Britannia Hotel Manchester, Manchester > Reviews (6)

As with my previous recent reviews this forms a part of my need to get a life ethos, and even though I live a short distance from Manchester on a planned night out on the town I decided it was better worth my time staying over than drunkely seeking the nightbus home. So armed with my trusty cashback paying link to a hotelbooking site I found this one for the night.

I paid £50 for a doubleroom with no food included, the hotelsstandard rate is around £66 so a considerable saving especially given I only booked a few days before I wanted to stay.

The hotel itself is seconds from Picadilly Gardens which is the location of a large bus station and a tram stop which runs between the two main train stations, it is also a few minutes walk from the main Bus Station in the city where the National Express coaches stop.

The hotel has a couple of bars open to none guests as well as a full complement of resturants (none guests need to book tables if they wish to eat at these).

Entering the hotel you pass through a rather grand looking reception area, which is dominated by a huge staircase, compared to the Birmingham hotel I had stayed in a few weeks earlier it is a much more impressive entry.

Checking in there was initially a problem finding my booking which we soon realised was due to me misspelling my own name at the booking stage (yup, note to self do not operate laptop when drunk).

The room was on the 9th floor (they seem to like to send me to the top of the buildings), and even though I had booked an internal room, it did have a window, albeit a skylight one.

The room itself was far bigger than the previous one, the bathroom door was next to the main door which was a concern as more than once Ive opened the wrong door when in an unfamiliar environement after a vodka or ten. Straight ahead was what I would think is best described as an alcove containing a two seater sofa under the skylight, this could be closed off by a heavy curtain to minimise the light in the morning.

The bed as expected was a standard sized double and in all ways indenitcal to the one in Birmingham (to the disappointment of the male who hadnt been keen on it). There was as is normal a small freestanding wardrobe, which contained extra blankets and pillows as well as a couple of spare towels. The dressing table/desk was I think smaller than the last one as with only the small tray holding the brew kit it felt cluttered even before I tried to use it.
But with the room being slightly larger than the previous one it also had a table and a pair of comfy chairs. But because of the layout only one bedside table to fall over, the other side of the bed was against the radiator which in winter (or summer) when it is on could be a painful experience.

Thankfully there were plenty of signs up to direct you to theroom from the landing as once again it seemed to be a pretty mazelike layout and even with beer goggles on I managed to navigate the male and myself to the right room.

Returning to the room after a beer or three you need to show your room cards at the door so the security men will let you in which I thought was quite a good thing as Manchester city centre does seem to attract a fair few dogey looking types.

The bathroom was a pretty typical white tile, white suite type and nothing to write home about, the water was plentiful and hot and the shower was again quite fierce if you turned it right up, sadly in this hotel there was no jacuzzi.

Checking out was again as simple as dropping the key cards in to the slot and staggering out the door, as long as you paid when you checked in of course.

Again for the price I paid I couldnt fault the hotel, I got a good nights sleep in a decent bed for the same as I could have ended up paying for a taxi back to my hometown, as well as a collection of photos of the male passed out on the bathroom floor for furture bribery purposes. Obviously had I wanted to pay more for a higher standard of room I would have been more actively picking faults but since my requirements were somewhere to sleep I really couldnt have been happier with the standard I found.