Accommodation suggestions and reviews

[Kite159]

Premier Inn, Reading (Caversham Bridge):
A revisit since August 2020 (when I didn't spend that long in the hotel as it was a single night). Booked for the Pathfinder tour to the Cambrian Coast last week (late notice swapping from the town centre Travelodge as it was £35 a night to save some money). Located around 10 minutes north of the station. Currently being refurbished into the latest Premier Inn standard room so could be hit or miss at what room you get. I got a newer room (nice purple light in the bathroom area) which is the standard Premier Inn, a bit noisy with the window open for fresh air due to road noise (and rain).

Certainly a place I would be using again if the price was right, only downside is being located to the north of the station, having more limited options for food.

 

[trainophile]

£35 a night for a Reading Premier Inn? . Or do yo mean it was £35 cheaper than the Travelodge?

 

[Kite159]

£35 a night for a Reading Premier Inn? . Or do yo mean it was £35 cheaper than the Travelodge?

£35 a night were on sale at both the Premier Inns at the time I randomly searched (23rd March), only randomly checked out of interest when I saw the Easy Hotel was £88 for both nights (considering I was paying £95 for Travelodge). I was surprised considering when I first looked at the start of the year when I booked that tour, PI was after £120 for the 'no cancellation, only free date swap' rate.

Probably a quirk with the price demand software PI use, as I know Reading gets expensive as it gets used as an overflow for both London & Oxford.

 

[Strazor]

We stayed in the Premier Inn Paddington Basin a couple of times last June.
Spotless. Decent steak restaurant/bar with happy hour. Within walking distance to the train station and the Tube station - 300 yards.
Good mid line hotel chain.
From this specific property, you can be sitting in Heathrow Airport in 45 minutes.

 

[Blindtraveler]

Quick tip for anybody using the Premier Inn Luton airport. I won't go into details as have done so before and it remains a classic airport hotel in every sense, people arriving in departing at all sorts of strange times, usually trapsing down your corridor saying not particularly politically correct things about Irish owned budget airlines and the odd selection of nocturnal sound effects but my advice here relates to travel to the airport. You are saving neither money or time in getting a cab back to Park way for the dart as both the camp fair have gone up and the dart is expensive anyway and less for some reason you've got it free as part of a package. I'm also not convinced that it saves any walking time compared to the bus due to the location of the dart station at the airport end

 

[MasterSpenny]

Club Marbella - Crown Resorts (Calahonda, Spain)

This is a great holiday hotel that I have stayed in many times before. This is a return from when I last went in May 2022.

The hotel itself has both an indoor and outdoor swimming pool, a small golf area, a room for playing poole and a bar. This hotel doesn’t have many food/drink facilities, although there are some places for this in the area. To me though, it seems that they get you to make your beds: there is typically not cleaners that go into the rooms and do that now, which is something I seem to remember there being.

For people who are going on a trip to this area of Spain, I personally recommend this hotel!

 

[Kite159]

Something, which might be of interest to some, is that the former Best Western hotel outside Crewe station (Crewe Arms) has reopened to the public.

 

[Blindtraveler]

That's definitely of interest to me. Is it still best Western branded or have the management changed completely or taken it back from under the best Western umbrella? Certainly good to know that that's back again as I did use it and I did miss it


Travelodge borum wood studio way
Rail access via high Barnet or edgeware Northern line and the 107 bus or from Thameslink, bus taxi or on foot at borumwood station
This is one of the properties acquired from Mitchell's and butlers about 15 years ago. And not entirely sure how many of these there are left now. After the large number of closures both before and during and just after the pandemic, it's clearly had the 2010s era Room refurbishment and although there's a small list of maintenance jobs in every room, no doubt it was perfectly acceptable with the latest design of bed and at 26 lb something per night which is what I paid. It was perfectly acceptable. Toby carvery next door offering full service throughout the day including breakfanice staff

 

[Kite159]

Is it still best Western branded or have the management changed completely or taken it back from under the best Western umbrella

I didn't see any references to Best Western on the hotel when I passed nor when I noticed it when searching for my usual Crewe shared house in August time.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

I didn't see any references to Best Western on the hotel when I passed nor when I noticed it when searching for my usual Crewe shared house in August time.

The licence application is in the name of Crewe Arms Management Limited; that would imply it's now a standalone business?

 

[richw]

The licence application is in the name of Crewe Arms Management Limited; that would imply it's now a standalone business?

Best western is merely a franchise they can pay to use. Best westerns were all independents paying to use the brand, so that doesn’t imply anything

 

[ChrisC]

Ibis Aberdeen Central - Quayside

A very good location if you are looking for somewhere in Aberdeen to base yourself for trips out by train or bus. It’s located straight opposite the Maritime Museum and no more than 5 minutes walk away from the Railway and Bus Stations.

Accommodation in the centre of Aberdeen seemed quite expensive and even some of the other budget hotels were asking quite high prices. Although not cheap, the Ibis seems to be consistently at a lower price than some of its competitors. Typical Ibis room but it was quiet, clean, and with a very comfortable bed. I was on the 4th floor at the back of the hotel with good views of the harbour and shipping movements. Staff were very friendly. The buffet breakfast was good with hot food items regularly replenished including some very good haggis, and much hotter food than at many similar buffet breakfasts. Evening meals acceptable, I only ate in once, and were just typical mass produced bar meal type. The only things that were not so good was a lack of power points in the room especially by the bed and a very small tv.

Although only a budget hotel, and for longer stays I usually prefer something a bit for upmarket, I was actually very comfortable there for a 9 night stay. Perhaps it was the comfortable bed that helped as I had 8 busy long days out travelling by bus and walking.

 

[alexf380]

Black Isle Bar Rooms - Inverness

Located about 10 minutes walk away from Inverness station, it's a reasonable hostel-style roof over your head. I believe all rooms are twin/bunk bed with private bathrooms so no need to worry about sharing. There was some noise as the pub and beer garden are downstairs but I was on the road side of the building and slept well.
£179 for two nights in May isn't bad considering what Inverness can be like sometimes. I'd stay there again.

 

[Kite159]

Not bad considering Inverness can be quite expensive this time of year, sometimes a basic room is all you need. Although I suspect it will be a bit like that Waverley hotel in Inverness in being a bit noisy due to the location (all the drinkers)