Description: The hotel looks quite imposing, as it is a tall 15-story building in the heart of the Manchester city centre. As you enter the lobby through revolving doors, you immediately get a sense of style and ambience, with heavy wood and marble all over the lobby. The hotel is owned and operated by the Marriott chain of hotels, which operates all of the Renaissance branded hotels throughout the world.
Check-in?
Check-in begins at 2pm, although we arrived at 11:30am and were able to go into our room straight away. Check-out from the room had to be by noon.
The room?
The room we had was quite spacious and decorated in a light, airy style with flowered bedspreads. Everything in the room was very clean and tidy, and the room was well kept, although not quite as luxurious as other Marriott and Renaissance hotels I have stayed in.
Our room featured two quite spacious double beds, as well as a small lounge area that had a coffee table and two-seater sofa. The room had quite a large television with satellite TV (free) and movies you could pay for (I think there were six on offer!). The room also featured quite a large desk with a good desk light, as well as air-conditioning, a kettle, and tea and coffeemaking facilities (I especially liked the Renaissance-branded coffee mugs!) A nice touch was the bathrobe, which was new and fluffy, as were the towels.
Eating and drinking:
The hotel has a nice-looking restaurant called Robbies, which is a steakhouse featuring a wide variety of other dishes as well. We didn't eat in the restaurant for dinner, but enjoyed a snack in the bar, which was excellent and very reasonably priced. We also enjoyed the continental breakfast, which was very good, with a wide choice of pastries, fruits, drinks, and breads.
The bar has a Scottish theme and features a very wide range of whiskies and Scottish drinks. It is a very comfortable bar with big, comfy leather armchairs. Drinks are quite reasonably priced and comparable for city-centre hotels.
The price?
I booked via the Marriott website, and the cost for a double room per night (room only) was £129. If you are not too choosy according to the date you stay, there are plenty of good offers to be had. You can also ring the hotel to negotiate a deal, but I have always found when staying at Marriott hotels and resorts that the best deals are available online.
Getting there:
It's located less than 5 minutes away from the Manchester Victoria train station on foot and 15 minutes on foot from the Piccadilly train station (5 minutes by car).
Parking:
Parking is included in the room price and is in an NCP car park located right next door. Valet parking is also available at a charge (approximately £4 per day).
Close