Manchester City Centre (Arena/Printworks) hotel

Me my Mother and daughter stayed with you again last night and had a fantastic stay. Brilliant location for us and parking. Staff were wonderful and the new check in machines saved a lot of time. We’ll be back soon 🙂

The perfect location for Victoria train station and for onward journeys to Manchester airport. The shopping area is easily accessible from the hotel too. We booked the meal deal in the restaurant which was great value for money with a full range of dishes to choose from as well as drinks. The buffet breakfast was up to the usual high standard of Premier Inns. All the staff were the most helpful, kind and caring we’ve ever come across on our visits to Premier Inns, thanks to them for making our stay a great experience.

This isn't a bad review about Premier Inns or even this hotel in general, just one member of staff. I normally would book a premier inn if I am travelling for work and did on this occasion as they are usually very good. And having not stayed in Manchester before thought it would be a safe bet. My travel is booked via the company, and they provide credit card details to the hotel to take payment (I've never had an issue at any other hotel (premier inn or not). I arrived at the hotel just after 14.00, and there was a very helpful lady on the desk who explained I couldn't check in till 14.30. I explained I had to make my way to a meeting in another area of Manchester for 15.00 but she advised I could leave my suitcase. She gave me a ticket. I explained I might not be back until 9ish and she said that was fine as the desk was manned 24/7. I got back to the hotel at 21.15 and there was a gentleman waiting at the front desk. I stood behind him for 5 minutes and in the end asked if he was being seen to. He said he had been there for 10 minutes and not been seen to. He had pressed the buzzer repeatedly, and no one had come (bearing in mind there is a screen next to reception, which shows people standing there, which must be linked to cctv. After another couple of minutes, I knocked on the door next to the desk (staff entry only), but there was no response. So I had a walk around and found another door with staff entry only and knocked on that. A woman answered and was obviously annoyed that I had disturbed her. I told her she had people at the desk waiting to check in, and she told me to use the machines. I advised her I needed to collect my case and the gentleman in front of me actually wanted to speak to someone!. She came out of the room but clearly wasn't happy. Gave me my case and then again told me to use the machine to check in. The machine kept saying error - try again. I did but still kept saying the same message. I waited until she finished with the gentleman who was in front of me and then advised the machine wasn't working. She asked for my name and then said £108 was owing. I advised that the business had provided payment details, but she wouldn't have it. I asked her to look at the email confirmation I had, but that was obviously too much trouble for her. So at 9.30 at night, in a city I had never stayed in before and as a lone female traveller I felt I had no choice but to pay £108 pounds. Luckily, I can do so, but what if someone else was in the same position and couldn't afford to do so? I have the name of that member of staff and can I suggest that she needs some customer service training? I came down twice the next morning to speak to someone, and each time, the desk was unmanned. It's really disappointing. Whilst this isn't indicative of premier inns- I wouldn't stay in this one again. So I didn't have a good night's sleep!

We have stayed at this Premier Inn many times before and on this visit it has changed a lot since previously. I was meant to be staying two nights but after our flight got cancelled I only got to stay the second night. I was concerned they'd give our room away thinking we were no shows so I emailed the hotel directly from the email I had been sent a few days earlier with the reminder of my stay email. I'm not sure why I bothered as I emailed at 8am on Sunday and still have not received a reply and it's Friday now. Thankfully our room was kept but it would have been nice for the email to be acknowledged. I also tried contacting via Twitter and got no answer until a day later but by that point I was already in the room. So the moral of that story is, don't have a problem that needs resolving at the weekend! You'd expect hotels would answer all days of the week as there's someone working every day of the week. When we arrived at the hotel around 9am the next day I instantly noticed that the foyer had changed and whilst it looked homely and welcoming before with lots of seating and a member of staff to greet you it now looked bland and uninviting. The long chair near the door was removed and only two seats around a table remained. I hope multiple people aren't waiting for a taxi at the same time as they'll have to stand! Taking away the staff desk makes the area feel cold in comparison and whilst the staff came quickly once the bell was rung I think there should be someone watching the door as that leaves the ground floor empty of any staff. Now the area is just one big empty cold uninviting entrance. As we were supposed to check in the day before the member of staff had no problem checking us in at 9am. I requested a room lower to the ground as I wanted to use the stairs but he said the rooms had already been allocated. I presume this is because of us having booked from the night before as I didn't think they usually got allocated until you checked in. The room was on the fifth floor but thankfully it had the cathedral view which I much prefer over the dirty river and car park view on the other side of the hotel. I was surprised it was next to the lift though as Premier Inn always used to have a policy where lone female travellers wouldn't be put next to a lift or at the end of the corridor but mine was the first room next to the lift. It wasn't noisy though, the street outside was noisier but it was a Monday though so not a popular day for hotel stays. The room was as I expected and I'd stayed in a room exactly the same as it a few times before. The room is a great size with lots of space. The bed is very comfy but I never managed to get a good nights sleep as I struggle to in hotels. The WiFi is usually terrible in this hotel but it worked pretty well this time. Maybe that's because I stayed on a Monday which will be quieter than the weekend. After staying in single rooms elsewhere throughout the year I was pleased to have two mugs but I was disappointed to see they're now glass mugs. I hate glass mugs, I don't want to see what I'm drinking through the side! They were clean though and added a modern look to the room. The bathroom wasn't too big but it was perfectly functional. I don't like the noise of the fan when the door is open as it's so unnecessarily loud but I know from experience it's the same in all of the rooms in this hotel. In the evening I wasn't feeling too well so asked if I could take food from the restaurant up to my room and this was no problem. I found the food very disappointing though as it tasted like it had been recooked. I ordered close to 5pm so I guess it's a possibility but I've never had that problem with food from their restaurant previously and have gone down for a meal just as early. I also ordered the same as every time so I'm not sure why the food tasted recooked this time with the chicken chewy and the chips so crispy it was like there was no potato in them. The one thing I was disgusted by during this stay was the cleanliness of the stairwell. It doesn't look like they've been cleaned in years. I have a photo I took of the cathedral from the stairs three years ago and whilst the windows were dirty then they weren't anywhere near as filthy as they are now. The windows are now so coated in dirt you can barely see out them. Don't these windows get cleaned when the rest of the building is?! There are also massive cobwebs hanging off the lights and the area just looks filthy, as if no one's stepped in there to clean the stairs in years. As you reach the bottom there's also no lights which makes it feel like you shouldn't be there but I've seen it the same in the Leicester Square Premier Inn. The staff had no problem keeping our suitcases for us once we'd checked out but I was baffled why they put them in a side room when they have a big luggage room opposite. The man getting them out must've been equally as baffled as he went to get them from the luggage room before realising they weren't there. Whilst this stay was more problematic than previous ones it's still my favourite Premier Inn of all I've been to across the country. I'd definitely recommend it but I wish they'd put the foyer and mugs back to how they were.

The experience was fine, but wasn’t impressed with bathroom, you need to run the water ten minutes before you get in shower, this needs looking at in room 109