Holiday Inn Express Manchester City Centre - Arena by IHG

This seems to be quite a newly refurbished hotel, in a good location near the AO arena and Manchester city centre. First impressions were good - the lobby is clean and smelled good - but that didn't last particularly long unfortunately, due to the inefficiency of the front desk processes. We joined the queue at the front desk, which had 5 staff members behind it, but only one was checking in guests. The other 4 were standing watching what was happening. The member of staff checking in guests was also standing and staring into space, as were the guests at the front of the queue, so we are not sure if they were waiting for something or if there had just been a breakdown in communication. But it didn't really give a good impression. We arrived at 3pm, the expected check-in time, but unfortunately one of the three rooms we had booked had not yet been serviced. The front desk were apologetic, and we only had to wait around 10 minutes, but this was still not ideal. The room itself was pleasant, comfortable and clean. The bathroom was modern but the Dove soap and shower gels seemed to have been watered down quite a lot. Towels and bedding were clean and the bed was comfortable. There were some hot drink facilities in the room, and a wall-fixed hairdryer. Breakfast was busy when we went down - to be expected at 9:30am on a Saturday. But staff were not keeping up with the demand, with some dishes regularly empty, cutlery unavailable and seating unavailable or waiting to be cleared. One of the coffee machines seemed to be broken because the coffee it produced was like dishwater. Check-out was as disorganised as check-in. We queued for quite some time while somebody else was dealt with, before eventually just leaving our keys on the desk and leaving. We were surprised to see no express key-drop box like many hotels have. The most disappointing, and illogical, thing was the parking. The hotel website does not mention anything about parking, local hotels, etc, so we decided to park at the nearby Print Works APCOA carpark. However, in the hotel there is a sign saying that hotel guests can pre-book with a discount code. Of course, by that point we had parked and so pre-booking was impossible. I cannot see any logic in displaying this only in the hotel, and it meant that we missed out on the pre-booking discount! This needs communicating more effectively to guests before their stay. On the whole, this is a decent, modern and well-located hotel - but some of the processes need to become more efficient and streamlined to really give guests a good experience.

Myself and my wife stayed here for a concert at the AO arena. The hotel was in a good location for this by being approximately a 10 minute walk away. We arrived after check-in time and the service staff were attending to two different customers. Unfortunately, nobody else was there to see to us and we had to wait 10 minutes in a que before being seen to with no acknowledgement during this waiting time. The que behind us had also built by this point and obvious frustration could be identified. Once at the desk, the staff member did apologise. The room itself was clean and spacious, however, my wife did accidentally book the accessible room. The bed was small for a double bed and for taller people this isn't ideal. The bathroom had a shower which had good pressure and reached temperature quickly. The room itself was closest to the rear of the building so don't expect nice views. It was also very noisy due to outside factors. The bar area was open on the return to the hotel after the concert. The staff on there were helpful and polite. I Would recommend this hotel for a cheap short stay.

I arrived late at night and was delighted to find the reception still open, with staff greeting me warmly. For the price, the room was very spacious, complete with a desk, sofa, and large bed. The pillow was soft and comfortable, making for a restful stay.What stood out the most was the quality of the toiletries. They use a well-known brand for hand wash, body wash, and shampoo, which felt gentle on the skin and hair, unlike the low-quality products often found in other hotels.The breakfast buffet was adequate, though as a Muslim I couldn’t eat some of the options. However, when I asked, the catering team kindly prepared a vegan sausage for me, which I really appreciated.The hotel is about a 15-minute walk from Manchester Piccadilly. At night, dragging my luggage, it felt longer, but in the morning it was just a brisk, pleasant walk.