guest mentioning that the light switch was hanging off. If there’s a smell of cigarette smoke then I’d refuse the room, and I’d expect that the hotel would find another room even if that was in another hotel. The hotel is within its rights to charge the previous guest for their costs. Anyway, I’ve digressed again.

    Incidentally, the hotel doesn’t advertise car parking as they have five spaces which aren’t accessible spaces, but they’ve had several guests turn up, park in a neighbouring car park and complain they’ve been fined. Sounds like an interesting drama to listen into at reception….

    There were minor internal noise issues on one night, although nothing that troubled me. Others might not have liked the noise of the railway and road outside, but I like such external distractions so all good. There wasn’t air conditioning available in the room, just a centralised air warming and cooling system. However, with the window opening, it wasn’t difficult to regulate the temperature.

    Anyway, all good and reasonably priced. I’d suggest that this is likely a reliable option for anyone wanting relatively inexpensive accommodation near to Leicester city centre.

  • Accor and New Craft Beer Concept

    Accor and New Craft Beer Concept

    Much as I’m still annoyed by Accor Hotels at the moment, one of their hotel managers has told me about a new concept that is being launched which is the rolling out of Charlie’s Corner, offering craft beers and a relaxed cafe bar style dining option. The name seems a bit random, but if their bars can actually offer something unique and exciting in the way of craft beers, then they’d have a selling point which would make them interesting for non-guests to go to. They’ve got one at Ibis Bristol at the moment, but they’ve also launched it at the newly opened Ibis London Sutton Point.

    I’ve emailed the Ibis London Sutton Point hotel today to see what the concept is like and to see if they’ll send me any photos and beer lists.

    [update, I emailed the hotel and also the general manager as another hotel gave me their email address, but as of 48 hours later they haven’t replied so I can’t add yet anything to this post which is rather a shame. I’ll amend this if they do get chance to reply though as I’m very interested in this whole concept]

  • Glasgow – Ibis Budget

    Glasgow – Ibis Budget

    I had one night earlier in the week at the Ibis Budget in Glasgow, where I stayed with my friend Liam a few years ago en route to his stag week event (which was very well organised, but that’s a different matter). It might be one of the most basic brands within the Accor set-up, but they’ve got some excellent ones such as Ibis Budget Whitechapel.

    The welcome at the front desk was exceptional, with the staff member being full of enthusiasm. The greeting didn’t feel scripted or automated, so my first impressions were very positive. The room is the standard old-style Ibis Budget set-up, one which is entirely functional but not overly glamorous. There are rooms with a bunk bed, but since I was on my own I didn’t feel that I really needed bunk beds. They’ve put a bit of glamour into the toilets by putting fake brickwork paper on the wall (that seems the only change from a few years ago), but everything was clean and tidy.

    The reviews of the hotel aren’t great, but this mainly relates to the room rather than the staff or the cleanliness. That shower in the middle of the room is not ideal for some guests, although the modernisation at Whitechapel resolved that problem, so perhaps it’ll be addressed in the future. Looking at the Google scores, this hotel receives 2.9/5 for the rooms, 4.5/5 for the location and 4.8/5 for the service, so they’ve clearly got a competent and friendly team there. The hotel doesn’t have tea and coffee facilities in the room, but they provide it free of charge at reception.

    My view wasn’t the most inspiring (I mean the front bit, the view of the rest of Glasgow was better) and I’m not sure what’s going on with that fake facade on the left hand side. However, I had no problems with my stay, with no noise issues either internally or externally. There was another staff member at reception when I checked-out, but she was also friendly and helpful. It’s about a ten-minute walk to the city centre, so I’d happily recommend this hotel to others (but until resolved, I have to keep mentioning my on-going problem with Accor Hotels).