I booked this hotel as part of a birthday present for my boyfriend. We were going to watch a concert in the evening and I wanted a hotel with good facilities such as a pool, sauna etc to chill out in during the day.
There are not many hotels in Manchester with these facilities so I went for the Thistle as it was alot cheaper than other hotels with a pool, jacuzzi and sauna. I paid £79 for one night at the weekend.
We arrived about 1.30pm and although it states check in is at 2 o'clock we thought we would try a bit earlier. The staff on reception were very friendly and checking in that bit early was not a problem. The reception is quite elegant looking with security on the door of an evening and a restaurant and bar, which we didnt use.
We were given our key card and went up to the room. I was a bit aprehansive as I had read other reviews that had said the rooms were terrible, but I had heard from a friend they were ok and thats why decided to give it a try.
We had a room with a window although from reading other reviews I know this is not the case with all rooms. Our window backed onto a side street with another building directly infront so the view was nothing spectacular. It was also a bit grubby, but that has to be expected from a high building in a city.
The room had a big double, comfy bed with a bedside table at each side. There was a TV in the room with the usual channels BBC1 etc. There were films that could be paid for if you wanted, they were about £8 for 2 films.
The bathroom had a shower and bath combined, which was average. The hotel is quite old and the bathrooms could do with some refurbishment.
The hotel had a gym, pool, sauna and jacuzzi in the basement which was included in the price of your stay. However it was only very small and would not recommend staying here to anyone that is looking specifically for these facilities.
The suite was empty when we went down, which was a good job as couldn't fit many in there! The member of staff was very friendly and helpful. The gym had about 6 pieces of equipment, and was used by one person while we were there. The saunas are in the changing rooms and are therefore single sex only. The jacuzzi was of a fair size but dont know how comfortable it would have been if there were more than 2-3 people in there at a time! It runs on a timer so you cant sit with the jets on all time. The pool was very small not really able to swim in it as it was a curved shape and you could swim across in about 4 strokes!
We did not spend any more time in the hotel after that until coming back to sleep. There are a number of bars nearby which are nice bars. On arriving back to the hotl the security ensured we were def staying at the hotel before letting us in and although we had hard reports that due to the hotel being located next to a side road it can be noisey we did not experience any problems such as this.
Overall I dont think the Thistle is worth the money they charge especially as sometimes the rooms can be over £110! The rooms are very average in need of some refurbishment, if your only after a basic hotel in a great location and are willing to pay the money for it then the Thistle is for you.
If I was only looking for basic facilities as this hotel has, I personally would look to pay a bit less in another hotel.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
sometimes the price of the room hotel depends on the accessibility or location of the building. for instance, if the show/concert is just walking distance from the hotel, then it is worth staying to save transport cost. but if you want additional special amenities, then thats another thing which really requires further research to make the value of your money. frankly, im not really staying with hotels, im just lucky to have friends in manchester. well done. rey
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Feb 12th, 2007
very helpful by (100%):
