Holiday Inn, Manchester City Centre

This new build 4 star hotel with 296 bedrooms opened in the spring this year.

You might have thought that there was not room for another new hotel in the city but the market has not reached saturation point yet as the city is one of the key business centres in the north.

Manchester has 2 football clubs that attract European and international guests, has a great shopping centre and of course there are always some great music concerts taking place in the city as well as top class theatre shows.

If you arrive via the train, Piccadilly railway station is literally 2 minutes away, whilst those who arrive by car have several handy car parks close by. Within 2 minutes of leaving the hotel door you are standing in the centre of Manchester in Piccadilly Gardens.

Walking into the hotel lobby everything smells and looks new. The welcome by the reception staff is warm: professional yet pleasant.

"How was your journey here today?" they enquire. They have probably said it many times a day, yet it still sounds fresh and personal. I'm not sure how many times the response back has been:

"The traffic was horrendous on the M62 or the M6 was on a go slow!"
but it sounds welcoming and it is just one of those extra little touches that make this new hotel appealing.

They have not forgotten too that it rains a lot in Manchester so it was again a nice touch to see the free umbrellas for use in the lobby.

The hotel rooms come in various formats: at the top end there is the Colin Bell Room, named after the famous Manchester City footballer and also The Best Room (after George Best); these two rooms are on the 7th and 8th floors respectively, being on the uppermost floors of the hotel, and are on the corner side facing south so they are very light and airy,

The Junior Suites are more like an apartment with a sitting room and a large bedroom. Both rooms have large flat screen TV's and a modern bathroom with a walk in rain shower and it was good to see that they had not forgotten those who still like to have a bath. The air conditioning was excellent, quiet and effective. There was also tea and coffee making facilities along with a fridge that had complimentary bottled still and natural water along with two Kit Kats.

The free Wi Fi was exceptionally fast and download speeds would be more than enough for the business or leisure guest.

The remaining guest rooms are still well appointed, it is just that they do not have as much space and a living room as in the other higher scale rooms.

A well equipped gym is also in house.

The hotel has 12 meeting rooms but they have named them after famous Manchester groups or artists.

Some other new Manchester hotels have used the influence Manchester musicians have had on the music scene in designing their hotels, but it works the best here as it feels more integrated.

So you have the Gallagher room (could that be Liam or Noel, I wonder?), the Morrissey room, the Squires room (named after the legendary Stone Roses guitarist), the Ryder room (after Shaun Ryder from the Happy Mondays) etc.

There are even two meeting rooms named after the Hacienda night club (a bit plusher I have to say than I remember the old Hacienda night club). To a music fan like myself it's a brilliant idea, to the older businessman it would probably go over the top of his or hers head.

The dining area has taken on a new concept and one which you might take a little getting used to or you might too think it is a novel idea: they have put various seating and table configurations together which I suppose would suit whatever each guest likes. So there is the area with the American diner seats, the long table with the high chairs along with a traditional seating area. Again there are reminders of the Manchester artists with album covers and books.

My starter of Chorizo and Potato was tasty, hot and set me up for my main course of a tender sirloin steak; (thankfully I didn't see anywhere the album cover of The Smiths album Meat Is Murder!), similarly my partner's steak was cooked to her exact preference. Our desserts of Vanilla cheesecake and Dark Chocolate Tart ended a perfect meal. An extensive wine list along with local beers all adds to the appeal.

Breakfast was buffet style but whether it be continental or full English (including Bury Black Pudding, of course) it was a feast fit enough for a king.

The staff such as Lee who served our evening meal have been chosen it seems for their experience in the hospitality and catering trade. He informed us he had worked in various Manchester hotels over 8 years: like the rest of the staff here his experience, professionalism and training shone through. I got the idea that everyone saw the job as a career and not an in between one.

Everyone from the manager, Ricardo Sousa (who gives the impression of being a proud new father looking after his baby, in this case the baby being the new hotel) who I spoke to, seem proud to work here in this new, contemporary, friendly and ideally placed hotel.

It could have been just another Holiday Inn but by using the Manchester music theme they have made it more relevant to Manchester so that it is never bland, you know you are in Manchester and not Madrid or Milan!

On one of the walls they use the famous quote from Tony Wilson "This is Manchester, we do things differently here". It could also be used as the ethos of the hotel as it is different from your run of the mill Holiday Inns.

It deserves to do well and I have no doubt it will, (the week of my stay some days were already fully booked). In the words of the former Hacienda DJ, Graeme Park: Superb.

www.himanchestercity.com
Telephone 0161 242 5444