The City Inn Manchester is located opposite Manchester’s main Piccadilly train station, just steps away from the City Centre. Based in a rather unassuming building, this hotel offers an experience that parallels some of the finest establishments in the world.
Now, the name of the hotel itself gives little away nor does the location next to a newly developed office come residential building; immediately you assume it to be motel style accommodation but the City Inn is far from a motorway stop-off.
We first stayed at the City Inn a few years ago, for their great value New Years Eve package, so much so we re-booked a stay for New Years Eve 2009/2010 (admittedly the review is late for publication due to unfortunate issues with the Chocolate Pillow site).
Firstly, the package – let’s just say that you will be hard pushed to find something better in Manchester. The package starts at £199 for one night in a standard room, with a full 5 course evening meal and new years day brunch (served up until 3pm for those that like to party hard!). We took this package however upgraded to a suite; a room not dissimilar to the standard rooms, however with larger floor space and a separate seating and dining area.
Upon entering the foyer you know you are in a hotel that prides itself on service and appearance. The immaculate reception area giving way to a high ceiling and wide open spaces, making you immediately feel as though there must be something wrong for the room rate to be such good value. The reception team checked us in quickly and efficiently, with an ever present smile and welcoming manner, making sure that the booking was correct and efficiently offering any assistance required before providing our complimentary drinks vouchers (an added and unexpected bonus) and guiding us to the lifts for the rooms.
The rooms themselves are in 2 main types, standard and the suites. Having stayed in both room types (we stayed in standard first time round, this time we went for a suite), we can happily say that even a standard room makes you feel like you are in the lap of luxury. Firstly the beds are of a very ample size; I for one could lie at any angle and still not have my feet dangling off the edges! Each room has floor to ceiling windows which allow plenty of natural light into the room, and they have even foregone the modern hotel horror and installed windows that you can open. Along with the guest controlled air conditioning; we could tell straight away that as soon as we slipped in to the complimentary towelling robes, this was going to be a very comfortable stay indeed.
The suites themselves have an additional seating area and 4 person dining table, all fitting in with the crisp décor to create a feeling of living in a designer apartment, particularly with the grand views afforded by such large welcoming windows. Similarly the bathrooms are not all that tiny for a hotel with lots of rooms, there was adequate room for showering and getting ready in a standard room – the suites have an additional bath tub and larger bathrooms.
Overall the City Inn is definitely not an experience to be missed, and is the best value for money you could ever ask for. Whilst room rates remain competitive, the service is second to none. At no point are you left to feel like you are just another guest, or that you are being ignored. If you want comfortable unobtrusive surroundings, with word class service but need to stick to a budget, then the City Inn Manchester is definitely the place to go. We can soon see this hotel becoming a leader on the Manchester market, well deserving of its 4 star rating and definitely a great place to see in 2010 with an opulent bang!
Dinner was in the City Café, a brand that is renowned in restaurant circles for food that is not only full of flavour but also exquisitely designed. Despite being busy in the restaurant when we went, many tables have curtains or drapes to separate the tables and this massively reduces the amount of background noise you sometimes get in such busy environments, making holding a conversation so much easier. The staff in the restaurant were as attentive as ever (the City Café being a favourite of ours, always dining there when we can), pandering to our every whim and serving throughout with a hearty smile and just the right amount of small talk. Oddly we did notice something that made us very happy – the fact that the staff never interrupted a conversation, always waiting for you to acknowledge their presence before speaking to you. Dining in the restaurant is definitely not an experience to miss, the food is very fairly priced and the service is second to none.
