Holiday Inn Bristol City Centre

Nothing like the photos!!

Disliked: We had requested prior to our stay that the spare bed be made, which we were told that it had been put on the system and that it would be done upon our arrival. When we had arrived at the hotel, we were given our room, without the spare bed made with let alone enough room for a spare bed. We were then moved rooms by the manager on shift, at a costly expense as the room with the capacity for a spare bed was considered an ‘upgrade’. We were then told that we should have made the request through booking.com however this was not said to us when we called up the hotel itself to request the spare bed being made. When we were gathering our things to move rooms, we were put under pressure by the staff and told we were to ‘hurry’ out of the room or they wouldn’t be able to resell it - twice we were told this, once at the desk when I went down to swap rooms and once over the phone when they rang us from reception to tell us to hurry up in a massively unprofessional manner and that we were some sort of inconvenience to them. When we were given our upgraded room, it was massively disappointing- filthy, multiple black hairs on the bed, stains on the headboard and most of all stunk of cigarettes!! The spare bed was a flimsy one seater couch that barely looked safe to stay on. When we mentioned this to the staff, they had sent someone in to dust over the room whilst we were out which barely made a difference to the cleanliness of the room that we had paid to be ‘upgraded’ too. It was quite frankly the dirtiest room I have stayed in and if we hadn’t been in the car for 5 hours prior to arriving at the hotel, I would have checked out and stayed elsewhere. The breakfast was nice and staff were polite, especially the breakfast staff who were most helpful. The location was close to restaurants and the centre but apart from this, it was a really poor experience.

Lovely comfortable rooms, friendly and...

Liked: It was bright and fresh and clean. Staff were friendly and helpful and the breakfast was delicious with lots of choice.
Disliked: Nothing

Exceptional

Very good

I have always used Holiday...

Liked: room was too far down the corridor but it was ok, breakfast was fine, however entertainment options very poor
Disliked: the entertainment options

Superb

Liked: Breakfast was superb - nothing was missing from the huge buffet laid out.

Unsafe environment

Liked: Near to city center
Disliked: We parked the car at the parking next to it, based on their recommendation and it is even in the Q&A. We even paid for it at the hotel. Unfortunately they broke into the car by smashing the window and stole our stuff. We spoke to the police about it and they said it happens very frequent over there because there lives a drug addict in the staircase of the parking. As soon as we spoke to the hotel about it they said the parking is not their responsibility, while we just wanted to inform them about it to prevent it from happening to other guests. Now I feel that they should have done more to prevent this from happening, by warning customers when they park their car over there or put some signs up. So be warned!

Exceptional

Liked: The staff made this place incredible! They went above and beyond to make my kids feel special

Very good

Liked: Kids corner in the restaurant and staff super friendly. Dinner included in the half board had a good variety of options.
Disliked: The bed was not comfortable, the mattress and pillow were clearly old. The breakfast options were average. Not bad, but I would have expected more.