Detailed review by frankiecesca
frankiecesca
manchester, United Kingdom96%
I cannot fault the hotel in one huge way as it did what it set out to do - provide me with a clean (although smelly because I wouldn’t wait!) room that served it’s purpose of allowing me to enjoy the wedding without a drive home the same night. The staff were all very helpful and the function room is definitely a great feature - however the hotel is apparently 4 and for me I guess I had expected better because of this - I have stayed in better 3 star hotels and I think realistically the hotel has mainly been able to become 4 star because of being bale to provide a function room that can perform weddings. I wouldn’t not recommend this hotel to anyone as it’s certainly not a dive! I would probably just say that unless there for an event of some kind which of course makes it worthwhile staying in this hotel itself then it is not somewhere I would instantly say is a first choice for me! My personal opinion is that it is a good 3 star hotel rather than 4star !
Holiday Inn Bolton Centre6
Ratings
-
Room
[more][less]
-
Size
-
Cleanliness
-
Features
-
Room Condition
-
Design
-
View
-
Room Service
-
I made a mistake in opting to have a smoking room - you may wonder why as two non smokers we would do this and it was simply because we needed the room as soon as possible! The whole point of us being there was to attend the wedding that was taking place at 3pm. We had booked a double room and the receptionist advised us that the first double that had become available was a smoking room and that the rest probably wouldn’t be ready until just before 2pm - of course still in line with their standard check in times but, as I needed to shower, do my hair and dress I opted to take the double that was ready o that I could start getting ready.
When we got to the room we weren’t sure how bad it would smell and upon entering we realised very bad would be the correct answer! We were so tempted to go back to reception and tell them we’d wait but, at this point I was desperate to start getting showered so we opened the window as far as it would go, which wasn’t very far at all and hoped some fresh air would get rid of the stink! We also stuck the air conditioning on to get the air circulating which helped a little although the a/c unit was fairly noisy.
The room itself was fairly small I felt but, I think this was just to me because I stay in a lot of hotels with work and so I always notice now if a room is slightly smaller than average. The bed was a good sized double with two bedside tables and under the window was a small table and two tub chairs. There was a desk on against the wall facing the bed with a TV and the kettle with cups, tea and coffee supplies in a little bowl. The bathroom was to the left hand side as you walked in and this was quite compact with a bath tub and an over shower, the toilet next to the tub and a sink on the opposite wall. The bathroom was bright enough and a few toiletries were provided. I noticed a hairdryer attached to the wall and the shower had two leads - one attached to the wall that could not be moved at all and one hung on a rack at the side which for me was a plus - when I just need to wash my hair I like to use the shower head over the tub rather using a jug than over a sink so this would have been ideal if I had needed it - as it was I was showering anyway and did so again in the morning before checking out so on this occasion it was wasted!
Later on when we returned to the room I felt the smell wasn’t as intense as we had left the window open whilst we were at the wedding - however I cannot really say I thought the room was that great and I cannot quite put my finger on why! Overall it was clean and had everything you need for a hotel room. The thing I think it was, is that generally, the room felt a little dismal as there wasn’t much natural light in the room and of course with it being slightly on the small side anyway then this didn’t help, where as if it had been small but, had a huge window with lots of light coming in it probably would have felt much bigger! The bed although large had a slight dip in the middle which suggests it is time for them to change the mattress! The tub chairs we sat in whilst we had a brew in the morning before leaving and these were pretty uncomfortable! I know of course that this is not something that many will be bothered by but, I thought I would mention it!
On a plus point I saw a cleaner as we were entering the room and I asked her if it would be possible to get some extra tea and coffee as there was just the usual two of each in the room and I knew that I we would need more than one cup each! She came straight back to the room with a huge bag of extra supplies and said if we needed anything else to let her know - top marks for her!
-
Hotel facilities
[more][less]
-
Appearance/Architecture
-
Lobby Atmosphere
-
General Condition
-
Front Desk
-
Staff
-
Guests
-
Business Amenities
-
Hotel Bar
-
Spa Facilities
-
The reception was manned by two staff when we turned up and I was greeted immediately. I was unable to check right in but, we were two hours before standard check in of 2pm so this was not something I would hold against the hotel and therefore my first impression was very good!
We used the hotel bar whilst staying here and used the one located in the lobby and also the one just outside of the function room. When we arrived down to the lobby the bar only had one staff member on who was trying to serve all the wedding guests! He did an ok job on his own and was friendly enough. Drinks were on par with most hotel bars with a pint and a half costing us just under £5. The bar just outside the function room was slightly bigger and once the wedding had taken place there were two staff on here serving - this bar had a small seating area around it and there was a door to the outside area for smokers.
-
Food & Beverages
[more][less]
-
Food Variety
-
Food Quality
-
Range of Beverages
-
Dining Area Ambiance
-
Service
-
When we booked the room we decided not to include breakfast just because of how much it was at £13.50pp! When we then came to check in we noticed a deal of breakfast for two at just £15 total. Obviously a much better deal but, we still decided to leave it as we knew we’d rather go out and get breakfast cheaper still - when we did check out the next morning we bumped into some people who had breakfast and they said it was just ok. This certainly made us happier that we were not missing anything special! The restaurant where breakfast is served is located just next to the reception area and is buffet style although there didn’t seem to be an overly huge selection - the place certainly looked nice enough but, of course it is the food that counts and for £7.50 I would have wanted something nicer than juts ok!
-
Location
[more][less]
-
Location (City)
-
Transportation Connection
-
Shopping Opportunities
-
Cultural Opportunities
-
Night Life
-
Quiet Location
-
Of course as I say it is very central - to give you an idea of how central it is literally across one road to the shopping centre and the main street where all the high street shops are, around the corner to the main retail park and just seconds away from one of Bolton’s main nightclubs, Ikon. It was very easy to find as it was at the end of the A666 coming from Manchester and was then visible from the main road. The hotel is located on Higher Bridge street should you need the road address.
Suprisingly though although in a central location there is not much noise from outside at night!
