Accommodation suggestions and reviews

[Kite159]

Premier Inn, Reading (Caversham Bridge):
A revisit since August 2020 (when I didn't spend that long in the hotel as it was a single night). Booked for the Pathfinder tour to the Cambrian Coast last week (late notice swapping from the town centre Travelodge as it was £35 a night to save some money). Located around 10 minutes north of the station. Currently being refurbished into the latest Premier Inn standard room so could be hit or miss at what room you get. I got a newer room (nice purple light in the bathroom area) which is the standard Premier Inn, a bit noisy with the window open for fresh air due to road noise (and rain).

Certainly a place I would be using again if the price was right, only downside is being located to the north of the station, having more limited options for food.

 

[trainophile]

£35 a night for a Reading Premier Inn? . Or do yo mean it was £35 cheaper than the Travelodge?

 

[Kite159]

£35 a night for a Reading Premier Inn? . Or do yo mean it was £35 cheaper than the Travelodge?

£35 a night were on sale at both the Premier Inns at the time I randomly searched (23rd March), only randomly checked out of interest when I saw the Easy Hotel was £88 for both nights (considering I was paying £95 for Travelodge). I was surprised considering when I first looked at the start of the year when I booked that tour, PI was after £120 for the 'no cancellation, only free date swap' rate.

Probably a quirk with the price demand software PI use, as I know Reading gets expensive as it gets used as an overflow for both London & Oxford.

 

[Strazor]

We stayed in the Premier Inn Paddington Basin a couple of times last June.
Spotless. Decent steak restaurant/bar with happy hour. Within walking distance to the train station and the Tube station - 300 yards.
Good mid line hotel chain.
From this specific property, you can be sitting in Heathrow Airport in 45 minutes.

 

[Blindtraveler]

Quick tip for anybody using the Premier Inn Luton airport. I won't go into details as have done so before and it remains a classic airport hotel in every sense, people arriving in departing at all sorts of strange times, usually trapsing down your corridor saying not particularly politically correct things about Irish owned budget airlines and the odd selection of nocturnal sound effects but my advice here relates to travel to the airport. You are saving neither money or time in getting a cab back to Park way for the dart as both the camp fair have gone up and the dart is expensive anyway and less for some reason you've got it free as part of a package. I'm also not convinced that it saves any walking time compared to the bus due to the location of the dart station at the airport end

 

[MasterSpenny]

Club Marbella - Crown Resorts (Calahonda, Spain)

This is a great holiday hotel that I have stayed in many times before. This is a return from when I last went in May 2022.

The hotel itself has both an indoor and outdoor swimming pool, a small golf area, a room for playing poole and a bar. This hotel doesn’t have many food/drink facilities, although there are some places for this in the area. To me though, it seems that they get you to make your beds: there is typically not cleaners that go into the rooms and do that now, which is something I seem to remember there being.

For people who are going on a trip to this area of Spain, I personally recommend this hotel!

 

[Kite159]

Something, which might be of interest to some, is that the former Best Western hotel outside Crewe station (Crewe Arms) has reopened to the public.

 

[Blindtraveler]

That's definitely of interest to me. Is it still best Western branded or have the management changed completely or taken it back from under the best Western umbrella? Certainly good to know that that's back again as I did use it and I did miss it


Travelodge borum wood studio way
Rail access via high Barnet or edgeware Northern line and the 107 bus or from Thameslink, bus taxi or on foot at borumwood station
This is one of the properties acquired from Mitchell's and butlers about 15 years ago. And not entirely sure how many of these there are left now. After the large number of closures both before and during and just after the pandemic, it's clearly had the 2010s era Room refurbishment and although there's a small list of maintenance jobs in every room, no doubt it was perfectly acceptable with the latest design of bed and at 26 lb something per night which is what I paid. It was perfectly acceptable. Toby carvery next door offering full service throughout the day including breakfanice staff

 

[Kite159]

Is it still best Western branded or have the management changed completely or taken it back from under the best Western umbrella

I didn't see any references to Best Western on the hotel when I passed nor when I noticed it when searching for my usual Crewe shared house in August time.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

I didn't see any references to Best Western on the hotel when I passed nor when I noticed it when searching for my usual Crewe shared house in August time.

The licence application is in the name of Crewe Arms Management Limited; that would imply it's now a standalone business?

 

[richw]

The licence application is in the name of Crewe Arms Management Limited; that would imply it's now a standalone business?

Best western is merely a franchise they can pay to use. Best westerns were all independents paying to use the brand, so that doesn’t imply anything

 

[ChrisC]

Ibis Aberdeen Central - Quayside

A very good location if you are looking for somewhere in Aberdeen to base yourself for trips out by train or bus. It’s located straight opposite the Maritime Museum and no more than 5 minutes walk away from the Railway and Bus Stations.

Accommodation in the centre of Aberdeen seemed quite expensive and even some of the other budget hotels were asking quite high prices. Although not cheap, the Ibis seems to be consistently at a lower price than some of its competitors. Typical Ibis room but it was quiet, clean, and with a very comfortable bed. I was on the 4th floor at the back of the hotel with good views of the harbour and shipping movements. Staff were very friendly. The buffet breakfast was good with hot food items regularly replenished including some very good haggis, and much hotter food than at many similar buffet breakfasts. Evening meals acceptable, I only ate in once, and were just typical mass produced bar meal type. The only things that were not so good was a lack of power points in the room especially by the bed and a very small tv.

Although only a budget hotel, and for longer stays I usually prefer something a bit for upmarket, I was actually very comfortable there for a 9 night stay. Perhaps it was the comfortable bed that helped as I had 8 busy long days out travelling by bus and walking.

 

[alexf380]

Black Isle Bar Rooms - Inverness

Located about 10 minutes walk away from Inverness station, it's a reasonable hostel-style roof over your head. I believe all rooms are twin/bunk bed with private bathrooms so no need to worry about sharing. There was some noise as the pub and beer garden are downstairs but I was on the road side of the building and slept well.
£179 for two nights in May isn't bad considering what Inverness can be like sometimes. I'd stay there again.

 

[Kite159]

Not bad considering Inverness can be quite expensive this time of year, sometimes a basic room is all you need. Although I suspect it will be a bit like that Waverley hotel in Inverness in being a bit noisy due to the location (all the drinkers)

 

[Kite159]

The Boundary Hotel, Headingley (Leeds)

Located around a ten minute (if that) walk from Burley Park station with a few bus routes both stopping close to the hotel and on the main-road a short distance away. Located close to the cricket stadium. The place has seen better days in terms of the interior as it was a bit tired. Quite steep stairs to the top floor, room was basic but functional with a window which could be opened wide. Shared bathroom was a negative with showers which took a while to get warmed up plus a shower door which didn't close properly so one of the bathrooms smelt very damp. I had a room overlooking the stadium so other than Friday evening when there was an event happening (free fireworks show!) it was reasonably quiet

Would I stay there again? If the price was right (think I paid £36 a night which in the current climate for West Yorkshire for something close to a station isn't all that bad. Downside is check in closes at 9pm. Plenty of options close to the hotel for food/drink

 

[Blindtraveler]

I have also used this a couple of times, it offers some ensuite rooms as well for those wishing to pay a little more

 

[AntoniC]

I can thoroughly recommed Park Hotel & Apartments in Hull.
Stayed in Apartment 24 which is a 2 bed apartment with full airconditioning.
It`s 500 m from Hull station and has a Tesco Extra opposite.
Cost for 1 night was £140.00 (splt between 2 people).
Reception was excellent and the facilities in the apartment top notch.
I recommend this place !

 

[MasterSpenny]

Hilton Honours, New York City

This is another hotel I can recommend, with this one being in New York in the United States. It’s one of the taller hotels I’ve been in, having a total of 36 floors! They have a gym, restaurant and from the higher up floors gives a good view of the city with all of the tall buildings. Overall, I would recommend that you go to this one if you ever found yourself planning to go to New York!

 

[richw]

having a total of 36 floors!

Hopefully the lifts work!

 

[Blindtraveler]

Mercure stains upon Thames hotel
Back open to the general public again after a time housing asylum seekers and a recent refurbishment in which a lot of fresh paint and new carpet as well as replastering and various other upgrades to rims, bathrooms and public areas has been done. It could just be that things are still working back up to how they were but this previously 4 star rated property now appears to be offering a bit more of a No frills type service. Although it's still a very comfortable one, I slept extremely well in a cool room that could have done with a fan but were still acceptable, breakfast was tasty and freshly cooked, albeit buffet style with proper orange juice and decent fresh fruit salad, limited staffing. But what staff there were appeared friendly and a bar service is provided in the evenings, I think food as well had already stuffed myself full of various buffet delicacies at the wake memorial I was attending at a pub just down the road. Incidentally, if you are in the town and want a decent pint the star just 2 minutes walk from the station is excellent

 

[Blindtraveler]

Would I stay again? I guess if the price was correct, so many hotels with in heathrows vortex are simply bad value for money

 

[Butts]

Would I stay again? I guess if the price was correct, so many hotels with in heathrows vortex are simply bad value for money

Premier Inn T4 is often to be had at a reasonable rate.

 

[Blindtraveler]

Premier Inn T4 is often to be had at a reasonable rate.

Good tip. Thanks, I need at least one night in the Heathrow area in September

 

[Cletus]

Stayed at the Heathrow T4 Premier Inn last year. It is quite a trek from an Elizabeth Line train. IIRC - off the platform, 3? corridors, guess which lift will arrive 1st to get up to the terminal and then another long slog along the walkway to the hotel. I was on the inside of the triangular building, couldn't get a mobile signal at all (too mean to pay for wi-fi). It was cheap though.

 

[Blindtraveler]

Travelodge dotland's Central
New hotel that appears to have been pretty well built and finished to a good standard, let's see how this goes in future as the usual TL lacklustre maintenance regime kicks in, air conditioned rims which was welcome on Wednesday night. Although mine did take awhile to cool down, making me wonder if the system is general struggles, a fact further speculated on by the fact that they have huge great big commercial high-speed fans dotted all over the reception and bar area, presumably because the air conditioning is not up to it
Nice staff, decent amount of lifts for a 12-story hotel. Also, bus stop for the 115 a couple of minutes walk away Will use again if price is right

 

[03_179]

REQUEST:
Looking at a trip with SWMBO in October to Wales.

Swansea 1 or 2 nights
Shrewsbury 1 night
Aberystwith 2 nights

She will want a Premier Inn most likely.

1. Are the ones in these places ok?
2. All appear to be not far from the stations but are the areas ok?
3. Any other recommendations for overnight places to stay at these places?

Thanks in advance,

 

[Blindtraveler]

REQUEST:
Looking at a trip with SWMBO in October to Wales.

Swansea 1 or 2 nights
Shrewsbury 1 night
Aberystwith 2 nights

She will want a Premier Inn most likely.

1. Are the ones in these places ok?
2. All appear to be not far from the stations but are the areas ok?
3. Any other recommendations for overnight places to stay at these places?

Thanks in advance,

The The Shrewsbury one is often very expensive. But yes as far as area goes it's fine. Can't help you with the other destinations I'm afraid

 

[Haywain]

Premier Inn, Wigan Central. Stayed on Friday night, cost £49 room only, and very well located for the places I was visiting (Manchester and Preston). Not quite as central as the name suggests but only a 10 minute walk from the stations, and across a dual carriageway. My room was ground floor at the back and surprisingly quiet. Apart from a bit of hassle with the self check in machine failing to issue a key everything was as expected. Would definitely stay again.

 

[Kite159]

Travelodge, Milton Keynes (The Hub)

Located around a 10 minute walk from the station, close to a large Sainsbury's. Looked like a modern hotel with plenty of nightlife around the general area. A bit noisy from the outside when the drunks attempt to open the doors. Usual Travelodge rooms with a wet room for a shower (no tray). Paid £38 for Friday night on the Tuesday when I was looking at options for the railtour today (Easy Hotel was £39, the 'Central Milton Keynes' Travelodge was £40 with both Premier Inns being £65+

 

[Blindtraveler]

Thanks for the recommendation, I am doing an increasing amount of work in MK at the moment and some of it we are expected to do as a day trip and there are times when I'm simply too tired to travel all the way back to Kent and not have the following day as a complete write-off so this is useful, the central MK outpost of TL is just that little bit too Central for me unfortunately