I stayed in the Britannia Manchester with my (now ex) partner last year, quite a glamourous looking building from the outside, covered in Lights, and in a really good location (close to the centre of Manchester, literally a 5 minute walk from Canal Street, Oxford Road, Metrolink etc)
First Impression
We walked in the Lobby/Reception area and was instantly greeted a huge staircase, with a huge chandelier (I feel so sorry for the person who has to change the light bulbs!) and extremely tacky red wallpaper, first impression was how extremely tacky this 'poshness' was (I think thats the look they were going for, but it looked more pay by the hour than by the night!
Cost
The Cost was the one impressive part of the trip, we paid £49.50 a night for the room (which in the centre of Manchester is pretty impressive) this was probably the one high point, (unless your counting free tea bags of course!).
The Room
The room we were staying in was classed as a 'Budget Double' and I can certainly see where the budget part comes in, we walked into the room and noticed straight away how stuffy it was, so we opened the curtains and went to open the window, only there was no window! only curtains, net curtains and a large photo of the New York Skyline!!!!!!!! The Air Conditioning Unit in the room was really false advertising as all it did was recirculate the hot air (extremely extremely slowly!)
The Room was in quite a good clean condition though, the bathroom was quite nice (with the usual free shampoo, shower gel etc) and a hairdryer, and a really excellent powerful shower.
Beds were really comfortable, and the room included TV with all the normal channels (1,2,3,4,5, Sky News etc) and a kettle and tea bags.
Staff
All of the Staff at the hotel seemed really happy and friendly as we walked around the hotel, and always said hi.
Security
The one thing I was really impressed with, out drinking all night (well it was a weekend away!) we had to show our Room Charge Cards to the security guard to get back in to the hotel and reclaim the room key (which quite unusually wasn't a keycard but a normal key with the world's biggest wooden keychain!)
So overall it was quite a good stay, just the lack of ventilation (and a window!!!!) ruined it slightly.
And i'm not disabled, but there were lifts throughout the building and ramps everywhere, so I'm sure some people would find that really useful.
Planning on going back sometime, but in a normal or executive room not a budget!
NH Hotels, the hotel chain leader in Europe, with more than 300 hotels in 20 countries in Europe, Latin America and Africa. Enter into our web site and find the best available tariff at all times
very helpful by (100%):
