Expensive night in room without view
I’M not quite sure where to start with my visit to Manchester’s Britannia Hotel.
With the ONE HOUR queue to check in?
With the bedroom without a window, stuffy and sweltering with an ageing air con I couldn’t get to work?
Or perhaps with the eye-watering £299 price for it all?
It’s not hard to see how The Britannia on Portland Street has become one of the most complained about hotels in Manchester on TripAdvisor right now, with a mammoth 1,871 “terrible” one star rated reviews from disgruntled customers.
So why did I stay here? Well, I needed somewhere to bed down in Manchester on a Saturday night, which is getting to be a very expensive business now the night time economy has surged back to life.
With a raft of major events happening in the city centre on that Saturday
(October 9) and the Manchester Marathon on the Sunday, hotel room rates were at a premium when I booked via booking.com.
Thanks to the hotel world’s fluctuating price system - based on supply and demand - a budget room at the Britannia that would usually cost you a reasonable enough £45 midweek, surges to £299 at peak times like Saturdays and when big football matches and gigs are taking place.
And that windowless room was the cheapest option I could find on booking.com in central Manchester. For £299. That room rate didn’t include breakfast (an extra £7.50 if you book at check-in) nor did it even include free WiFi - £7 for 24 hours worth. So that bumps the cost of my one night stay up to £315.
I asked booking.com and Britannia Hotels for comment about the rollercoaster pricing. Booking.com replied to say that “our accommodation partners are in complete control of the rates they choose to list with us and that includes price increases and fluctuations.” Britannia has not responded. I arrived at 4pm and my heart sank when I saw a queue already outside of the grand double doors for check-in.
Waiting does allow you to appreciate the grandeur of this 19th century building - however I became sick of the sight of the Roman Gods after staring at them a FULL HOUR waiting to get to the front of the queue.
Once inside my ground floor bedroom, the first thing that struck me was the wave of heat.
Yes, I knew there was no window when I booked, but I had foolishly thought this would be compensated by a modern form of air conditioning system. No such luck.
Aside from the heat, the room itself was pretty basic with old-fashioned dark furniture and plain magnolia walls punctuated by two dirty round marks above the bedhead.
But the bedding all looked clean and the bed itself felt comfy.
The bathroom also looked to be clean, although when I touched pretty much anything in the shower it fell off in my hands - the soap dispenser, the shower power control and temperature ring. I mean, I was able to put them straight back on again so they all still functioned ok, but not exactly the Ritz levels of quality is it?
All that said, the bed was comfy and it was a comfortable sleep.
Heading down to Jenny’s Restaurant for my buffet breakfast was perhaps the highlight of my stay.
Fine dining it ain’t, but the good old-fashioned all-you-can-eat fry up buffet was plentiful if you were after a cooked breakfast - and there was quite a pile of fresh fruit too.
Mercifully, there was no queuing for check out, as you popped your room key in a box on your way out.
I couldn’t help but notice the one thing not in short supply at the Britannia was racks stuffed with postcards of the grand old building.
Wish you were here? Erm, not so much no.