I also write on dooyoo under the same name. I'm 20 and am currently at Newcastle Uni studying Speech...
I also write on dooyoo under the same name. I'm 20 and am currently at Newcastle Uni studying Speech and Language Sciences! Thanks for all your ratings!!
Member since:17.06.2003
Reviews:150
Members who trust:149
~ Introduction ~
During half term there was an open day at De Montfort University, Leicester. As this is my second choice university I wanted to visit before I made my final decision. As it's over a four-hour drive from where I live my parents booked us into a hotel. They chose the Holiday Inn as it is located in the city centre and we have stayed in this chain of hotels before.
The hotel had 188 rooms with double beds and air-conditioning. It is currently undergoing refurbishment so we could smell paint on the floor we were staying on though this was stated online when we booked.
~ Priority Rewards ~ My dad is a member of the Priority Rewards scheme, which gives you points for staying in hotels in their chain (on any of the 6 continents). You can then exchange the points for a free stay in one of their hotels. These hotels are as follows:
InterContinental Hotels & Resorts Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts Hotel Indigo Holiday Inn Hotels & Resorts Holiday Inn Express Staybridge Suites Candlewood Suites
As we stayed in a Crowne Plaza in Rome for ten nights we had earned quite a lot of points so we exchanged them for a nights stay in this hotel. We were staying on the executive level and only needed to pay for our breakfasts.
~ On Arrival ~
The building is not very appealing (and neither was view
from the window in our room), but the interior of the hotel was quite nice.
There is a multi-storey car park next to the Holiday Inn. We parked our car here then went into the hotel. Our check-in was ok; the procedure was carried out quite quickly. The lady on reception swiped our parking ticket so that we didn't need to pay to get out of the car park. (I noticed there were no sweets on the reception counter like there was at Crowne Plaza, Rome and Holiday Inn, Alicante! Maybe British hotels are meaner!)
There are two lifts in the lobby, which are quite spacious and got us to our room hassle free. Our room was on the top floor and was very close to the lift, which was convenient!
When we got to our room we noticed that there was no extra bed (for me!) so we had to phone housekeeping. The phones were not very good, they rang twice then went straight to engaged so we had to go to reception to ask for the bed. We went for a look around Leicester and when we got back (about two hours later) my bed was there.
~ Parking ~ As I have already said there is a multi-storey (public) car park, which costs £5 to park overnight. This is paid to the hotel and you can enter and leaves as many times as you like, as the hotel just swipe your new ticket each time. ~ The Room ~ The décor in the room was quite nice, it was very spacious and the beds were comfortable. On the main bed there was a pillow menu, which offered a selection of pillows:
Synthetic medium (already on bed)
Synthetic firm
Feather soft, medium or firm
I thought this was a nice idea and we each ordered an extra pillow of our choice. But again we had to go to reception, as the phones didn't seem to be working. The pillows came when we were out for our meal at about 8pm.There was a desk with an executive chair. There were two phones in the room; one was on the desk and the other on the bedside table.
There was Internet access from room, but as we were only staying there over we didn't use this.
There were lots of lights in the room. The desk had a lamp with dimmer switch and there was a light behind the desk also. I used the desk both, in the evening and on the morning before we left, to do homework and the lights were nice and bright. There were also reading lights above the bed.
There was a TV and a film selection. We watched TV before we went to bed but we did not pay to watch any of the films.
On the unit in the room there was a tray with kettle, cups (only 2, we asked for a third one but it never arrived), hot chocolate, sugar, biscuits, water (still and sparkling), and orange juice. There was also a mini bar, the contents of which needed to paid for, although all the consumable items on the tray were complementary.
The wardrobe was a decent size. There was a shelf and a rail with hangers. There was a mini vault on the floor and a trouser press at the back of the wardrobe. There were three drawers in room, which were a good size for clothes.
I felt secure in the room; there was a peephole on the door and an extra lock, to stop people getting in from the outside.
Hanging on the back of the door was 'Do not Disturb' sign and an 'Extra Assistance Required in case of Emergency' card. The latter of these is to place on the outside of the door before you retire. Staff or the fire brigade give you immediate assistance in the event of an emergency arising. I think this is a really good idea and it is not something I have seen in other hotels. It's good to see that the hotel accommodates for people with needs.
Also on the back of the door was the usual fire safety, which was published in three languages.
There was a green sticker on the master light switch and air-conditioning - this is the hotels contribution to reducing carbon emissions. Guests should assist them by turning anything off which has a green dot on it. Their accompanying motto was 'As you go - go green'
~ Bathroom ~ The bathroom was clean and had a bath and shower. There were complimentary toiletries and a shower cap and nail file. The bath towels looked quite old and they were fraying slightly, though they were clean. We thought the tiles in the bathroom were not aesthetically pleasing as they were quite dull (black and white). This is obviously subjective and I'm not complaining, as they were clean.
~ Food ~ The room service was reasonably priced, a meal costing less than £10. I don't know what the quality of the food was like though as we didn't order any. The room service menu is also available in large print.
The hotel has a restaurant. We were planning to eat here but as the freezers were undergoing maintenance the food limited.
We did eat breakfast in the hotel though. There was a hot and cold buffet and it was really nice. (I ate too much!) There was a healthy choice, of fresh fruit, yoghurt, and cereal as well as a more unhealthy choice of cooked breakfasts. I ate from both of these and the quality and variety of the food was good.
The breakfast room is open Mon-Fri 6.30-10am and Sat -Sun 7.30 -11am. You could also get breakfast room service though looking at menu I think this is less value as you are limited to one juice, one yoghurt etc at the same price. At the buffet you can get as much as you want. Breakfast in the room may be more convenient for some people though.
~ Area ~ We ate at a local Wetherspoons, which was a 5-10 minute walk away from the hotel. There were lots of shops within walking distance although some looked a bit run down. The hotel is right next to the university. We didn't realise this and left the car park to get closer to the university. It turns out that the car park we were in was actually the closest to the hotel so we returned there and the hotel happily stamped our ticket again, even though they knew we had already checked out.
~ Check-out ~ The checkout was smooth and the bill was cheaper than we were expecting as they only charged us for one breakfast (at a higher rate than advertised) and didn't add the parking ticket.
~ Cost of rooms ~ Depending on when you stay and the size of the room, prices start at about £65 per night.
~ And Finally~ We found it hard to believe that it has 4 stars (we'd probably give it three), though our stay was enjoyable. Due to the location, if I am ever in area again I would go back and stay at this hotel. (Obviously not if its for university though!) We think it was an enjoyable stay for free and we are pleased that we could redeem the points for this stay.
P.S The hotel website informs me that the hotel staff speak the following languages: Chinese , Czech , English , French , German , Italian , Polish , Spanish
Holiday Inn LEICESTER 129 ST NICHOLAS CIRCLE LEICESTER, LEI 5LX ENGLAND
Mar 9th, 2007
exceptional by (6%):
very helpful by (94%):
