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No bike, waiting to meet some work friends but blurh it's soulless
Tepid beer and noisey A roads
Still needs must!
May I recommend a night in the Knutsford Travelodge at the M1 services? After that, everything will seem posh and serene. A bottle of win and earplugs helps.
Buy if he did stop there, I could hop on the train and go out for a couple of pints in Knutsford.
Actually, Duncan knows me, so he may not consider that an improvement. 😁
May I recommend a night in the Knutsford Travelodge at the M1 services? After that, everything will seem posh and serene. A bottle of win and earplugs helps.
I can beat that. I worked away from home for a number of years and stayed in the Travelodge Reading M4 Eastbound.
For a bit of variety I then swapped around and stayed in the Travelodge Reading M4 Westbound.
It can be horrible. I've arrived at a Travel Lodge or similar after a days work, I think Plymouth way, taken a look and just driven home back to Berkshire.
Sometimes I just can't face it.
I found a new low of corporate hotels last month.
Hampton by Hilton.
You check in on an iPad thing and no staff appear until you've checked in, at which point they appear and hand you a key.
FFS, they won't even talk to you to order a meal or a beer - you *have* to do it by an app and then some minion appears to your table with a microwave meal and a tepid beer.
The interior designer swallowed the grey fad and went all in on grey.
The public area has back to back supermarket music on loud, even at 7am.
Premier Inn Oldham, spent a week there some years ago in December.
Probably one of the most miserable weeks I can remember. Monsoon rain and cold pretty certain I nearly had trench foot, tramping back and forwards to the tram stop.
Since that experience when asked to do a course for work I ask if it can be done online 😀
Travelodge Newbury Chieveley M4 - an absolute delight. M4 and A34 traffic noise. Best thing available for dinner is a sandwich from the M&S in the services.
I can recommend the MotelOne chain.
Imagine Travelodge but German, with edible food, helpful staff and clean rooms (so nothing like Travelodge)
Lots of Premier Inn so far this year. The worst part is the copy and paste menu with little variety at the best of times.
For sheer variety Travelodge is amazing. I've stayed in motorway versions like the above, but recently stayed in the Travelodge at Leamington Spa (visiting daughter at Warwick Uni) and it's a city centre hotel with a fantastic history
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regent_Hotel
Britannia hotels. All of them. But in particular the one in Stockport.
After blood on linen one time I gave up and started staying in Manchester centre, finding some belting hotels.
I've stayed at the Knutsford travelodge and to be honest didn't mind it. Years ago I was working at the isle of grain power station for a few weeks and work put me up in a B&B in Strood, turned out it was closing down and didnt serve food neither did any of the local pubs. I ended up finding a sports bar where the owner let me get a kabab from next door and take it in to eat. On my mini pub crawl back to the B&B i found a nice wee pub so for the next week ended up having Guinness for my supper. They then moved me to a travel lodge in Gillingham i think it was and that was a dire place to be on your own.
The worst I've been in so far was the Ramada Wakefield just off J40 of the M1. After that I stuck to Holiday Inn for a while purely so I could get enough points for a free weekend away. Now I've done that I'm going for the same but with Marriott.
I found a new low of corporate hotels last month.
Hampton by Hilton.
Stayed in one once, was nothing like that. Was a good number of years ago.
Britannia hotels. All of them.
Alas, I have aso stayed in one of those (Lowestoft) a good number of years ago. I don't remember but it's definitely not the worst place I've ever stayed.
That honour goes to the hotel I was put into when joining my first ship as a shiny new cadet in Busan (in the Locale of Texas Street of you're familiar with the area).
Think of something from Oldboy.
Now think of metal doors painted intitutional green.
Now imagine a good number of them scuffed and bashed as if they've been kicked in a few times.
Now imagine you've been dumped there by a driver who doesn't speak English save for the cryptic sentence "I come tomorrow tomorrow", nobody else speaks English, the flight to get you there had been booked by an agent at Incheon before a mad dash to Gimpo airport for the connecting flight and none of your phones or bank cards work.
That was fun.
The other folk who joined/left in Busan got to stay at Hyundai Beach.
That was by no means the only shit hotel I stayed in at college, go Team Z. BP were better, I got the Orchard for joining in Singapore.
Pre pandemic I spent 8 months doing 3 nights a week at The Village hotel in Farnborough. Utterly soul destroying
Have you dismantled your Corby Trouser Press yet?
Second the Hilton comments. Stayed in a few flavours of Hilton with work (humble brag clang), absolutely shocking. Prefer premier inn
Working with another guy on a networking project at a v/large factory in Hemer Germany, all the locals were mullet wearing C&W fans and the engineers in our Dussledorf office joked it was the land that time forgot. I ended up in a B&B on a main road, completely empty apart from me, not even any staff. No food but just up the road was Fat Willys Schnitzel shack where they did 30cm burgers, or doubles if you were hungry, got back the B&B stuffed to the gills with barely cooked red meat and a lot of beer, followed by the sound of the traffic all night keeping me awake. The other guy ended up in a hotel near the centre of town and was gloating to me that he at least had a McD's in walking distance, he went out for his food and witnessed a Police shootout at the McD's, so ended up starved for the night. The next day at the customer site we agreed to get out of there ASAP and ended up doing our four days work in two marathon 18+ hour stints so we could escape back to civilisation.
About the only good thing to come out of COVID is getting other people to accept Zoom calls rather than 8 hours drive each way for a one hour face to face which could have been over in 30 minutes.
I have so many work hotel memories that they blur into one great grey morass
Just had a romantic weekend away with MrsSteve at Slough Premier Inn*. Brilliantly sound proofed, to be fair. Short walk to the delights available on the High Street.
*Her idea, cheapest accommodation for us, the kids and their respective partners for a trip to Legoland.
Just had a romantic weekend away with MrsSteve at Slough Premier Inn*. Brilliantly sound proofed, to be fair.
Worst humblebrag ever 😉
a romantic weekend away plus for us, the kids and their respective partners
All sounds a bit wrong
Hampton by Hilton.
I once stayed in the Hilton in... Wimbledon I think it was, for work. We were like "ooh, up-market!" It was grim. The kettle was literally growing inside.
Just had a romantic weekend away with MrsSteve at Slough Premier Inn*.
Is that the one whose front is little more than a heavily armoured door in the middle of a block, or am I thinking of Travelodge?
Britannia hotels. All of them.
Britannia hotels are just boggling for the quality of patterns on every surface. Reminds me of an era of florid Victoria decoration and pattern that was a result of a distorted perception thats symptomatic of syphilis.
I think my travel-for-work low-light was the Doncaster Restover. Styles itself as a travel-lodge-alike in its literature but it's a strange modular building a bit like an off-shore accommodation block - thats been deposited by the ring road by a freak high tide. You just take it for granted these days that rooms will be en-suite.. but they weren't. The only facilities we could find were a single, weird modular toilet that was similar to the Tardis like public toilets - as in the whole room flushed. And a similar single modular shower cubical. Both of them opened straight out into the hotel reception.
Apart from the bed the room was furnitureless and undecorated other than a sign warning you not to leave any possessions less than an arm's length from the window 🙂
I've stayed in worse places for pleasure rather than work. Stayed in a 'hotel' in New York that it turned out was actually a bail hostel and halfway house that was letting its rooms out to tourists illigally. Our room had a bed with only a sheet on it - a massive cast iron radiator that seemed to plumbed directly into hell which was why inspite of it being December and in the middle of an ice storm we didnt mind the single sheet, and massive old CRT TV balanced precariously on top of old broken fridge. When we checked out the guy at reception said 'aww man you got the best room'. Actually quite liked it there - very hand for Central Park - but when we tried to book it again a few years later it had been busted.
In contrast, I once had to visit some reference sites in Mexico City. Sadly, travel policy meant I couldn't pick my own hotel, the only one on the list was the Four Seasons Hotel. What a terrible way to spend a week.
About the only good thing to come out of COVID
Working in film and TV the best thing to come out of covid was deals with locations where the crew was accommodated on site so that the crew were bubbled together day and night. With all the cancelled weddings and events that means filming and staying in various glamorous rural locations on private estates then get put up at night in the bridal suite
That looks like Culzean, guessing not though?
May I recommend a night in the Knutsford Travelodge at the M1 services? After that, everything will seem posh and serene. A bottle of win and earplugs helps.
Assuming it's the M6 services ?
I am sure Knutsford has some pleasant pubs ? Not too far away from Delamere Forest if you had a bike and a longer warm summers evening.
Pre pandemic I spent 8 months doing 3 nights a week at The Village hotel in Farnborough. Utterly soul destroying
I've stayed there a few times and it's just bloody loud. Could always be the Premier inn in the town centre though, last time I was there my room was close to the kitchen extractor fan and the whole room vibrated, asked to be moved and they said they were full. I was knackered and it didn't turn off until near 11 and then it came on again at 5.48 Am. Company got a refund as I complained though.
I have several clients who are in the hotel/banqueting business in Las Vegas and have got to spend some time in some VERY nice hotel rooms. In fact, just about all the hotels I've stayed in for works purposes and have been a LOT nicer (and a lot more expensive) than any I've paid for myself...
I've stayed in some bloody cold hotels for work. There was one near Aberdeen (I think) I had to use the laptop as a very expensive hot water bottle.
Another in Blackpool, the polystyrene ceiling tiles would lift with the draft everytime the wind blew..
Also some stupidly hot ones with those security devices to stop you opening the window properly. Meaning id have to get some tools from the van...
One hotel in Bury St Edmunds, housekeeping kept shutting all the windows. I returned after a couple of refreshing beers with a colleague and accidentally opened a window semi permanently. It was the top floor, massive windows, stupidly hot, not sure who they thought was going to break in.
At the Rock Hotel on Gib, I was very glad I'd shut the balcony door, the monkeys turned up, nicked my beer off the balcony table and were trying to get though the small window, I assume to raid the mini fridge..
Mate, until you've stayed at the Bowen River Hotel or Fernando's Hideaway, you have nothing to complain about. Both were nice and quiet... but.
Bowen River Hotel - arrived in pitch dark half an hour down a dirt road to discover you're the only two people staying, it's your young female colleague's birthday and the bottled beer is on its best before date, there's only one meal option and your rooms are 'dongas.' Special times.
https://www.queensland.com/au/en/plan-your-holiday/accommodation/p-5f17bba7b91632da7ba86698-bowen-river-hotel
Fernando's Hideaway - stuck in the 70s. Same colleague, Great Danes, stuffed Lionness, suit of armour, lifesize pirate, cigarette ash on the bed. There's almost no photos on the internet ... because.
Until you’ve stayed in the Britannia Airport Hotel at Manchester none of you can complain. Sort of place there’s a chalk outline of a body in the car park and the local prostitutes ply their wares in the hotel reception.
And the toast at breakfast was damp, limp, and cold.
Another shocker was a pub in a town called Clermont in Central Queensland.
Two female colleagues this time. The junior got the best deal - a modern room in an annex. I got a room directly above the bar, with a bare wooden floor, and noisy old Kelvinator in the corner. For a Tuesday night the bar was banging.
There was a shared bathroom, which arguably nobody was going to leave cleaner than when they went in.
The fried egg at breakfast was perhaps the least edible egg i've ever considered eating.
Stayed at the M4 Heston East side Travelodge a few years ago. There was a family living in a car there , along with a few others in tents just to the side of the car park. They were having a BBQ when I pulled up in the evening. Spoke to one of the young lads from the tent who was asking for money. I gave him £5 and asked him to keep an eye on my car for me.
Came out in the morning , and they had the BBQ fired up again cooking their breakfast.
The young lad gave me the thumbs up and I was off.
Much better experience than when I stayed on the west side 😉
The Isle of Man. Basically a competition to stay in the least shit hotel you can, that's bookable by the company.
Once managed a stay in The Sefton, which was nice. But only got it because I was there with my boss's boss.
The Hilton was just awful. Noisy, smelly, single bed, view of a brick wall, right by a fire escape seemingly used as a staff shortcut all night. Early morning fire alarm. Breakfast was chaos.
Topped only by a Travelodge overlooking some sainsbury's car park somewhere. Disabled room, no heating. Slow wifi, thin duvet and pillow, hard bed, knob heads doing burnouts all night.
Since then, I stayed only at premier inn for several years - about 100 nights per year. Consistent, quiet, reliable. But I now hate purple.
Holliday Inn, M6 J15, (Stoke)
The worst Holliday Inn I've had to stay in, everything about it was completely awfull. From the state of the place to the microwave food.
Then at the weekends it's packed with an endless stream of kids going to dance competitions endlessly rehearsing in every available communal space. I just wan to eat my miserable scrambled eggs on miserable toast and drink my miserable coffee in peace so I can face the day, not be greeted by a troupe of 9 year olds twerking to Nikki F**** Minage at 6am.
Closely hollowed Deansgate Premier Inn in Manchester. Mostly fine, except the bed had been pissed in my the previous occupant. And not a subtle ammount of piss that housekeeping could possibly have missed.
Honourable mentions to:
Preston Marriot - like an expensive version of 80s nostalgia in a country house.
Huntingdon Marriot - like Preston, but on an industrial estate and in an 80s building.
Any retro Marriot - overpriced, apart from the food which is awfull and very overpriced. But people think they're doing you a favour by upgrading you from the Holiday Inn for some reason.
Not travelled with work much recently, but memorable ones from 20 years of travelling were:
Ibis in Warsaw. There were dozens of prostitutes in the bar. It was like their club house.
A pub in Canterbury (Three Tuns?). A nice medieval place, but the doorways were all about 5'10" and I'm 5'11". That was a painful few days.
Somewhere in Ashford that was like an old folks home. Lots of plastic coverings and those high backed leatherette arm chairs. The satellite TV receiver had dials on it and had to be tuned in like you were a spy reporting in from under a bed in occupied France.
Anywhere in industrial China outside the big cities. Like the end scene of Full Metal Jacket, but with a room service.
A place on Seoul that had rooms on the 7th floor, but a night club on the 6th. A jet lagged and noisy week. Miserable.
Best Hotel.
https://mybusinesshotel.de/hotel/
Stayed here half a dozen times over the last few years. Would move in if they would let me.
One hotel in Bury St Edmunds, housekeeping kept shutting all the windows. I returned after a couple of refreshing beers with a colleague and accidentally opened a window semi permanently. It was the top floor, massive windows, stupidly hot, not sure who they thought was going to break in.
That sounds suspiciously like the Angel? Nice hotel, but you really didn't want to be on the top floor if it was warm weather!
I'm currently working my way through the hotels in and within striking distance of Canary Wharf.
The views from the 16th floor of the Docklands Central Travelodge take some beating, but why do the showers have to be so rubbish 🤷♂️
Keeping with the Britannia theme, the Waterside in Peterhead was memorably grim. This was afew years ago and looking on booking.com it *may* have improved since.
It was a 70s vintage and had had no visible improvement since them. There was a obvious path worn into the carpet approaching the front desk. It had a seperate even shiter annex that was built later and swapped the worn oppulence of the main hotel for painted breeze blocks and damp. All compounded by being in Peterhead in the first place.
From a business point of view they had it sussed. Zero investment but certainty that every time there was a) bad weather offshore b) turnaround at one of the nearby gas plants c) conference in Aberdeen d) peak tourist season / golf event they would be full to bursting. No incentive to make it better.
Sadly our company banned us staying there after the ops director got put in the annex. And found the story in the local paper that it was being used to house homeless people over winter.
Britannia Wigan - I didn't believe anywhere could be so bad.
It was the top floor, massive windows, stupidly hot, not sure who they thought was going to break in.
It's probably to stop people from leaping out.
Hampton by Hilton and Hilton have always been prrtyy good for me - I am surprised that it's getting such bad reviews here.
I slept in my car in Ashford Tesco rather than stay at the Britannia Dover...
But I now hate purple.
I spent 15 years stopping in premier inns on a regular basis up and down the country.
I also now have a hate of purple. The company I worked for insisted we use them and gave us all premier inn cards to make it easy for them.
I'd not been in one for almost three years and kind of forgot how bad some of them are until I ended up in one a few weeks back.
I'll sleep in the car next time. At least there's no black mould in the car.
That sounds suspiciously like the Angel? Nice hotel, but you really didn’t want to be on the top floor if it was warm weather!
I think you're correct. I also had a little sit down on the stairs after braining myself on a low lintel.
Cracking breakfast iirc.
There are some great Hamptons, and whilst some Hiltons are physically pretty knackered the service has always been good for me.
Travelodge for me have always been a damp cold room with a shit bed and no food. The absolute worst.
More Britannia experience - on, I think, four occasions we've stayed at the Russ Hill Hotel near Gatwick. On none of those occasions has our room had a window, it's essentially been a cell.
(Not that it really mattered TBF, we were only there for the 'stay and park' deal ahead of an early morning flight the next day)
Pre pandemic I spent 8 months doing 3 nights a week at The Village hotel in Farnborough. Utterly soul destroying
I stayed there a lot a decade or so ago. Unless it's got worse since then you have no idea...!! Good beds, room service, good gym and a Starbucks*. That's nothing like the stuff being talked about here!
* Of course the hipsters will wail about that but it's a damn sight better than a sachet of Nescafé and another of powdered creamer.
Re Travelodge, we'd booked at the one in Ludlow to visit my folks last Christmas, leaving the day after Boxing day. In the end we drove home at 10pm rather than sleep there, despite having paid for the extra night. It's not even that old.
Working in film and TV the best thing to come out of covid was deals with locations where the crew was accommodated on site so that the crew were bubbled together day and night. With all the cancelled weddings and events that means filming and staying in various glamorous rural locations on private estates then get put up at night in the bridal suite
Pfffffftttttt, ohh how the other half live over in Drama.
Meanwhile in Documentaries I got to stay in the Sefton Park Hotel, which is next door to a halfway house, which meant unloading the entire contents of the van into my room, every bloody night. It was a close tie with the Hallmark in the town center for worst hotel they were prepared to put me in.
Somehow production (including the runners) managed to book themselves into the Titanic on the waterfront. Whilst muggins here, pulling 36h shifts to rig cameras that they kept breaking had to deal with Toxteth, Fazakerly and Old Swan (not that bad, you're still unlikely to actually get shot, just more likely than anywhere else).
The only upside was it was the final straw and from then on I've stipulated I have to be on the same bookings as the in-house staff and preferably self catered.
Pre pandemic I spent 8 months doing 3 nights a week at The Village hotel in Farnborough. Utterly soul destroying
The village hotels are almost universally the best?
Proper pools and gyms, big rooms, modern, even the food is hot.
The scenic view from my first stay in the Britannia, Stockport.
The less scenic view from my last stay there.
I spent a while travelling with the same colleague for a few months in about 2014. One night a week in the Midlands. We took it in turns to book the accomodation and it became a competition to find the oddest accomodation within our budget. I managed Coventry Ricoh arena, the bedrooms are actually the hospitality rooms with a murphy bed pulled down, big glass front overlooking the pitch. Other highlights were Stoneleigh Park - didn't realise it was in a showground type place and there was a dog show on at the same time - dogs everywhere!
Also spent a lot of time in Hampton by Hilton in 2015. 3 nights a week for about 8 months. That was my hotel of choice. Easy access, secure underground car park, stones throw from the city centre, modern clean rooms with good showers, free wifi and proper freeview on the TV.
A very good friend was once senior management at one of the above-mentioned chains. Some of the stories I heard from him about the stuff that went on was shocking. I heard some hilarious stories about regulars who always asked for the same room number for every visit – staff usually then checked the rooms for hidden stuff (usually cross-dressing gear or extreme porn hidden away in toilet cisterns or behind bath panels etc.
I’ve had enough of rubbish travelodges etc so always make a bit of extra effort to try to stay in a nice pub with rooms. You can find some crackers cheaper than the local travel lodge with much much nicer food and decent local breakfast fodder if you put in a bit of an effort. There are a few areas that seem to be a bit of a desert for decent pubs with rooms though. I’m off to Epping in a few weeks and am struggling there a bit. Lots of travelodge type options but few decent looking pubs with rooms…
I believe the Britannia in Stockport is currently 'home' to a couple of hundred Afghani refugees. You've got to wonder if, after seeing where they are now, they'd rather have stayed put...
Then at the weekends it’s packed with an endless stream of kids going to dance competitions endlessly rehearsing in every available communal space. I just wan to eat my miserable scrambled eggs on miserable toast and drink my miserable coffee in peace so I can face the day, not be greeted by a troupe of 9 year olds twerking to Nikki F**** Minage at 6am.
See also Premier Inn Sheffield Arena. Oddly enough.
On a similar vein, we've booked into two seperate Travelodges in Dundee for dance/skate competitions and they've both been consistently awful. The city centre one is a draughty conversion with huge bay windows that don't close properly and secondary glazing that does nothing. The one to the north is in an ex-care home and I can only imagine it was shut down because the residents kept topping themselves rather than stay there. Hotter than satans crotch in the room, I could actually hear the water screaming through the TRV that had been left fully open.
I believe the Britannia in Stockport is currently ‘home’ to a couple of hundred Afghani refugees. You’ve got to wonder if, after seeing where they are now, they’d rather have stayed put…
Not Britannia but I've stayed in the Hotel in Liverpool that sparked the riots.
Downstairs is all gloss white, fake marble, chandeliers, the whole Liberace chintzy works.
Upstairs, imagine a prison cell with two single beds, the worlds smallest windows, then put plywood paneling on the walls.
Just for some positive balance and a nice surprise:
Holiday Inn Huntingdon.
Huge modern rooms, overlooking the racecourse with balconies, or the nature reserve if you got the poor seats. Great gravel riding from the door in the evenings, and cycle path directly into town.
Food was your usual Holiday Inn fare (i.e. not great, but mostly edible), but for breakfast they even got in early every day we were there (weekends for 2 months) as there were a whole group of us staying that needed to be on location for 6:30 so consistently missed breakfast time. So they made sure to have breakfast out a good hour earlier than advertised.
It's places like that that make you wonder how others manage to be so absolutely dire.
Spent 15 yrs of my shop designing career in various Premier Inns around the country - 3 different companies I worked for all had accounts. Used to joke that I knew exactly what I'd have off the accompanying pub menu before every trip....
Until you’ve stayed in the Britannia Airport Hotel at Manchester none of you can complain. Sort of place there’s a chalk outline of a body in the car park and the local prostitutes ply their wares in the hotel reception.
Sounds like the Holiday Inn I stayed at in Warsaw a number of years ago. Having a quiet pint in the bar in the evening and curiously noticed a couple of "ladies" at the bar. It was only when they winked at another couple of ladies sitting at a table that I started to take proper notice of who else was in there. There were quite a few in the bar who I quickly accepted were not hotel guests!
Probably the worst work hotel was on South Beach in Miami. We were having to room share and it was just a weird hotel. Suspicious stains on the duvet cover and the floor seemed to come alive at night. We lasted 2 days before checking out and landed in more or less the complete opposite. Massive, opulent room with a walk-in wardrobe bigger than my bedroom at home.
One of my work colleagues booked a travel lodge, was recommended as it was close to the site. Not my first choice, but oh well. Who thought having a beep tone everytime the radiator came on in the room was acceptable, centrally controlled so you couldn't turn it off. Off to the car at 2am to get a screwdriver to pull the fuse out of it.
Colleague has learn't from this mistake and now spends the full allowance on hotels!!
Wen't to scotland recently and Perth was full booked (save for some absolute dives) and had to slum it in a 4star golf and country club, was actually cheaper than the holiday inn I tried to book.
My company knows that you can't work properly after a shit nights sleep.
I don't recognise any of this...
Even spending 4 days every month for 2 years at a suppliers development site had me in a series of 4 star places.
Stayed in Liverpool's Adelphi (Brittania), the residents were as ghastly as the building and the carpet. The sort of place where you're scared to look up from your plate in case you see a sight that will put you off everything forever. Second the comments about MotelOne, stayed in both in central Manchester, very civilised and a healthy continental breakfast.
and the local prostitutes ply their wares in the hotel reception
I used to work for Whitbread. Highlight of my career with them running a PI (bolt-on) was challenging a lady in reception that our rooms weren't meant to be used for 'trade purposes in person'. She was most indignant; repeatedly shouted that she was embarrassed, humiliated, shocked, distraught etc., right up until my head receptionist showed her her own picture on a website advertising 'services'. She stomped out of reception jumped in a car and sped off 😂 we were only tipped off after her associate, who was handing out business cards in the pub part of the site, gave one to an off-duty reverend who thought we best know! On investigation, we discovered the same woman was probaly one of PI's 'best' customers regularly frequenting our sites around the north of England and beyond.
small Hotel in Stornaway years ago, in January, in a howling gale and sleet: "Well, you can either have the room with no bathroom/toilet but the heating works, or the bigger room with en-suite but the radiators are knackered"
I chose the latter, I've been warmer in a snow hole in the alps than I was that night!
The village hotels are almost universally the best?
I thought it was awful. Yes it looked all very modern but the rooms were pitch black, the bar was brighter than 2 inches from the sun and constantly rammed and loud. The gym was a public gym that may have been the busiest gym I've ever been to. The breakfast was unbelievably limited, bland and repetitive, the evening menu wasn't much better. A self service check-in process that never worked.
On top of that, Farnborough is an absolute dump with nowhere else to go. A genuinely miserable 8 months that I still wince about whenever it enters my head.
Nothing as exciting as some of the comments above. Company preference was a Premier Inn. Some were modern and fine, but others were just old and tired.
Hampton by Hilton at Birmingham Broad Street was good. Mostly for the location and waffle machine for breakfast.
Discovered Motel One before lockdown and they're really good. Rooms are a bit smaller than a Premier Inn but they're modern well equipped and have good free WiFi. Good locations for the train in Edinburgh and Glasgow as well.
Nobody's mentioned Best Western hotels yet? Mainly lovely old buildings with lots of character. One or two that I stayed in are genuinely nice. The rest are quirky and run-down.
I walked into one, which had actually been used in Hammer Horror Films, Dr Who, and it was being renovated so the gale force wind outside was blowing leaves through the reception area, and tarpaulins were swinging from the ceilings. With the partial lighting it was like something from the Hammer Films it was used in.
One room I stayed in had fire doors through the room to the fire exit. I wasn't sure how much time I had to get dressed if there was a fire in the night, before the residents of the hotel charged through my room.
Nobody’s mentioned Best Western hotels yet?
I stayed in the Glasgow City one a few years back. Greeted at reception by a lovely woman who spoke no English, eastern European I was guessing, so I asked if she spoke German and she did, so great I can get checked in. Suddenly, a very burly, swarthy, mobster type character appeared to take control of check in ushering said woman from reception. I swear he was a Russian hood from one of the Bourne movies although he was pleasant if somewhat imposing 😂 hotel itself was nice, breakfast lacking oomph, and no restaurant. I've stayed in worse though.
New venue for me this week. Holiday Inn at Media City, Salford. Have to say, it's very nice. Big room, nice Marco Pierre White restaurant, quiet bar. A far cry from the Holiday Inn Express I usually stay at here and it wasn't any more expensive
A far cry from the Holiday Inn Express I usually stay at here and it wasn’t any more expensive
The one over the other side of the dock that you have to drive through the housing estate to get to?
The only thing that sticks in my mind about that one is the Nescafé coffee machine. I presume it made 'espresso' by diluting Nescafé granules into a thimble of Luke warm water.
Back home thankfully.
Don't know what it is about the penta in Warrington I hate so much.
I think it's lots of little things that add up.
Blurhg
The best western in rivers state port Harcourt. - only once ....the staff house was full - the water in the pool was green. The water that came out the shower and taps were green.....ergo I deduced they were from the same place and I asked for some sealed bottles.
1 in simpheropol who's name eludes me but felt like I should have been wearing grippy socks.... Everything was concrete including the mattress it felt.
I thought it was awful. Yes it looked all very modern but the rooms were pitch black, the bar was brighter than 2 inches from the sun and constantly rammed and loud.
It's been a while since I stayed at a Village, but I have never been impressed. They seemed to have the gloomiest lights ever to cover up the general lack of cleaning in the public areas. And that's an opinion formed by several different locations. Gym full of ****s too, even before I went in.
I can honestly say I've only ever met one member of staff at a PI who was grumpy. A few of the late night dudes have been a bit slow, but all still helpful and pleasant. Just that one time in Guildford (North) that stays with me.
Yes it looked all very modern but the rooms were pitch black, the bar was brighter than 2 inches from the sun and constantly rammed and loud. The gym was a public gym that may have been the busiest gym I’ve ever been to. The breakfast was unbelievably limited, bland and repetitive, the evening menu wasn’t much better. A self service check-in process that never worked.
If that's all you've got to complain about you've got off lightly.
On top of that, Farnborough is an absolute dump with nowhere else to go.
I worked there loads, and loved it. Why? Because I stayed in Bracknell at the Hilton and commuted through Swinley Forest. 30-60 mins thrashing top notch singletrack* every morning and evening during the summer was absolutely bloody brilliant. You weren't expecting to be entertained by the town itself were you? What town would provide entertainment for a solo visitor every night month after month? You have to make the situation work for you, and for me that meant biking.
* yes, it is top notch if you ride it fast enough 🙂
Even spending 4 days every month for 2 years at a suppliers development site had me in a series of 4 star places.
Stars are a poor indication of quality. Having a swimming pool and a gym will net a star or two but that's jeff all use at 2am when you're trying to get some sleep.
But whilst we're talking about chains,
I was in Leeds a little while back for a conference. I missed the last train home because unbeknown to me Leeds Station shuts all bar the front door entrances at night and it's a big bugger of a thing to walk around the outside of. I fetched up at of all things an Easy Hotel, scabby-looking orange thing by the people from EasyJet.
And... you know, it was alright. The room was small but it was clean and comfortable, cheap as chips, accepted a booking at like midnight, and was exactly what I needed when my requirements were little more than sleep. I'd stay there again.
Stayed in a few of the Britannia hotels mentioned above, I concur with the assessment of them being universally crap.
Hotel in Bonar Bridge middle of Winter 2010 and they were offering us hot water bottles because the heating wasn't up to the task.
Pretty much any of the B&Bs near Blackpool town centre are absolutely awful.
Has anyone ever stayed in any of the establishments from 4 in a bed?
I've stayed in 2 that were featured in the same week !
Notable mention for The Shilton Hotel somewhere in North London room just didn't look clean, radiator set at the temperature of core of the Sun. But the icing on the cake was the guy who tried to break into our room at 4am.
After that it was chain hotels (PI, Travhellodge, etc)for us.