Ibis Leeds City Centre, Leeds

Author's product rating:   

Advantages:	Proximity to Leeds city centre, fantastic showers
Disadvantages:	Main road location, staff

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

As my wedding day is fast approaching and everybody told me I should have a hen night, one of my friends took it upon herself to organise a night out in Leeds. She wanted to find a hotel that was both reasonably priced, so that people could afford to stay there without re-mortgaging their house, and city centre based so that we didn't have to walk far or pay ludicrously expensive taxi fares to get to the bars we were going to.

After researching the possibilities, she chose the Ibis (an 168 room budget 2 star hotel), as it is half a mile from the city centre and double/twin rooms only cost £49.95 a night, so it meant we could all stay over for the very cheap sum of £25 each.

Unfortunately, we weren't able to get enough twin rooms for all of us. Since I knew everyone, I offered to take a room with a double bed, which my bridesmaid agreed to share. Hardly a problem, as we've known each other a very long time and we knew the chances of us being plastered on our return were pretty likely anyway!

GETTING THERE

By Car:

To get to the Ibis from M1, take junction 43 (M621 signed for Leeds), exit junction 2 (A643) and take the third exit off the roundabout. At A647 junction (Gyratory) take A58 exit. Turn left on slip road to Kirkstall Road (opposite Yorkshire Post building) and follow roundabout to West Street. Turn left onto Marlborough Street.

On foot from Leeds station:

Walk down Wellington Street towards the Yorkshire Post building. The hotel is located opposite on Marlborough Street. This will take approx 15 minutes.

It is worth mentioning that the hotel is situated on an extremely busy road, so care is needed when crossing the road to get to and from the hotel. It may sound daft, but the location is potentially very dangerous, especially if you are under the influence (as we were for much of our stay). The hotel staff members are currently running a petition against the recent road developments around the site, but I doubt there is much that can or will be done about it.

ARRIVAL

The Ibis does not have its own car park, but there is a pay and display car park opposite the hotel, provided you are willing to cross the potential death trap of the main road to get to and from your car.

First impressions of the reception area of the hotel are good. There is quite a large bar/restaurant area to the right of the reception desk as you face it and the décor is fairly modern and easy on the eye.

One of the first things I noticed about the Ibis is that there are lots of signs advertising the fact that they have a 24 hour bar (obviously this was of importance to us on this particular venture) and that the customer is always right. Some of the signs are cheesy to the point of saying that a customer's smile is all that matters to the hotel. Still, it seemed promising if they felt that strongly about good customer service.

CHECK-IN

Check-in was not quite as trouble free as we had anticipated. First of all, we found ourselves waiting for an age to be acknowledged, despite the presence of three members of staff behind the reception desk, all of whom did not seem to be otherwise engaged. When we finally did get someone's attention, we were surprised to find that she didn't seem to understand us and the lady in question had such a strong accent that we had difficulty understanding her. She told us that the double room we had requested was on the sixth floor whilst the rest of our rooms were on the first floor. Despite the fact that my friend had insisted that all our rooms be together when she booked, she was unable to change this. I have a sneaky suspicion that this member of staff didn't fully understand our request, or know how to change the booking. It wasn't a great problem as we would only be sleeping in our rooms, but it was annoying for my friend, who had gone to the trouble of organising this well in advance to no avail. So, first impressions of the staff were not all that great, but neither were they bad. We were there to have a good time and this is a budget hotel at the end of the day. The hotel provides key cards to get into your rooms. They aren't bad, but there was one occasion where our card decided it wasn't playing and we had to seek assistance to get into our room.

THE ROOMS

I found the rooms to be of a very high standard for the price. The beds were comfy and a good size and every room has a TV, a kettle and tea/ coffee making facilities. Our bathroom was modern and kitted out with a brilliant Grohe power shower (which was an absolute necessity for waking me up the morning after the night before) and was very clean. The hotel provided towels (as you would expect) and shampoo and shower gel in a dispenser in the shower. The bathrooms were actually the main topic of conversation when we first arrived at the hotel, as they were reminiscent of time capsules from sci-fi movies! I know that sounds strange, but the outer door was steel coloured and rounded, and there was a step up into the bathroom, so it was a bit like stepping into a stand up tanning cabin. The step was quite interesting when we were drunk I can tell you!

The only downside to the rooms was nothing to do with the quality, but the fact that my friend had been misinformed by the staff when she made her booking. Although she told them exactly how many people were coming and made it perfectly clear that we did not mind sharing rooms (or beds for that matter), she was not informed that the twin rooms had one single bed and one double bed in each. Since none of us were opposed to sharing beds (and this was pretty obvious considering there weren't enough twin rooms to go around as it was) I feel that she should have been told to book less rooms, as we ended up with far more beds than bodies. It wasn't exactly expensive anyway, but it did strike me as a bit cheeky that we had been told to book an extra room unnecessarily.

Another minor quibble is the fact that the temperature in this hotel is skyhigh. By the time we finally got to bed, we couldn't sleep because our rooms were like saunas. We did open a window, though these windows are designed to only open very slightly (probably to prevent people falling - or maybe jumping - out of them). I also mentioned it jokingly to a member of staff when we checked out, but I doubt very much that anything was done about it, or if the lady I spoke to understood what I was saying!

THE BAR

We spent the afternoon having a few cheeky beverages at the hotel before going out for real! Aside from hotel prices, it was a nice little bar and they provided snacks as well as a good range of drinks. Since we thought we would probably end up coming back after hours and making use of the 24 hour bar advertised all over the hotel, it was good to get our bearings.

After our night out, we arrived back at the hotel only to be told that the 24-hour bar was only really open until 1am and that we would have to sit in the chairs in the reception area. This seemed strange as it would have meant the cleaners would have to clear the bar as well as the seating area in reception, but we put it down to the fact that they wanted to keep the bar empty so that it could be cleaned in time for breakfast. What we weren't expecting was the fact that the supposed 24-hour bar would not serve us anything except water and crisps. So, not only was it not 24-hour, but there were ridiculous restrictions in place on what you could actually order. I have a feeling that this could be due to the fact that there seemed to be quite a lot of hen parties going on in the hotel and several of the guests were being quite rowdy. However, several of my friends who have stayed in the Ibis have since informed me that the 24-hour bar is in fact a total lie! I cannot understand why they would do this, if they are concerned about rowdy customers. Surely people are more likely to kick off if they are told a service will be provided which is then denied them? To be fair to Ibis, nowhere does it say that alcohol will be served for 24-hours, but their advertising is very misleading, especially since you cannot even have a choice of soft drinks.

THE RESTAURANT

We didn't have much experience of the restaurant, but those of us who could stomach it decided to sample the breakfast in the morning. For anyone planning to stay in the Ibis, you should know that meals are not included in your room rate, though that is hardly surprising given how cheap the rooms are.

I was very impressed with the food. There were a variety of things on offer including cereals, a full, cooked breakfast and a continental option, which included cold meats, cheeses and a large selection of different breads. My only grumble is that I didn't have enough room to try everything out, but I made a damn good effort to eat as much as I could. I have no complaints about the food at all. There was also a selection of teas, fruit juices and coffee. Breakfast starts at 4am and continues almost until lunchtime, so unless you've had a particularly late night, you should not have any worries about missing it.

CHECKING-OUT

I'm afraid to say that checking-out was no easier than checking-in. I had the same problem with the staff as I had on arrival. Despite the fact that I stood in front of a lady for about ten minutes whilst she had an animated (and what seemed fairly personal) call with someone, I may as well have been invisible. I'm not saying she needed to end the call, but it would have been nice to be acknowledged, even if she just raised her hand to signify that she knew I was there. Eventually, I sat down in the reception area and waited for some sign of life from behind the desk. We weren't in a hurry so again this wasn't a problem, but I imagine it would have been very annoying if we wanted to be away quickly. When the lady came off the phone, I scuttled over to the desk again, only for her to turn and walk away. If the customer's smile is the most important thing to these people, they certainly are good at creating the opposite effect! I almost left my key card on the desk and made a run for it, but eventually I was able to get someone's attention. Thankfully, unless you've run up a bill while you stay here, you could quite easily leave the card on the desk and disappear, as you pay for your room when you check-in - presumably to stop you from running away without paying. Perhaps the Ibis does not attract the classiest of clientele!

FINAL VERDICT

On the whole, I had a great time at this hotel. It was clean - which is always a plus for me, the beds were comfy, the food was good and the bathrooms were of a high standard. I should point out that I'm the sort of person who finds that a decent shower and a cup of tea will go a long way to solving a lot of problems. Since I had access to both in my room, the other minor issues I experienced did not upset my enjoyment. I do feel that the staff at the Ibis need to work on their customer service, as it is distinctly lacking, and also feel that they would make more friends if their advertising was not quite so misleading. However, there is a lot that is good about this 2-star hotel and I'd recommend it for the odd night's stay here and there, though it's probably not the best option if you want to stay somewhere for a longer period of time.