AN INSPECTOR CALLS

His mission: To test hotel hospitality to the limit

WHEN, on asking a friend who knows Hull intimately, where is the best place to stay in the UK City of Culture, she says, unhesitatingly: ‘The Holiday Inn.’

No disrespect to this chain, but her advice shows the task facing Hull as it seeks to capitalise on its new-found cultural status.

Ideally, the best thing would be to knock down this ugly, red-brick building and replace it with one more sympathetic to its surroundings.

Those surroundings include the marina and former industrial buildings in the once-thriving Fruit Market that is becoming a hip new area, filled with restaurants, bars and galleries.

But we are where we are (as they might say in Yorkshire) and, once inside the Holiday Inn Hull Marina, as it’s officially called, the staff are friendly, the beds comfortable and the TVs easy to use.

There’s no password for the wifi; there’s a health club with gym, indoor pool and sauna; the bar stays open late — and the breakfast is on a par with hotels that charge double the rate.

I’m in an ‘executive room’ on the third floor, from where I can see yachts bobbing about and, in the distance, the top of The Deep — a spectacular aquarium, home to 3,500 fish.

There are quite a few leaflets and notices in the room. One tells guests that, if they’ve forgotten anything, then just contact reception and ‘we will be happy to give you a replacement with our compliments’.

Another, by the loo, says: ‘I hope you are sitting comfortably’, followed by a note from ‘Catrina’, the hotel’s Public Area Cleaner, asking you to turn off all the lights when leaving the room.

We opt for dinner elsewhere, but make sure we are in good time for the sumptuous breakfast at the hotel.

Diana serves us and she’s a delightful character. Ask her for anything and she replies with a cheery ‘okey cokey’.

We enjoy our stay enormously. It’s Hull’s finest: The Holiday Inn been surprisingly ‘okey cokey’, and we make a point of switching off all the lights before departure. Holiday Inn Hull Marina Castle St, Hull HU1 2BX hihullmarinahotel.co.uk Tel: 020 3349 9169 Doubles from £69.84 room-only (Add breakfast for £10 per couple)