Quote: I just fancied a change of venue and decided to try another well-known chain of hotels close to the City centre. The Hotel Ibis is on Portland Street near to China Town and when I booked in I just had to trust in the receptionist’s assurance that the back rooms were quiet. I confirmed that I wanted a back room and also checked out their cancellation policy. I was surprised that you could cancel up to 4.00pm on the day of your stay, but it’s real helpful if, like me, you’re travelling on business with the possibility that I could, at the last minute be re-directed to another site.

The hotel lobby is real spacious and light but it does also accommodate the restaurant, an internet access area, a significant information centre with leaflets and local papers, and a lounge area. Indeed in the late evening it looked more like a local drop-in centre rather than a hotel. The hotel doesn’t do “proper meals” but does offer a range of snacks that you can eat in the lobby area or take to your room. However, you’re so near a load of fine restaurants, snack bars and pubs that it really doesn’t matter.

I received a real warm welcome to the hotel and the receptionist seemed to recognise me from my pop-in call to book the room on the previous week. Either that or she was very good at giving the impression that she knew you. Whatever the case it was real impressive!

I’d asked for a quiet room when I’d booked the room and it was duly confirmed that I’d been allocated a room at the back. “These aren’t as light as the front of the hotel” she explained “but there’s no traffic noise”. I happily agreed – light and bright wasn’t necessary, after all it was a hotel bedroom and its main function should be to give me a decent night’s sleep. I was on the first floor so a brief ride in the lift soon took me to my destination.

The functional corridors pointed me to the room and although I had some difficulty getting my swipe card to let me into the room (I momentarily thought it was faulty) I finally gained access. Indeed even after a couple of nights I never really got the hang of the plastic entrance card!

On first appearance the room seemed well equipped with a modern TV and an almost futuristic bathroom. However, on reflection the room was really quite basic. There was a kettle, a small selection of coffee and a tea bag, but no hairdryer. The water glasses were plastic - don’t you just hate that? Trying to catch up with the news was a complicated process as the TV was programmed to take you through numerous “pay options” before allowing you to view the terrestrial free channels. Still I wouldn’t be in the room long!

After a decent meal out I returned to what turned out to be a fairly noisy hotel bedroom. Nothing to do with traffic noise but everything to do with thin walls and poorly insulated corridors. The soundproofing was abysmal and I could clearly hear every footstep of everyone that passed my room.

After cursing the fabrication of the building I finally drifted to sleep and was only grateful that I’d set the alarm clock. A cooked breakfast is not an option at the Ibis and so I was unsure how much I’d enjoy the buffet in the uninspiring foyer / restaurant of the hotel. Needless to say with low expectations I was not to be disappointed. In fact I was pleasantly surprised.

There were a variety of foods on display ranging from cereal, cold meat, hard-boiled eggs, yoghurt, croissants and various breads. The coffee machine could be programmed to churn out cappuccinos, filter coffee, or drinking chocolate but having said that it was not untypical, in taste, to a standard mass-production coffee machine. In other words not the best tasting beverage to start off your day. However, generally the quality of the food was good and there was plenty of it. Indeed momentarily I heard myself thinking that it was a better breakfast than a full English. Needless to say I soon talked my way out of that and decided that if I was staying in a hotel the least I expected was a decent full-blown English to set me up for the day.

Overall the Ibis on Portland Street was an uninspiring chain hotel that did not encourage me to return. Ok for a night or two but generally noisey and fairly impersonal.

From journals Manchester - Some City Centre Hotels