First of all I have to say the staff were lovely. Polite efficient and responsive. Sadly though, the place was a metaphor for this country. Tired, falling to bits and a bit tacky.
Two nights we stayed. The room we were first given had a hole in the bathroom floor and the net curtains were brown in places. So we moved and the new one looked like someone has been skating on the dressing table. The paint was chipped and scuffed here and there. But hey, it was better. Inevitably however, the room key stopped working and the toilet bunged up.
I thought the place was quite clean but my Wife smiled and said ‘its superficial’ pointing out the dust on the switch casing and the sticky threshold between the bedroom and bathroom.
The breakfast was served quickly with a smile. But the sausages came from the sausage factory, the bacon from the bacon factory and the scrambled egg from the powdered egg factory. (And obviously fried, boiled or poached weren’t available because that would be too near to fresh - likewise the case I guess for the absent tomatoes, mushrooms. ...... or anything else that could be fresh) so nothing much to go wrong there - or right for that matter.
And the whole system-built concrete thing sits at the bottom of an ASDA car park next to a derelict place that looks like a massive dirty, petrified igloo.
Would I go back. Well yes. Because the bed was comfy, the sheets were clean, it was cheap and I do superficial (unlike my wife). And mostly, I know that when things go wrong, which they inevitably will, the nice staff will be there to cheerfully put things right.
Nevertheless, my message to the top bid of Holiday Inn (uk) and it’s board of directors is: Not good enough guys. Knock it down. Don’t be superficial. Don’t be the Ryan Air of hotels.
