Six Hotels, One Week!

It is another week and another round of hotels. In fact, this week it will be six hotels in one week, ouch.. (I must buy a place to live!!!!!!)

We are in the midst of a recession and I sometimes wonder what businesses are thinking. The last three nights have been three different hotels but all very similar in certain ways. All are modern, clean and in good condition. So I cannot really differentiate them on physical attributes, and if I did it would not be fair because they are all very different locations. So we are left with the mentality of the hotel in the service it provides.

Here it is so different. On Sunday night it is the Ettington Chase Hotel nestled in the Warwickshire country side. Wonderful location, excellent parking and beautiful setting if it wasn't covered in snow. Receptionist is delightful and very friendly. The room is good. This is not a cheap hotel at over £100 a night but also not that expensive. So far the experience is great.

In fact I am thinking that this is an ideal place to recommend to a client of mine as a venue for their conference. They would love the setting and the airy layout would be ideal.

I try to log into the internet and guess what. I have to go to reception and get a scratch card with a password on it. That is going to cost me £15 for the day. The first sign of a hotel that is penny pinching. If I can go into MacDonalds or Starbucks and get WiFi for free, and all hotels in the States are internet free, why am I expected to pay £15 at a hotel that charges over £100 a night? On top of that, I am expected to fetch a scratch card from reception to do this? My experience is broken.

In the morning we walk into the conference room to set up. Not only does the projector not work (the wires on the electric cable are so abused through use, they are showing through. Obviously they are penny pinching on the maintenance as well) but the projector is chained to the table!!!!!!!! What sort of clientele do they have in this hotel?

I will not recommend my client to this hotel. First of all, penny pinching by charging for the internet will simply be an insult to my client (as it was to me) and secondly, they are obviously not used to a quality client when the typical client they have wants to steal the projector (that doesn't work).

Ettington Chase Hotel - 2 points (1 for location and 1 for receptionist who they don't deserve to have working for them)

On to Manchester and the Cotton Hotel. Very similar to the Ettington. Out of town, plenty of parking, well laid out, nice room, very good receptionist, friendly atmosphere, good facilities, etc...... Service at the bar is outstanding and quality of food is wonderful. Wow! In reality the hotel is on a par with the Ettington Chase. I could be picky and point out things that were better but that would be unfair because those differences would be because my experience was so good I want to tell you to go there. Don't get me wrong, it is on a main road and it is not the Ritz, but it is simply a more than acceptable place to stay overnight when on business or traveling. AND IT IS THE SAME PRICE AS THE ETTINGTON CHASE HOTEL. Guess what? I was GIVEN a code to access the internet at NO EXTRA CHARGE!!!!! My experience is unbroken from arrival in the car park to the taxi being on time to take me to the airport when I left.

Cotton Hotel - 9

Landed in London at 9.30pm and I am booked into the Ibis Hotel at Heathrow. Now this is a basic hotel and expectations are not high. It is clean and functional. After all it is £52 for the night. Receptionist is excellent. In fact I am amazed at the service bearing in mind the hotel. Room is what you expect from an IBIS, it is clean and comfortable and remarkably roomy. I was expecting to be in a tiny room. Internet is not free and in fact it is expensive at 20Euro. But if you have an account with Boingo, BT, T-Mobile, etc, you can log in using your own account.

However, no iron and ironing board. mmmmm, ah well it is £52 and I can order one from reception. In the morning however, I find there is no hairdryer!!! I phone reception and I can FETCH one from reception. (He is on his own and cannot deliver it). Experience is broken. For the sake of less the £8 for a hairdryer in the room, they broke my experience and I will not return to the IBIS.

IBIS Hotel - 5

There is a recession and yet two out of three hotels broke my experience because they are penny pinching and as a result loosing real business. Ahh well. Off to Brussels and then Amsterdam. Can they make or break my experience?