DoubleTree by Hilton Manchester Piccadilly

"I arrived around 12:00 (well before the official check-in time) and was immediately dismissed with a blunt “too early”. There was no attempt to check availability until I pushed for it (as Hilton's Diamond loyalty member), and even then I was told a room “could be ready soon”, but that I’d need to wait and keep coming back to ask (or they “might” come and get me). I sat in the bar and worked through emails. After an hour nobody came, so I returned to the desk – still not ready. I checked again later – still not ready. As the official check-in time approached, huge queues formed because only two desks were staffed. Meanwhile, the app showed my room was available and the digital key appeared. That’s how I got into the room – not because anyone followed up as promised. The room itself had a stale smoke smell. With the lobby queues growing, I stopped housekeeping and asked whether it was just a general “hotel smell” (i.e. needs some deep carpet cleaning) or if someone had actually smoked. They came in but said they couldn’t smell anything because their nose was blocked, offered to spray air freshener, and left. Not exactly reassuring, and not the response you want when you’ve just walked into a room that smells like smoke. Décor is very basic, especially the bathroom; functional and superficially clean, but it has that utilitarian, cost-cutting feel where you wouldn’t want to look too closely. Breakfast was also chaotic. On the first morning I was offered “special” seating for the most “valuable” guests. The next morning I was just placed at the darkest table which was not very clean. The food is OK if you’re not fussy, but don’t expect quality ingredients or anything refined: big slabs of ham and cheese, piles of cheap bacon, and coffee from large self-serve machines that tastes exactly as you’d expect. Overall, this is a budget-feeling hotel (in look and service, not price). It works if you plan to be out all day and just need somewhere to sleep, but the cost-cutting and lack of staff training are obvious. These issues are fixable, if management decides to invest in staffing, service standards, and basic guest experience."

"Always visit this hotel and it has never failed to deliver (see previous reviews)…until this time. Just got back from a two night stay for New Year. The hotel was great for all the usual positives such as location, staff friendliness and gorgeously peaceful rooms which guarantee a great night sleep. It was also nice to see that all three lifts are now up and running. This made a real difference. On arrival, we always look forward to our warm complimentary cookie. When we checked in we weren’t offered a cookie and my parented enquired, only to be told they had ran out. They know how many guests are checking in so the hotel really shouldn’t be running out, even if the cookies are only complimentary. Secondly, the window in our room was faulty and didn’t close completely, leaving a small crack around the seal which allowed noise from outside to enter the room. This meant the room wasn’t as quiet as usual but we still slept well as inside the hotel was very quiet as always. On New Years Eve we opted to eat at the restaurant and on being seated were told there were no steaks left. Again, surely the hotel knows how many guests are checking in so should have plenty of food in stock. Our waiter very kindly came back and said one steak had been found if we wanted it. I opted to have it but wished I hadn’t. It was the fattiest steak I’ve ever seen. I’d say 3/4 was fat (see photo) but I did actually eat quite a bit of the fatty part before realising how fatty it was. We went out on NYE an arrived back at the room to find a letter under the door stating there would be no room service/cleaning on NYD. This is fair enough as we understand that staff need time off, but we should have been informed of this on check-in. Plus, the letter stated the tea, coffee, sugar, toilet roll etc had been doubled up to account for no house keeping. This was not the case. We had 2 regular coffees, 2 decaf and 1.5 toilet rolls. This meant we had to go to reception to request more coffee and toilet rolls, with which the request was met with a smirk and almost an eye roll. Luckily I’m not a shy person or it could have been embarrassing to ask for toilet roll. We were told a member of housekeeping would bring the items to us and they arrived within about 30 minutes. Luckily we were in no rush for the toilet roll, but to be fair the poor housekeeper seemed rushed off her feet. Not enough staff. We have no issues with the room not being cleaned or replenished on NYD as staff work hard, but we should have been informed on check-in. Plus, there should have been a check done to make sure that coffee, toilet rolls etc were actually doubled up. We also feel there should have been money back or money added to our hotel tab toward a drink or food. When on holiday abroad, if you opt not to have your room cleaned, you get money back or money added to your hotel tab to use. Does not seem right to pay for full services when you are not receiving a full service. We had opted for breakfast in the hotel on NYD and went down at 10am. No hash browns, 3 pieces of poor quality bacon and four shrivelled up and dry sausages. We had to wait a long time for food to be replenished. Staff were run ragged and clearly management had decided not to have a full compliment of staff to keep costs down but this was detrimental to breakfast service. The coffee machines also ran out and we had to wait for replenishment. When it was replenished, the coffee was weak and burnt. The orange juice was also watered down. Breaksfat wasn’t worth £5 each, never mind the £12 each we paid (should have been £18 but got for £12 as we booked the night before). I never thought I would be writing such a negative review about one of our favourite UK hotels. We have been visiting this hotel several times a year since The Mint changed to Doubketree in 2012. It seems like poor management decisions have really had a negative impact on our stay. Next time, we’d consider looking at other hotels in the area as there are plenty of options close by."

"Staff are great. Really helpful. Especially Sam at reception who helped us out with sorting out a booking gone wrong! Thanks for a great stay guys!"