Britannia Country House Hotel Manchester

I have often used hotels in the Britannia group when I have stayed as an able-bodied person on my own or with my daughters. In fact, I believe I have been on this website previously and defended to the hilt the Britannia North Stafford Hotel in Stoke when I have thought that peoples' expectations and comments have been unrealistic and unduly negative about their stay. However, traveling with my disabled husband who is a wheelchair user has been a whole new experience for us at this particular hotel in the Britannia chain. We needed a hotel close to Manchester as a stopover for a comedy gig at the MEN arena and were tempted by one of the frequent e-mail offers that had been sent and the fact that the hotel looked lovely and was something different to the rather "sterile" but perfectly decent and adequate rooms we have booked at Travelodge or Holiday Inn Express etc. Basically, since we were traveling so far from home, we wanted to make more of a weekend of it, and chose this hotel as we thought it would make a nice change. When I booked our room, I was not able to take advantage of the offer that I had been sent after all - never mind. My husband drives a specially adapted people carrier from his wheelchair (I do not drive) which requires 8' clearance to the side to allow the ramp to come out and access into/out of the car. I asked if there were spaces in the car park - not necessarily near the front of the hotel but a place that would allow this necessity. I was assured by the person who made the booking that, not only was this fine, that they would reserve one and a half spaces somewhere especially for us and made notes on the booking to this effect. When we arrived and as we pulled into the long drive, the grounds looked beautiful, but we began to feel concerned as there were cars parked literally everywhere and there was no indication as to where the disabled parking might be. My husband dropped me off so that I could check-in and find our parking space, but the girl who checked me in, even though she was very pleasant, was completely uninterested in the parking issue and merely indicated to the area designated for disabled drivers and said that "it was a good job we had arrived early as it was going to get busier later". When I remarked that we needed a space reserved as we wouldn't be able to get in or out of the car, she just smiled sweetly and got on with something else. The area that this hotel has put aside for disabled drivers was just that - an area that did not have properly marked out parking spaces and on very uneven ground. Consequently, all of the area was filled with blue badge holding cars - but presumably none that needed extra wide access to accommodate getting wheelchairs in and out. We eventually found somewhere in an unmade up parking area a long way from the hotel which was neither conducive to our car's lowered suspension - nor for a wheelchair user if they needed to be pushed. When we left in the evening for our trip to the MEN, we had to use our own bollards/cones to keep the space we had vacated - which had disappeared when we had got back so the whole process of finding another suitable space had to start again - this time it was even further away from the hotel and late at night when we were both tired and irritated. The hotel is large - but there is only one small lift which was not big enough for me to accompany my husband inside. This lift had a life of its own and seemed to go up and down of its own volition, but it was because it kept being called by people and we had to wait for over 5 minutes for it to arrive at one point. On another occasion, a member of the cleaning staff was inside with her trolley when the door opened and did not have the courtesy to get out and allow us as guests - and a wheelchair user at that, priority. The staff have to use the lift because of the equipment they need, so why not install a service lift? Why not have the rooms for disabled people on the ground floor? There was a huge notice saying that in the event of a fire that the lift should not be used - which basically means that anyone with mobility problems is toast if fire broke out! The room we stayed in was clean ad pleasant enough, but the furniture was set out so that my husband could not get about in his chair so I had to move chairs etc about. There was only a bath in the en suite with only 2 grab rails fitted in not very helpful or sensible places. I myself, fell quite heavily and bruised my arm very badly trying to get out as there was nothing at the side to hold onto. Why not have wetrooms in the disabled rooms with either wetchairs or pull-down plastic seats? Surely this would be much more sensible with very little extra costs? We had a very disturbed night as the other guests were noisy too - not the fault of the hotel but just something else to consider. One last comment about the room was that there was no remote control for the TV. The duty manager at the time did try and find one that was compatible for the TV in our room and was very apologetic when he couldn't sort it out for us, but really, no remote control in a disabled person's room?!!! Finally, our last bone of contention was the hotel bar. This was set in a recessed "dip" in the floor which you had to go down a few stairs to get to. There was no ramp so my husband was unable to order drinks for us - being an old-fashioned type of guy, this is still something he likes to be able to do for me! The hotel is very plush looking and is a very interesting building, but it is very large and busy. There was a wedding taking place on the Saturday which we stayed which may have made it even more packed. I may have enjoyed staying there under different circumstances. I think the hotel has probably evolved as an airport hotel - a cheap way to stay overnight and leave your car for free whilst you are away instead of paying for high parking charges at the airport - certainly the cars that had parked in the disabled area did not move all the time that we were there. My advice generally if you have mobility problems is not to bother going to this hotel - don't even think about going on your own even if you are a very independent wheelchair user. I have written to the hotel about our experience, and the Britannia head office. I have received a letter back and the hotel manager regrets that we did not enjoy our stay, but the tone of the letter more or less states that that is the way things are at this hotel and that car parking spaces cannot be reserved. Well, thank you very much Britannia Country House Hotel Manchester! We won't bother to stay with you again and we are now reluctant to try any others in the chain!Date of Stay: May 2010

Stayed for Christmas 2009 Food at best middling to poor especially for the festive season. No choice offered and only 3 courses for Christmas lunch! Only on Boxing day was the food served at the time the hotel stated and I do have the menu from Boxing day, printed by the hotel with the regulation 3 courses. Christmas buffet 40 minutes after the stated time of 7pm - quite a long time after such a "lite" lunch. Staff seemed to be doing every thing at a run. In Granada TV region and had not sorted tv receiving equipment to receive digital signal. even though the change over had happened some 6 weeks earlier and the change over date had been known for about 2 years. Very poor for a 3 star hotel. I would put these two problems down to inadequate management. The entertainment was also third rate and because of the extra tables squeezed into the dinning suite there was no opportunity for dancing to entertainment! The room while of a good size with a comfortable bed it was the bathroom which let it down as the bidet was broken.Date of Stay: December 2009

stayed in this hotel through travel agent, noticed lots of cars with the windows broken and covered up with bin bags. Needless to say we returned from holiday to find our car the same way, hotel handed me a phone and told ME to contact police. not helpful at all, have already told people to avoid. Wouldnt stay here again even if it was free!!!!!Date of Stay: June 2009

what a nightmare! we booked the room as a one night stay over as we were flying out from manchester the next day! we got the room on lateroooms which is normally really good and a site i always recommend to people! we went for the mystery hotel and were really pleased when we saw the pics and the readup of this hotel! then when we checked in we realised what a mistake we'd made! the hotel had failed to mention that they were holding 3 weddings the same night we'd booked for! the room was really cheap through laterooms(thats the whole point of using laterooms) but however cheap a room is you dont expect to end up in a part of the hotel clearly hidden away from the rest of the guests and clearly given to ppl who book rooms cheap! the room was small, over heated to the point it made us feel ill and not a scratch on the rooms weve normally gone with with premier inn for the same price!! i didnt sleep a wink all night due to other guests running around the landings all night and my partner had to help an elderly lady into her room when her keycard wouldnt work and several calls to the front desk proved unheard!! this part of the hotel is clearly not staffed and we will definatly not be returning to this hotel in the future! from now on we will stick with premier inn and know that regardless of how much we paid for the room we'll be treated the way you expect!!! sad thing is the carvery is really nice and was the only thing we walked away feeling satisfied after!Date of Stay: October 2009