Howard Johnson Apartments, Bristol

...THE CONCEPT

Howard Johnson Serviced Apartments are currently available in Nottingham, Liverpool, Dublin, Manchester and Bristol. The concept is very simple. Blocks of apartments are available to rent for any period of time required – you can stay for as long as a month or just one night. For your money, you get a self-contained apartment complete with separate bedroom(s), lounge, kitchen and bathroom. The apartments are newly-built ...
...self-catering concept means that the owners can keep the costs down, and you benefit from paying solely for the room, and not for all the over-priced extras that only corporate account holders would probably use. It’s worth noting that this style of accommodation is not a traditional “budget” concept – the standard of these apartments is very high indeed.

THE BRISTOL LOCATION

The Bristol serviced apartments were particularly ... more

The more I travel, the less I like being away from home, and it has to be said that one of the key reasons for this is that hotels simply do not offer the sort of creature comforts that you get at home. The average hotel room is fairly comfortable, but generally old-fashioned and often very cramped. The worst thing of course is that you normally pay through the nose for the privilege as well. Recently, I’ve developed a taste for apartment style hotels, because the standard of accommodation is completely superior to any hotel room, and yet the prices can be equal to (or even less than) the budget hotel chains.

ABOUT THE CONCEPT

Howard Johnson Serviced Apartments are currently available in Nottingham, Liverpool, Dublin, Manchester and Bristol. The concept is very simple. Blocks of apartments are available to rent for any period of time required – you can stay for as long as a month or just one night. For your money, you get a self-contained apartment complete with separate bedroom(s), lounge, kitchen and bathroom. The apartments are newly-built and are furnished throughout in a bright, contemporary design. The self-catering concept means that the owners can keep the costs down, and you benefit from paying solely for the room, and not for all the over-priced extras that only corporate account holders would probably use. It’s worth noting that this style of accommodation is not a traditional “budget” concept – the standard of these apartments is very high indeed.

THE BRISTOL LOCATION

The Bristol serviced apartments were particularly appealing to me because they were located very close to Temple Meads station. Having left the station, it probably took me five or ten minutes to walk the short distance to St Thomas Street, where the apartments are located. If arriving in Bristol by car, the apartments are easily located from the city centre M32 junction, although you need to navigate the one-way system quite carefully, or you’ll find yourself going round in circles. The apartment complex comes complete with its own allocated car parking area, but you need to provide notice if you wish to reserve a space. The central location is perfect for business travellers, and generally very good for social visits, but for shoppers or theatre goers there is a fair walk into the centre and if you’re really lazy there are hotels closer to the main attractions. A real attraction for this hotel is that despite its central location, it is actually situated on a very quiet road. Most of the central hotels in Bristol tend to be on very busy, noisy streets.

RESERVATIONS

I saw the hotel advertised on www.laterooms.com and if you are considering a visit, this is probably the best means of booking as you will secure some fantastic discounts. Having passed my contact details to the laterooms.com office, I received a call back within ten minutes from the hotel to take my details. Once I had given my contact details and provided a credit card to guarantee the booking, I was then emailed with a confirmation letter, which included directions for travel and checking in instructions. As I was arriving outside of normal office hours, I would have to let myself in through the security gates and was therefore provided with the appropriate PIN codes. There was only one problem with this, which was that the code actually included pressing a button with a bell on it, but in my email the bell appeared as two brackets () and I didn’t have a clue what it meant. This problem can occur with some email providers, but a quick call to the office soon cleared up the problem. The confirmation letter and email were personalised and very friendly and the whole process was efficient, courteous and professional.

ARRIVAL

This was where I had a few reservations. The hotel complex has no specific reception and all administration is managed out of one of the apartments. The office apartment is only open during office hours, and isn’t open on a Sunday at all. This means that there is a high likelihood that there will be no staff available to greet you. By definition, this worried me, because I had visions of not being able to get in or losing my key and having nobody to help me. Fortunately, a manager is on 24-hour call out duty and the contact number is made available at the gate.

I arrived early Sunday evening, and made my way to the complex. At the current time, part of the road is closed due to construction work, and full access is only available to pedestrians. It was dark by the time I arrived, and as I made my way through the empty streets I did think that the route was probably not suitable for single women. As such, I would recommend that you get a taxi, even though the distance is very short. I easily found the apartments – one of the only new buildings on the street, and the purple balconies did rather stand out. I didn’t have any problems with the code for the main gate, but having not read the instructions properly, I turned right at the main archway rather than left. This took me into the wrong apartment block and it wasn’t until I had quickly reviewed the instructions that I spotted my mistake. I went back outside and made my way to the other side of the building, where there was a set of double doors. On the right-hand side, just inside the doorway was a small table, underneath which were various addressed envelopes containing guests’ keys. It did occur to me that this didn’t seem like a very secure way of doing things, but I suppose you needed to be able to get into the building to get the keys anyway. In the envelope was a welcome letter, and instructions on what to do with the various keys with which I had been provided.

Although generally the process was quite straight-forward, the traditionalist in me found the whole thing rather unsettling because I am so used to checking in with a human receptionist. It was also rather lonely – I’d travelled down on my own, and then found the hotel completely alone, and then made my way to my room on my own.

ACCOMMODATION

Fortunately, as soon as I entered the apartment, I cheered up again very quickly. The standard of the room was superb. Spacious, modern and bright, everything was brand new, clean and ultra-trendy and I knew that I had made a good choice. I was quite surprised at how large the apartment was. The lounge and bedroom were far bigger than many that I have seen in apartments for sale and the bathroom (although lacking in natural light) was also quite sizeable. The hallway, lounge and kitchen were fitted with laminate flooring; the bathroom was fitted with a sleek stone floor and the bedroom had a matting-style carpet. The whole thing was very welcoming, because it didn’t feel like a hotel room.

The kitchen was fully fitted and all the pots, pans and bits were available for cooking. Sadly, a couple of the pans on the hob looked like somebody had been cooking hedgehogs in them, and although they were clean, they were so scratched and marked that I wouldn’t have been comfortable cooking with them. Basic tea and coffee making facilities were there – no fresh milk – and they’d even left washing-up liquid for you to wash up with. In the lounge was a wonderfully comfortable sofa, as well as an armchair, TV and stereo CD player. Both the lounge and the bedroom were very bright because there were wall height glass doors, which could be opened if more fresh air was required. There were venetian blinds across both windows, which looked good when they were new, but now looked as though someone had been swinging from them.

The bedroom had a good sized double bed, complete with white linen (continental quilt not sheets), a chest of drawers and a big wardrobe. The bathroom featured a full-sized bath (very rare) and a good power shower, complete with a glass screen rather than a nasty curtain. The only problem with the glass screen was that it made a horrendous squeaking noise, which would have awoken the dead, let alone the people next door or upstairs.

LIKES AND DISLIKES

The main drawback with this hotel is the isolation. It’s quite likely that you won’t meet any staff upon arrival, and there is no bar to go and lounge in, nor is there any room service. This was a bit of a nuisance for me because I didn’t have time to get anything to drink or eat in the apartment. Unlike the Citadines hotel in London, these apartments are not surrounded by 24-hour shops and supermarkets, so even buying a pint of milk could be a real nuisance. Of course, for longer stays you would have time to stock up, and other services such as valeting and room servicing can be arranged – it’s only if you stay there at the last minute that you miss things. Although the hotel is very secure in terms of unwanted visitors, I did have my reservations about single women turning up here – I think the hotel should offer a member of staff for all guests who are planning to arrive.

The real advantage for this kind of accommodation is that it provides a good quality, comfortable base in which to stay, and this is particularly important if you are on business. So many hotel rooms have absolutely nowhere to sit and work, but here you have a proper table and chairs or a sofa to lounge on. If you don’t like eating out on your own, it’s also nice to be able to cook food or eat takeaways on your own. I did notice in the guest directory that grocery shopping or restaurant deliveries can be arranged – you just need to be a little more organised about things. It’s so nice to stay somewhere that doesn’t feel like a fleapit.

COSTS

This is the absolutely best bit of the whole review. The standard room rate for the apartments is £110 per night , which is fairly expensive considering this is based on room only, but still good value in terms of the standard of the room. However, if you book through www.laterooms.com you can currently get the rate of £49 per night. This is fantastic value by anyone’s standards and when you think that you would pay £52.95 for a night in the Travel Inn Metro, then the deal speaks for itself. At these prices, this kind of accommodation easily falls into the budget price range, but offers luxury accommodation. (Please note: the cancellation policy applies to 16:00 the day BEFORE you arrive, so bear this in mind when booking at the last minute.)

As and when I visit Bristol again, I shall DEFINITELY be making another booking here. Next time, I shall be a little more organised, and take full advantage of the facilities, but when it transpires that a place like this is CHEAPER than a Travel Inn, you know that you’re onto a good thing.

Highly recommended

(Four stars awarded on the basis that I was not comfortable with the out of hours checking in procedure and because somebody had been cooking hedgehogs in my saucepans.)
 

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