Avant Hotel

...and landed on the Menzies Avant Hotel in East Manchester (well Oldham to be correct) and 10.9 miles from Salford; with a 10:30 start, it would do. Trouble is, their website was quoting £120 for a double room, way outside my subsistence rate. Laterooms were offering around 300 hotels on the Manchester search, so it was time for the hotel search on laterooms, and in its usual style, it came up with £65, as did Activehotels.

LOCATION
...website can be found at:
http://www.menzies-hotels.co.uk

Menzies Avant Hotel
Windsor Road
Manchester Street
Oldham
OL8 4AS

Tel: 0161 627 5500

To get the best rate, shop around.
www.laterooms.com
www.activehotels.com  ... more

Destination Salford University and was time to deviate from my usual city centre outlets and opt for something a little more luxurious and expensive with a price tag and leisure facilities to match. Apart from anything else, the last time I stayed in the centre, the staff gave me wrong directions to the University and I turned up late for my meeting. This time it was me giving a presentation, and being my third day on the road I wanted something different.

I trawled the Internet, read Ciao, and landed on the Menzies Avant Hotel in East Manchester (well Oldham to be correct) and 10.9 miles from Salford; with a 10:30 start, it would do. Trouble is, their website was quoting £120 for a double room, way outside my subsistence rate. Laterooms were offering around 300 hotels on the Manchester search, so it was time for the hotel search on laterooms, and in its usual style, it came up with £65, as did Activehotels.

LOCATION
Situated on the A62, about 1 mile from Junction 22 of the new M60, this is the preferred route, rather than the strange route that I took from Sheffield. However, if you do have to drive into Oldham, the hotel is about 5 minutes from the centre on the A62 towards Manchester.

The hotel is in a small industrial/residential area and has a local bar just opposite, although listening to some young lads in the hotel bar, it is not to be recommended. They claimed they were happy to return with their kneecaps intact. I cannot speak for myself, this is all hearsay, and I wouldn’t want to upset any of the locals.

Despite being some 11 miles from Salford, the journey into the University was much more straight forward than from the City Centre, and took about ½ hour, although this was after rush-hour.

MY VERDICT: 8/10

RECEPTION
There is parking at the front of the hotel by the bar, and then more up by reception, which incidentally is situated on the third floor of the hotel. If staying on floors 1 or 2 you go down in the lift, and for 4 you go up.

Reception is quite a small affair and is adjacent to the entrance to the leisure club. There is also a small cocktail bar there selling a range of bottled beers and soft drinks, a Bottle of Bud here cost £2.95, which compared to the other drinks at the hotel was quite reasonable, and sometimes I face paying not far off that at some of my local pubs.

I completed a registration form with home address and car registration number, and provided a credit card to take advantage of the credit facilities such as room and bar service. I was offered help with my luggage, a service which I feel is far too rare in many hotels these days, but of course, I declined, I didn’t want them detecting the true contents of my portable fridge, did I?

Staff were pleasant and helpful, and my order for an early morning call and newspaper were received and delivered.

.MY VERDICT: 9/10 – to be fair, the reception staff couldn’t do enough for you.

THE ROOM
This chain seemingly has a policy of placing lone women near lifts. IMHO, they can stick this. The Windsor suite I was initially allocated, although roomy had a ‘put-you-up’ bed. This, combined with the noise of being beside to the bar and restaurant corridor, was enough for me to tell reception I needed moving. I was quickly reallocated a room on the fourth floor out of harms way and assured it was a ‘smoking’ room.

Arrival at my ‘new’ room, quickly established it was ‘no-smoking’. But despite my protestations, I was given an ashtray and told there was nothing else available, don’t say you haven’t been warned all you antismoking brigade out there.

My new room was en-suite, with sloping ceilings, a tiny desk area, a standard double bed with 4 pillows, masses of lights, although none overhead, but sufficient to allow me to work. There was also a clearly marked modem point and several electrical points, a stark contrast to the Novotel chain. A removable hairdryer was also provided, made a nice change from the static, keep your finger on the button ones I normally encounter.

Tea and Coffee making facilities were provided, glad to see Nescafe there again (although Gold Blend would be better), but there were only two sachets. It is a good job I wasn’t thirsty. There were also biscuits, but being lemon shortbread and ginger nut they were left firmly where they were.

Reception couldn’t tell me what the telephone call charges were, other than that they were cheaper than a phone box. Although it does appear that during my stay there was a problem with their computer system and it wasn’t recording calls. Connection through both Virgin and Tiscali was a respectable 52K, although high-speed (like the Milton in Glasgow) would be better still.

.MY VERDICT: 6/10 – this was effectively a double room, but with a single desk area chair and almost no room to swing a cat. Had my 6 foot 2” other half been with me, we would not have been happy. My first room admittedly was bigger, but with a ‘put-you-up’ bed and all the noise, this would have been unacceptable as well. .

BATHROOM
The bathroom deserves a special mention, beautifully presented with bath, toilet, sink and exquisite toiletries, it quickly became obvious the large sink overhung the toilet. I can imagine that, if you were tall like Martin, this would not have made the experience a pleasurable one. My new room was in the attic, and the water pressure was, to say the least questionable. The hot bath tap ran powerfully, and was, I would consider, dangerously hot, the cold tap was very weak, and if running, the toilet couldn’t be flushed.

The shower was on of these static affairs, and a dribble rather than a power shower, for someone with my skin condition, washing my hair was difficult. Towels were supplied in abundance, and I am glad to say they were more than sufficient to wrap around my ample frame, so full marks there.

.
MY VERDICT: 5/10 – despite the quality of toiletries and décor, the sink/toilet scenario combined with the poor water pressure was not great when I was due to give a big presentation to some very influential people. .

FOOD
As usual, I took advantage of the room service facility and had Chicken Tandoori Massalla, boiled rice and fries, with a soggy naan bread. It was OK, but nothing special and the sauce was unevenly cooked, hot in places and tepid in others, ready prepared and micro waved I suspect. The bill for this with a pint of lager came to £16.95, not the cheapest place I have stayed, and if you fancied steak, this would have set you back a whopping £18. Room service is available 24 hours, although there is a restricted menu after 9.30pm.

I was a little perturbed that I was not asked to sign for the food, but no anomalies showed up on my bill the next morning, so I will leave that one rest.

BREAKFAST
At a rather high £13.95 if not included in the rate (beaten only by the Midland Hotel, Manchester @ £15.75), it could have been worth it had service been better. There was a lavish array of fresh fruits including honeydew melon, raspberries and strawberries, plus the more common suspects of oranges and grapefruits. There was various cereals and bread rolls and fruit juices, although I had to wait some 20 minutes for the orange to be replenished.

The hot offerings included scrambled egg, tomatoes, bacon, sausages (in contrast to the Sheffield Park) was not properly cooked, mushrooms, beans and hash browns. Again, replenishment was slow. I understand that this was because of a breakfast meeting taking place catering for 40 people, this was not my problem and it is just a good job that I wasn’t in a hurry.

I have had better service at a Premier Lodge for half the price.

There is naturally a bar at the hotel, and I split my orders between room service and visiting the bar for my customary double G&T to help me sleep when travelling. The lager was £3 a pint, slightly over the top, but I have had worse, but the Gin and Tonic with a small bottle of water set me back £9.75, which is extortionate by anyone’s standards. In contrast to the reception staff, the bar staff could seriously have done with taking some happy pills.

MY VERDICT: 4/10 – Poor quality and service, sullen bar staff, and extortionately priced drinks. A shame, because, the range of food and drinks had the potential to almost justify the cost.

LEISURE FACILITIES
As well as the parking, this was one reason I selected the hotel, and on this front I was not to be disappointed. The hotel has a ‘Waves’ leisure club complete with 14 metre swimming pool, sauna, spa bath, steam room and gymnasium, not to mention various exercise classes.

The changing rooms were quite cramped, although good size lockers were provided (£1 refundable deposit) and there were a couple of enclosed showers with gel provided and a couple of hairdryers.

There was a dry area for ‘sunbathing’ and it really did look new and spotlessly clean. Towels (bigger than midget size) are provided.

MY VERDICT: 10/10 – can’t really fault these, although a little confused why half the pool was cordoned off for a single swimmer, but very clean and new and made the visit worthwhile.

SUMMARY
I was quickly marking off this hotel as one I would not be revisiting in a hurry. However, a chance encounter with one of the company’s sales team assured me the service I experienced was not typical of the outlet, so we shall have to wait and see where my travels take me next.

Manchester and the surrounding area, except when there is an event on, is the home of cheap, good quality hotels. This hotel has something going for it in its leisure facilities, car parking and outstanding reception staff,. However, for what it is purporting to me, it needs a good kick up the backside in terms of catering staff’s attitudes to customers, and their prices could also do with a revamp. Also, the water pressure on the 4th floor is appalling.

I am surprised they installed such large sinks in the bathrooms, this, surely must have been an oversight on someone’s part.

The rack rates here are £120, £140 and £165 and can be booked direct with the hotel or through their website. You can, however, pick up rooms much cheaper through laterooms and Activehotels. I am at a loss to understand why hotels cannot just lower their prices and develop a relationship marketing strategy with their customers that means they return time after time and recommend them to friends and colleagues. Bad news spreads fast, and it would be a shame for what could potentially be a classy outlet.

WOULD I STAY THERE AGAIN? Undecided

OVERALL VERDICT: 6½ out of 10.
I have given 4 stars because in light of the facilities it would be unfair to give 3, but I was bordering between 3 and 4.

CONTACT DETAILS
Menzies currently have 15 outlets across England and Scotland, their website can be found at:
http://www.menzies-hotels.co.uk

Menzies Avant Hotel
Windsor Road
Manchester Street
Oldham
OL8 4AS

Tel: 0161 627 5500

To get the best rate, shop around.
www.laterooms.com
www.activehotels.com 

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