Having to spend a night between two flights in Manchester we decided to stay at the Marriott Manchester Airport.
Location
The hotel is located 10 minutes by car from the airport, so there is no need to hope to get there on foot. For this, others are much better placed even if the journey does not take too long.
Arrival at the hotel
It’s hard to find the Uber pick-up point. In desperation we call the shuttle of the hotel which will be there less than 20 minutes later. Very conveinient on the one hand but it’s a pity that it doesn’t have a fixed schedule.
In fact we will be explained that the fixed rotations are programmed in the morning (but from 7:15 am only) and that in the afternoon it is on demand.
So here we are. The huge parking lot of the hotel is crowded because it offers “park and fly” (you leave your car there for the duration of your trip and you go to the airport by shuttle or cab).
Not very sexy: a huge low brick building in the purest tradition of industrial northern England.
We arrive at the check-in.
It’s a little crowded up ahead, but mostly it takes a long time. There is a line for “Elite” customers and another for those who have online check-in like us…but nobody behind the counter.
We are finally given our room keys. I will stay in a standard room while Olivier will be upgraded to a junior suite.
We are given a map to find us in the hotel, the numbering system of the rooms not being obvious at first sight.
The rooms
So we walk through unair-conditioned, old and almost gloomy corridors to reach our rooms.
Add to that the Marriott home fragrance that smells like cheap detergent, and you’ve got the picture.
Here is my standard room. The good news is that it makes a much better impression than the hotel itself.
The bed:
Office area:
And the bathroom:
It is clean, functional and even decorated with a minimum of taste.
The good thing: there are USB sockets. The bad thing is that the plugs are not in multi-standard format, so without an adapter there is no way out.
Another rather unpleasant element for a stay in the middle of summer: the air conditioning only works when you are in the room. Guaranteed to find a furnace if you go out to dinner or to the gym.
On the other hand, ceilings and walls do not seem very thick: you can hear everything!
Here is the video tour.
Olivier’s suite is a carbon copy of my room, with a small lounge area.
A lounge that lacks a little depth but it’s better than nothing.
And the video:
We take advantage of the return in the common areas to share you another view of the hotel which really sells dreams. It looks more like a motel.
Lounge and restaurant
The hotel has a lounge but we will arrive after happy hour and apart from a few beers everything will have been cleared. Finally, the food will have been because for the rest it seems that it was left to abandonment.
Too bad because the lounge is quite cute.
We will test the lounge for the breakfast also: a very very honest service for the standing of the property.
Let’s come to the hotel’s restaurant.
The room is huge and the noise is unbearable between the conversations, the bursts of voices, the loud laughter, the many children etc. As for the style…well.
We withdraw to go to eat on the terrace where only one couple is installed.
We don’t have access to the complete menu (just the “bar” menu) and we have to order and pay when we order at the restaurant. The menu will satisfy us largely and we will be pleased with our choice to dine outside.
It’s much nicer, isn’t it?
On the other hand the view on the building and the rooms….
The dishes will arrive quickly and served very generously.
The wine is also good but not cheap.
Installations
No spa but a nice size and well equipped gym.
Service and staff
We can’t say we had much interaction with the staff. Let’s just say that it does the job no more and no less but there is no reason to complain.
A big lack of responsiveness on the other hand: Olivier asked by Chat if it was necessary to reserve the shuttle for the next morning…the answer arrived while we were already sleeping.
Bottom line
A hotel with two faces: rooms and a lounge rather cute, a restaurant where for lack of gastronomy one eats nevertheless not bad for a hotel of airport, and this appearance of old and cheap motel which breaks a little the atmosphere.
After all, it’s only for one night and you don’t come to this kind of hotel for an out of the ordinary experience but it could do a little better anyway.
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