Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Tag: Accor Hotels

  • Warsaw – Novotel Warszawa Centrum (Repeat Visit)

    Warsaw – Novotel Warszawa Centrum (Repeat Visit)

    I’ve visited the Novotel in Warsaw several times before, including last year during the period between the lockdowns. The service then, as with my previous stays, was excellent and so I was in the city for my birthday this year, I thought that I’d stay here. It later occurred to me that this might have been a mistake, as there’s nothing like previously high expectations being dashed. However, all was well, and indeed the service was as impeccable as ever.

    On the morning of the booking I received an email from the hotel saying that I’d been upgraded. I’ve never had a hotel tell me this in advance and it seems a really quite clever thing to do, as the guest gets a warm glow of knowing the room will be better than paid for several hours ahead of their check-in. The check-in process itself when I arrived at the hotel was efficient and the staff member was personable and welcoming, and I appreciated the happy birthday comment.

    My room was on one of the top floors and I had hoped before booking that it would overlook the Palace of Culture, as those views over the city are some of the finest from any hotel that I’ve stayed in. Richard had booked into the hotel the day before and had been upgraded to a larger room which was also rather lovely, so he was equally pleased with the whole arrangement.

    I was delighted to see this view from my window and, perhaps rather sadly, I enjoy watching all of the trams, cars and buses shuttling about.

    The same view at night.

    And the hotel had gone far beyond what they needed to, with a slice of birthday cake (which was delicious) and some welcome gifts and a letter. It’s fair to say that this was really rather lovely and touching. As an aside, the cake seemed to have just been placed there, and I suspect that the call made by the receptionist to someone during check-in might have been them arranging for it to be brought to the room or at least checking that it was there. Either way, this is a nice thing to see when arriving.

    These were absolutely delicious, suitably decadent and they went well with the provided Nespresso coffees.

    The Żywiec Porter which was my welcome drink from the hotel. The member of staff in the bar was polite and helpful, bringing the drinks over to the table for us. Richard had saved his welcome drink up from his check-in the night before, and apparently was pleased with his wine option.

    The room was a little expensive by Polish standards, coming in at £55 per night without breakfast, but I very much like the welcome and comfort of the hotel so I think it’s very good value for money. And as a choice for my birthday, I was very pleased with the entire process, all really rather lovely and I appreciated the e-mail on the morning of check-in telling me I had been upgraded and they were looking forwards to welcoming me back. I think I’ve been to something like 100 Accor hotels, and the Novotel Warsaw is as far as I’m concerned the best managed of any of those locations. Really quite marvellous.

    And here’s a link to book and find out more.

  • Warsaw – Sofitel Victoria Warsaw

    Warsaw – Sofitel Victoria Warsaw

    I’m not normally decadent enough to stay at the Sofitel brand within Accor Hotels, but I had two expiring suite upgrades and thought that this might be a useful place to use them. Although I didn’t stay at this hotel on my birthday, as I wanted to be at the Novotel, it was a little treat to myself to stay here for a couple of days earlier on during the week.

    Richard had checked into his little room earlier on in the day, but I guessed correctly that my suite wouldn’t be available and hadn’t even tried. I tried to check in at 15:30, but the room wasn’t yet ready which wasn’t ideal, but wasn’t a problem. The staff member was polite, although she gave me a drinks voucher to apologise for the wait, although it transpired that this was the voucher they would have given me anyway as a welcome drink. I thought this whole element was botched by the hotel, who could only provide the room over an hour after the standard check-in time.

    There was then a problem that the hotel couldn’t find payment in their systems, even though they agreed that Accor had stated that they had taken it. There was some discussions about what had happened by staff members, but I thought best to just resolve it on check-out, which transpired to work well as I switched to a currency commission free card which saved me some money compared to if they’d used the card on file.

    The hotel’s water feature in the lobby, which kept making me think that it was raining when walking into reception. The hotel was built between 1973 and 1976 on the site of the Kronenberg Palace which had been destroyed by the Germans during the Second World War. There was lots of dithering about what to do with the site and the remains of the structure weren’t removed until the 1960s, and then there was talk of building an embassy here. It’s a large hotel, with 359 rooms and around 50 suites, and other than the Raffles over the road (also Accor, and too decadent for me) it’s the grandest accommodation option in the city.

    As another aside, there has been some drama here, with this paragraph coming from Wikipedia….

    “On August 1, 1981, the hotel saw an attempted assassination of the Palestinian Abu Daoud (nicknamed Mohammed Oudeh Daud), suspected by the Mossad of involvement in the attacks in Munich , who occupied the presidential suite.”

    I obviously feel the need to comment about the drinking options and there was a poor selection of beers available, this is a generic Żywiec in the Victoria Lounge. The whole set-up here felt quite dated, neither on-trend nor classy, and I thought this was the weakest area of the hotel, something more inviting could be done with the bar area.

    At this stage, I wasn’t thrilled with the hotel as everything seemed botched and muddled, but I arrived at my room with sort of high hopes.

    The suite’s living room area, with my first impressions being positive. I don’t usually watch television in hotels, but that’s one of the largest that I’ve seen in a room.

    I didn’t realise when booking that the suite came with two bathrooms, this is the one attached to the living room area. It was probably a little more than I needed since I was in the suite on my own, but it gave me options….

    The suite’s bedroom.

    And the second bathroom, with a shower and bath.

    The coffee machine.

    An umbrella was available should it rain.

    Slippers and dressing gowns were provided, along with a range of other posh toiletries and the like.

    The welcome letter and gift, which I always appreciate (both the letter and the gift).

    These were delicious, chocolate coated orange things, very moreish.

    I very much liked the view of Piłsudski Square from my room and that’s the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to the mid-left of the photo. It’s the largest square in the city and this was once the Saxon Palace, until the Germans destroyed it during the Second World War, but there are some quite surprising plans to rebuild sections of it. Incidentally and back to the hotel, the windows don’t stay open, although they’re meant to.

    Anyway, any annoyance I had with the hotel disappeared with the comfort of the room and two of the best night’s sleep that I’ve had in a hotel. The room can be blacked out entirely so no light comes in and there were no internal or external noise issues.

    And here’s a heap of breakfast photos. There was a wide selection of food and drink options, with the only slight omission being the variety of breads seemed quite minimal. But there were plenty of cheeses, cold cuts, yogurts, cereals and hot options. There was an egg section where omelettes and the like were available, with the staff member making me a rather lovely Eggs Benedict. There were plenty of juices, including some detox ones to give more choices. The quality of the food and drink was high, with the choice meaning it’d be hard for someone to complain about the lack of options. The breakfast room was large and spacious, with relatively few other guests, so it was a relaxing environment, not like the Holiday Inn Express set-up I’ve had this year which is a bit more, well, hectic and lively.

    The cost of the suite for two nights including breakfast would usually be somewhere around £300 to £400, but my suite upgrades meant that the cost to me was £187.16 for two nights. However, I gained 1,600 Accor reward points with this stay, which is around £28, making what I consider to be a charge of £160 or so for this rather lovely experience. At £80 per night including breakfast, I’m going to say that this is excellent value for a (very) occasional treat.

    The welcome was a bit botched, but the staff were helpful throughout and the breakfast was excellent. The room was beautifully comfortable, although lacked a large desk and some of the furnishings were a little rickety, but this didn’t impact on my stay. There was definitely an air of decadence about the whole arrangement and a turn-down service was provided on the first night with a staff member coming in to move slippers near to the bed and put a bottle of water on the bedside table. As an aside, I can’t be doing with that sort of thing and as there was no free chocolate, I put the ‘do not disturb’ sign on the second night. Richard didn’t do that in his room, he likes the turn-down service for reasons unknown to me.

    I’d absolutely stay here again and since I have a couple more suite upgrades to use next year, I might repeat this whole experience in November 2022. Absolutely the best breakfast that I’ve had in an Accor hotel and also the most luxurious room, but since I’m really an Ibis Budget person at heart, that’s probably not surprising. For anyone wanting more information, the hotel can be booked here.

  • Częstochowa – Ibis Częstochowa

    Częstochowa – Ibis Częstochowa

    I stayed at the Accor operated Ibis hotel during my few days in Częstochowa, with the price being about £25 per night including breakfast. There’s a Mercure in the city as well, but that was a bit decadent in terms of the pricing, with the cheaper option inevitably being the one I went for. My first impressions were primarily of concern as the hotel looked quite shut and there were signs on the front door, usually signifying a problem. It transpired it was just a sign in Polish saying that the doors were broken and to enter via a side door, so I was considerably relieved that I didn’t have to hunt for another hotel. The staff member at check-in was friendly and helpful, so my early impressions transpired to be positive.

    The room, all to brand standard, although this hotel doesn’t have hot drink facilities in the room which seems unusual for an Ibis. The room was on the top floor away from the lift, which is always my preference. It’s the older style Ibis room design, but I assume it’ll be updated when there’s refurbishment at the hotel.

    The welcome gift of meringue things, all very lovely as Ibis hotels don’t need to give anything.

    The view from my room, primarily of two petrol stations. The hotel has a policy of not cleaning the rooms because of the current health crisis, but it can be requested at reception if required. I checked the wi-fi (my Vodafone data gives me 25GB per month to use outside the UK which should be enough, but I use the hotel wi-fi when trying to back-up photos and the like) and it seemed to be reliable and at a sufficiently fast speed.

    The food menu for anyone interested who is reading this (goodness knows who though). Hotel prices are inevitably towards the higher end of the scale, but they’re not unreasonable (divide by 5 for an approximate UK amount).

    The welcome drink of Żywiec, which isn’t the most exciting, but it was free and so therefore clearly acceptable to me. I’m easily pleased.

    The breakfast options, lots of cold choices along with a few hot options that I didn’t bother with. The meat wasn’t the most exciting in terms of the quality, but there were plenty of options. The coffee in the hotel is all branded from Costa, I can’t recall seeing that set-up in an Accor property before.

    It all transpired to be a comfortable stay with no internal or external noise issues. I’m pleased to note that the windows opened, this wasn’t one of those sterile hotels where everything is sealed up, and the air conditioning also worked. It’s about a ten-minute walk into the city centre and there are KFC and McDonald’s outlets within a couple of minutes walk. The hotel inevitably isn’t the most luxurious, but anyone wanting that can find other options in the city, not least the Mercure.

    And, a handy booking link for the hotel…..

  • Hull – Ibis City Centre (Visit 3)

    Hull – Ibis City Centre (Visit 3)

    This is my third visit to the Accor operated Ibis in Hull, centrally located and reasonably priced.

    I was able to have a little meander around the reception area when checking in at around 22:30 as the staff were all elsewhere for several minutes.

    The room, which is brand standard and what I expected, although missing a hairdryer but I can cope without that. The set-up is becoming ever more rickety, they’re going to have to refurbish this hotel soon as the rooms are becoming slowly but steadily more damaged and the carpets more stained. Cleanliness was adequate, nothing more, with this being another Accor hotel which isn’t cleaning the room during guest stays. They also hadn’t filled two of the three shower gels in the room, which was hardly a problem, but wasn’t perhaps ideal.

    I slightly suspect a dispense problem here, as the already very average Boddington’s was devoid of any taste at all, almost a junk product. This Accor doesn’t have a very good selection of beers, it’s one of the weakest selections I’ve seen in an Ibis hotel and they should perhaps make more effort here. I can’t overly complain as it was a free welcome drink, but it’s all a bit lacklustre. Also, the chocolate bar they used to give as a welcome gift has gone, perhaps not their wisest move as it’s just a cheap gesture that likely created at least a bit of goodwill (it did with me anyway).

    However, there were no noise disturbances either internally or externally, so I had no issues during my stay. When I asked for more coffee I was given a huge heap of them, so no complaints there either. I didn’t want breakfast here, but I note their old previous offer price has gone, and it’s back to £8.50. I didn’t see anyone having breakfast when I walked by on three mornings, I suspect that the Wetherspoons over the road has stolen nearly all of that trade from them. I shall likely stay here again, but I hope they start a refurbishment programme soon. Oh, and dump their generic beer options, or at least get something marginally more decadent.

  • Shipley – Ibis Bradford Shipley

    Shipley – Ibis Bradford Shipley

    This is from my stay in Shipley a few weeks ago and I chose this Accor hotel as it was the cheapest in the area. I thought at the time that seemed odd, as it’s in a tourist area and there was a festival going on at nearby Saltaire. Just in case there had been a mistake, I decided to check-in early (and all was well), and I heard them answering the phone to numerous people saying that they were full. As an aside, although the hotel is called Bradford Shipley, it is very firmly in Shipley and requires a rail journey (or some other form of transportation) to get to Bradford.

    The hotel was dispensing with the usual practice of giving guests the room of their preference (it’s located in the Accor app settings) and just handing out room keys randomly. That probably wasn’t the ideal situation, as there are some people who would prefer to be on the ground floor and I prefer not to be, but I was given a room near reception. It was adequate, although I wouldn’t say that it was spotlessly clean. They forgot my welcome drink, but provided it after I requested it. The staff were though friendly and helpful throughout my stay, but the whole process felt automated rather than personalised.

    I got a biscuit though, so I was happy.

    This is unusual, an Accor hotel which is actually sourcing local beers. Saltaire is down the road and it’s a good call to stock this beer, which I had as my welcome drink.

    The hotel is located near to a Wetherspoons, and it was evident that numerous guests were going there for breakfast and other meals. This is another of the falling number of hotels that is trying to avoid cleaning rooms due to Covid, a situation that probably needs to come to an end sooner rather than later. The hotel is really also on the edge of needing a comprehensive refurbishment as well, it’s creaking a little bit in terms of the maintenance. However, I was grateful for a reasonably priced room for the weekend and I didn’t have any noise disturbances either internally or externally, so all was well.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • London – Redbridge (Borough of) – Ibis Styles London Seven Kings (Update 2)

    London – Redbridge (Borough of) – Ibis Styles London Seven Kings (Update 2)

    I complained quite a lot on this blog about what I considered to be the badly run Ibis Styles London Seven Kings (Post 1 | Post 2) which I thought was brand damaging to Accor Hotels. And, just ten days after opening, the hotel appears to have decided to scrap tens of bookings so that they can accept a larger block booking. The room inventory has been removed from aggregate sites for months with, if reviews are to be believed, no real attempt to deal with the number of disappointed Accor customers given just hours notice.

    Hopefully, this hotel management company won’t get the opportunity to damage Accor’s brand further and hopefully that Ibis Styles signage will soon be taken down.