Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Tag: Holiday Inn Express

  • Glasgow – Holiday Inn Express City Centre Riverside

    Glasgow – Holiday Inn Express City Centre Riverside

    I had a three-night stay at this Holiday Inn Express hotel in Glasgow, booked some time ago as part of a deal offered by IHG. As the name of the hotel suggests, it’s by the River Clyde.

    The standard comfortable layout of a Holiday Inn Express room, which was clean other than under the sofa which I suspect has been ignored for some months. The rooms aren’t cleaned during stays, but I was pre-warned about that, and on request I was given a heap of decaffeinated coffees and milks to keep me going through the three days.

    The view from the hotel room window, the River Clyde is on the right hand side.

    I was on the top floor (the fifth) and the corridor has been constructed so that it juts out to offer views of the river, with this arrangement probably not ideal for those who don’t like heights. I was very brave obviously and went to have a look.

    And the view from the end of the corridor….. A nice touch, as otherwise this marvellous view wouldn’t be visible to guests.

    There were a few different beers to choose from with the free welcome drink, although the staff member seemed surprised that I didn’t want a pint. Given that the choice was Stella, it wasn’t a difficult decision to have a bottle of something rather more drinkable instead. I went for the Goose Island IPA, which was entirely fine for a free drink.

    The staff member at check-in had been helpful, suggesting that as the hotel was full with 300 people that it’d be a good idea to get down to breakfast early to beat the rush. I did exactly that, so these photos make it look quiet, but that is a slightly false impression. Breakfast was very busy every morning just a few minutes after I had come down, so the advice to get down at opening was useful. The breakfast area really is too small for the size of the hotel, although my early arrival tactics meant I didn’t struggle to get a table.

    The hot drinks area.

    There was also a yoghurts and cereals section (on the right) and a choice of four different hot foods (on the left), which were scrambled egg, sausages, bacon and baked beans. I never really eat scrambled egg, but the other three options worked for me. The bacon was dry, slightly hard and shrivelled up, which is fortunately just as I like it. I heard a few customers grumble about it over the three mornings, but I don’t like bacon which only looks like someone has waved it in front of an oven, crispy is good for me. The choices for vegetarians and vegans were weak, there were some pastries, but they were generic.

    The seating area, which was full within a few minutes of this photo being taken.

    It’s important not to be greedy…..

    This was another well run hotel and I’m becoming greatly impressed with IHG properties. There were no noise issues either internally or externally, with everything working as it should do. Friendly staff, clean room and a modern hotel, even though it has been here now for over a decade. All really rather lovely.

  • Birmingham – Birmingham Snow Hill Holiday Inn Express

    Birmingham – Birmingham Snow Hill Holiday Inn Express

    One measure of just how much I like a hotel is how disappointed I am to leave it. This hotel in Birmingham, near Snow Hill railway station (and about a ten minute walk from Birmingham New Street), is one that I didn’t much want to leave at all, the professionalism of the management is evident across the building, the facilities and the staff engagement. This is, as far as I’m concerned, a glorious example of how to run a hotel and I have no idea who the general manager is, but he or she certainly seems to know what they’re doing. I rarely have reason to write that in the 100s of hotel posts I’ve made on this blog.

    The view from my room, which was on the top floor and at the end of a corridor, my favourite location for a room. I arrived late at night and phoned the hotel in advance to check that they wouldn’t give my room away, but they reassuringly seemed surprised that I ever thought they would. Check-in was efficient and I felt like I was given a proper welcome, with lots of information offered about the hotel.

    This is the view from the other side of the hotel, giving a scale of the height of the building.

    The room, which was clean, comfortable and had a desk (a concept seemingly being ignored by some hotels now). The air conditioning worked and I was able to have the room nicely chilled for my three night stay. The windows don’t open, but I can forgive that on a building of this height and with functioning air conditioning. The room was spotlessly clean and there were no noise issues internally or externally. The hotel doesn’t seem to have cut corners during the construction of their building and although I knew that the hotel was busy, it didn’t feel like that in the room which was beautifully quiet.

    The welcome drink and there was a choice of around five different beers, this was perfectly acceptable to me.

    The breakfast selection, which was operating as it did pre-Covid, with individuals being able to take what they wanted themselves without staff involvement.

    The pastries. The quality of these was OK, although nothing more than that, although I suspect that the hotel might be tied into buying these from IHG for brand consistency.

    A general view of the breakfast room, which the reception desk told me got busy from 08:00 onwards, so I beat that by going down at 07:00 every morning. The coffee actually tasted of coffee and there were a range of different teas as well.

    For what is a hotel charging £50 me per night including breakfast, I’d say that the quality offered here is really good. Perhaps there could have been a greater choice of hot food items, but there were eggs, bacon, sausage and beans, which I thought was sufficient. No-one ever checked my room number at breakfast, but there were plenty of staff members about clearing down tables on a regular basis. Everything felt clean, organised and well managed.

    The reception desk staff were impeccably polite and helpful, saying hello whenever guests passed them. It’s a nice touch as this is a large hotel and it adds a level of personal interaction to proceedings. Rooms are also being cleaned every day, they’re not taking shortcuts there as some hotel chains seem to be.

    I can’t really find any fault with this hotel. I did have one empty soap dispenser, but since there were two, that was hardly a major fault. That this is only negative that I can think of shows just how perfectly things ran for me. All very lovely.

  • Gateshead – Holiday Inn Express Newcastle Metro Centre

    Gateshead – Holiday Inn Express Newcastle Metro Centre

    Going back a week or so, this is the hotel that I went to after completing St. Cuthbert’s Way last week. It’s a slight faff to get to from central Newcastle for walkers, it really requires a train to the MetroCentre railway station and then a ten-minute walk from there. I got this train to get there (I felt that I had done enough walking), although I walked back via Gateshead the following morning which took about an hour (or would have done if I hadn’t stopped at the pub en route). Anyway, the hotel is usually quite keenly priced, not least as it’s not very central and it’s probably more usual to drive there.

    The welcome drink of a Goose Island IPA, which is a perfectly acceptable drink to start a hotel visit with. The bar wasn’t particularly busy, but the staff member was enthusiastic and friendly, so it all felt inviting.

    The room, all clean and comfortable, with some modern touches around the room (including a slightly fancy Bodum kettle that I forgot to take a photo of).

    The breakfast is included in the price here, although this particular IHG is perhaps making more of Covid restrictions than some others in the chain. I had to pre-order my bacon roll the evening before and had to give a time that I wanted it, which seems a little excessive (it’s not a complex cooked breakfast order). Other IHGs just stack them up in a big pile, but it was ready when I asked for it, so all was well. Much of the breakfast has been removed, although the area itself is self-service.

    My breakfast of orange juices (the glasses are little), yoghurts, the bacon roll and a croissant. Nothing overly exciting, but since the room rate was cheap and this breakfast was included in it, I was entirely satisfied.

    The hotel is generally well reviewed, complaints are mostly about the road being loud (they tend to be, or at least the cars on them tend to be) and noisy guests. The hotel says that it puts families and groups in different parts of the hotel, which sounds a good idea in principle, but they might be better trying to manage noise pro-actively rather than some random room selection like that given the issues they keep having. I’m not sure why this should be a party hotel given its location, but perhaps the price is what sends some groups there.

    All told, this wasn’t the easiest hotel to get to for a walker, so I probably wouldn’t pick this one again. However, that’s hardly the hotel’s fault (I find it bizarre when people rate down a hotel as it’s not near where they wanted to go, as if that’s the hotel’s problem to solve) and I liked everything else about this place. Quiet internally and externally, with a fan that worked sufficiently well, all really rather lovely.

  • London – Newham (Borough of) – ExCel Centre Holiday Inn Express

    London – Newham (Borough of) – ExCel Centre Holiday Inn Express

    Conveniently located near to the Royal Albert DLR station, I picked this hotel as there was an offer on points which I thought I’d take advantage of. The check-in was efficient and the Government’s slightly onerous rules were explained by a helpful member of staff. Normally there is an offer of a welcome drink or bonus points, but they were just giving extra points which seemed reasonable enough given the current Tier 2 situation.

    The room, all clean and well presented. However, I wasn’t that keen on the whole arrangement as this is one of those hermetically sealed hotels with no opening windows. That was coupled with a decision made by the hotel to set the temperature to that similar to that of a furnace in full operation. Making that worse was that the air conditioning was very basic, so customers can’t set it (there was a panel on the wall, more as a placebo effect as the hotel is all heated or cooled to the same temperature). It’s just a decision to do things on the cheap by IHG and it means I won’t stay here again. As an aside, I’d heard about a travel writer saying the best thing to do was to soak a towel in cold water and put under your feet or head, and that worked rather well. But it’s hardly ideal.

    I risked going down to breakfast at the “very busy, queues are highly likely” time. Although it makes me wonder why the hotel hasn’t changed the capacity to deal with that, but that’s a different matter for when the hospitality industry recovers.

    Here’s the very busy breakfast area.

    And the queues.

    There was a full English breakfast option available, but I opted for a bacon butty which was of a perfectly good quality. The drinks options were coffee, tea, pre-packaged juices and the like, but given the challenging times at the moment, this was all sufficient. Incidentally, the staff members were making a huge effort to explain the breakfast arrangements, take orders and engage with customers.

    So, if the hotel hadn’t skimped on its air conditioning arrangements then I might come here again as the staffing was on point and everything seemed clean and professionally run. For those who don’t mind warmer rooms, it’s probably all quite unproblematic as a hotel though.

  • London – Newham (Borough of) – Stratford – Holiday Inn Express

    London – Newham (Borough of) – Stratford – Holiday Inn Express

    I booked this hotel as there was a 5,000 points IHG rewards bonus on it, which is pretty generous as 10,000 points can get a free room. It was the cheapest IHG hotel in London, coming in at just under £40 for the night, including breakfast. That’s a bit more expensive than the endless Accor hotels that I’ve been booking, but it’s a modern and clean hotel.

    The dining and bar area of the hotel. It was never particularly busy, but it’s a pleasant environment for guests who want somewhere to sit.

    A water feature. How decadent.

    The room, which I’d booked as a family room to myself, as it was the same price as the other rooms. All bright, clean and comfortable. The television was meant to allow casting from my phone, but it didn’t work and I couldn’t be bothered to make it work. The remote control was also wrapped up in a little bag which was very thoughtful in terms of the health issues.

    The rewards voucher. I’ve never lost the key folder before, but I managed to last night, I have no idea where it went. Luckily the keycard wasn’t in it and I remembered what room number I was in. In the morning, a cleaner came into the room (well, she didn’t, she couldn’t get past the key chain thing), just as I was leaving it. She looked horrified but said she thought the room was meant to be empty. Her timing was fortunate though since I was leaving, but it would have been annoying if I was having a lie-in.

    The welcome drink, this was the best I could find. It’s something a little different, although I found it a bit drab. Anyway, it was free, so I won’t complain. Well, not much.

    The breakfast arrangement.

    The hot food was served by a staff member, who was very generous on the beans front. The ingredients were of a decent quality and if it was self-serve then there might have been a lot more bacon on the plate. There was only one other hot option, which was scrambled egg, but I’m not much of a fan of that. The croissants and muffins were a bit drab, but at least the hotel had made an effort with putting some sort of breakfast on.

    And this is my final hotel of 2020. I have a trip to Bilbao booked on 3 January 2021, although given everything I’m really not sure that this will actually happen. Anyway, I’d stay here again, although I’m not sure why I’d be in the Stratford area of London….