I’m not sure anyone will notice unless they’re particularly avid readers, and there’s a limited number of those, but I’m jumping around a little with these posts to try and get to the end as I’m now on the next trip. This is the constant difficulty of running a travel blog at my level of international glamour. Sometimes one has to write about Swindon while mentally being somewhere else, which is probably how a lot of people experience Swindon anyway.
Anyway, this is the Ibis Budget in Swindon, the first time that I’ve stayed there. In a rather sub-optimal manner, there was no staff member at reception and I had to trek around to Holiday Inn Express to find someone. I’d note that I’m aware that they are different chains, but previous guests have said that they’re sharing receptions to a degree.
After I located the receptionist I was pleased to be told that my room had been upgraded. Now, this is all a bit relative, I had booked a thrifty room with no window and I was allocated a room with a window. I have not included the window in the photo, perhaps because I didn’t want to show off too much.
I liked the carpets in the corridors, but I should probably get out more. There is something worrying about reaching the stage in life where hotel corridor carpets become worthy of comment, but at least it shows I am still noticing the world around me. Not necessarily the important parts of it, but parts nonetheless.
The restaurant menu.
Apparently it’s open 24 hours a day although since I couldn’t find a reception in the evening, I’m a little sceptical about getting a chicken curry and a pint at 03:43.
Breakfast was included in the room rate and was quite basic, although it happened to suit my needs entirely. If you like ham, yoghurt and burnt bacon, then this was a winner and those are elements that suit me.
It worked for me and I went through a lot of the hotel’s ham and bacon offerings. The coffee machine was broken and they had run out of orange juice, so I opted for apple juice as I’m flexible like that. I like to think of myself as adaptable in moments of crisis, provided the crisis is relatively small and involves chilled breakfast beverages.
It wasn’t busy at breakfast and I’m not sure that it was very busy anywhere in the hotel.
I’d note that they probably need to make these automatic doors easier to operate as they’re not automatic and require the pressing the button on the left hand side. I have no idea why they’ve made it that complex and that’s confused numerous reviewers and it confused me. I accept that confusing me is not necessarily proof of poor design, but when several other people are also baffled by a door, perhaps the door needs to take some responsibility.
Get healthy when staying at Ibis Budget…..
I found this a slightly odd hotel which doesn’t sit entirely well in the Ibis Budget brand. I’m not sure that they should have joint receptions with other chains, I wouldn’t expect Travelodge and Premier Inn to share reception desks. The restaurant area needs some investment and the breakfast was a little odd in its selection. The rooms with no windows don’t really feel appropriate even for Ibis Budget, although I would have been content with one. However, there weren’t any internal or external noise disturbances, the room was clean and I liked the breakfast as burnt bacon and a heap of ham works for me.