It's official I have stayed in Britain's worst hotel, or at least according to a recent survey I have. A survey undertaken by the Internet based Travel Company, tripadvisor.com found three hotels within the Britannia group of hotels within its top ten list of the worst hotels to stay in the UK.
We chose this particular hotel because the literature promised "a hassle free start to your holiday." A search through various websites for cheap hotels around Manchester Airport brought up the details of this place at a total cost of £83 for three people sharing the same room. This price was without breakfast, which was not a problem since we were leaving before breakfast would be served anyhow. More importantly however, this price included 8 days parking, which offset our quoted price of £43 for parking that we had been quoted at one of the nearby Airport parking areas.
The hotel was booked online and a confirmation email was received. Our flight was early which would have meant a very early start but we were promised that this hotel offered free, secure parking for the full duration of our holiday, and that we would be transferred to the Airport on a courtesy bus.
We arrived at about 6pm in high spirits, looking forward to dumping the car and enjoying a few drinks at the bar to kick start our holiday. There had been no problems finding the hotel since our confirmation
email of the booking came with directions that were clear enough to understand.
This is a modern, purpose built hotel ideally located close to the motorways and only a few miles from the Airport. The approach to the hotel is via a long driveway that takes you past the very plush looking Britannia Countryhouse Hotel. For a moment we got quite excited but soon realised that our bed for the night was a few hundred yards further up the road.
The reception is right at the front of the hotel but the car park looked to be rather full so we pulled up outside to find out what the procedure was for booking in. Whilst one of our party ran inside we were quickly advised by a security man that we had to find a proper parking space. Fair enough, but the car park was completely full. Eventually we were told that there was an overspill parking area about a quarter of a mile away.
This was not ideal since we wanted to take our luggage into our room as there were items in our suitcases that we needed and for security reasons we didn't want to leave anything valuable in the car. Besides that, we would only have to go back to the car in the morning to get our luggage before boarding the courtesy bus.
After some quibbling with the security man we were eventually allowed to unload our luggage before finding somewhere to park in the overspill area. We were on our holidays and still in good spirits so this was only a minor hitch. And besides the hotel looked quite impressive and inviting.
Our first major problem was evident when the member our group returned from checking in with a face like thunder: The words " There's no courtesy bus" soon followed. Apparently despite the claims made in their literature and on the website there was no courtesy bus to take us to the Airport. We were however told that we still had free parking but this was at one of the Airport car parks so we would need to take our car there in the morning. We had been given a voucher but the whole point of staying at this hotel was so that we could enjoy a few drinks in the bar. Now that one of us had to drive at 3am in the morning this spoiled our plans somewhat. Further to this a quick look at the map revealed our car parking location was 15 miles in the opposite direction to the Airport and our homes.
We got to our room and things seemed to be looking a little bit more promising. Our room was very large and spacious and it was also spotlessly clean. There were actually two separate bedrooms with a division between them. There was also a section within the larger of these two rooms that had a large sofa and a TV.
The bathroom was located in a separate room close to the entrance and there was both a bath and a shower. In additional to this there was a large mirror, a shaving point and a hairdryer. Again the bathroom, just like the rest of the rooms was very clean, and there was even complimentary soap and shampoo.
In the room there was a telephone and tea and coffee making facilities and the remote control TV had Sky. We had requested a non-smoking room so there were no ashtrays.
The view from the window was not very much as it overlooked the car park but this was not important. The plan was to quickly change and then go for a meal in the main dining area. This was included in our price but a full three-course meal was available at a cost of £9.95 each.
We quickly discovered that we could not get any cold water out of the tap so the shower was scorching hot. A bath was not possible since we could not find a plug. I set off to reception to complain which is where things began to get farcical.
At the main reception I was unable to find anyone that spoke good enough English to understand that we had a problem with our water. The girl on reception though that I wanted a Doctor! Eventually she went to find someone else but again his command of the English language was so bad that I could not make him understand.
Eventually I found someone who spoke Spanish and managed to explain our problem in Spanish. He said he would get someone to attend to it straight away, and true to his word he did. Unfortunately the maintenance man couldn't fix the problem, so it was off back to reception where an English speaking man moved us to the room next door. This room was identical to our other one except that the shower worked. The only problem was that we couldn't open any of the windows and there was no tea or coffee but we didn't have the strength to complain any further. After all we were only staying here for a few hours and had requested a wake up call at 3am.
We quickly changed and headed off downstairs for our meal. The meal consisted of a self-service buffet but since there was no staff around we sat down at a table along with everyone else expecting to be served our main dish and then help ourselves to the buffet part. I had decided to opt for the Pork. After 20 minutes no one had appeared to serve us and the place was starting to fill up. A few people started to get impatient and began to serve themselves from the buffet. We decided to be polite and waited a little bit longer.
After about a further five minutes two young waiters appeared and took our orders. We half expected to be waiting forever for our main courses to arrive but to be fair it came fairly quickly. It was also piping hot, cooked to perfection and tasted delicious. So despite the extortionate length of time that we waited for our food, when it did eventually arrive it was lovely.
Just before we left the dining area there was one more eventful incident that occurred. This involved the Chef chasing one of the young waiters out of the kitchen, whilst screaming at him in Italian. The poor young lad was close to tears.
After our meal we went to the bar to relax and here we encountered yet another problem. The queue at the bar was horrendous and it soon became obvious that there was a problem with the equipment that processes debit and credit card payments. At first we assumed that it was a problem with the individual at the front of the queue, but as other people volunteered there cards it became apparent that this was not so. Eventually the bar man announced that it was cash only transactions from this point on, which did not cause a problem for us, but caused chaos for others.
To say that my brief stay at the Britannia Manchester Hotel was interesting would be one way to sum it up. I am only glad that it was a quick stay. Looking back however it was quite comical and still provides a regular conversation topic when I meet up with my two friends that I stayed there with.
During the recent survey in which this Hotel was voted as the worst place to stay in Britain, several people described it as being very dirty. I do have to say that I did not find any issues with cleanliness whatsoever. Just major problems with a severe lack of staff, the inability of staff to understand English, the fact that there was no transfer to the Airport etc…etc…
As far as the hotel itself goes it is large, bright and spacious and has the perfect location. It also has four different bars and a nightclub, called Fridays. The largest Bar and Restaurant that we found is known as the Palatine Bar and Restaurent. There is also a Health Club. Access to both the nightclub and the Health Club is at an additional charge.
When we did eventually go to bed the beds were comfortable and we did get a few good hours sleep. But did we get our early morning wake up call - you've guessed it - no!
Should you decide to give this place the benefit of the doubt then the address is as below:
Britannia Hotel Manchester Airport Palatine Road Northenden Manchester M22 4FH
With easy access to Manchester Airport and the region’s main roads, this purpose-built ... more
hotel offers great value, holiday parking packages and 24-hour airport transfers at an additional cost.Close to the M56 and M60 motorways, the Britannia Airport Hote...
Information:
Price is per double room per night and may vary depending on date booked...
This modern purposed built hotel is located just off the M56 and easy access to the ... more
Motorway Networks travelling from the North South East and West Manchester Airport is only 3 miles away and there is a shuttle bus operaterating on a regular timeta...
Information:
Price is per double room per night and may vary depending on date booked...
Advantages: Nice rooms, good rates (even rack), good service, convenient location Disadvantages: Food could be better, no leisure facilities, out of town
Feb 26th, 2007
exceptional by (2%):
very helpful by (93%):
helpful by (5%):
