Britannia Hotel, Manchester, Crystal Suite

Terrible attitude towards customers. I booked a room a month before arriving at the hotel. I made a 100 percent prepayment, but it so happened that I got sick with COVID. I warned the hotel administrator 48 hours in advance, I provided my medical report about my illness, but they did not return even 50 percent of the booking. I do not recommend this hotel to anyone, it is a trash bin with staff that has no heart. I now have mental health problems. People, do not check into this trash bin.

While the location is good because it’s close to the station, everything else about this place is terrible. When we arrived, our friend had already checked in and described how there was a woman complaining that she had lost all her belongings at the hotel and they had done nothing to help her. They then told my friend she had mental health issues although my friend didn’t think that was the case. To alleviate his concerns about this and the original room provided, they offered him a room upgrade (his original room was small, unpleasant and very hot). They provided him breakfast vouchers which he paid for along with the room upgrade but they said that if he changed his mind about breakfast he could take the vouchers back for a refund. When we arrived, we had heard this and were also concerned. We enquired about late checkout and was told the latest we could check out was midday rather than 11am but this would cost £10. We didn’t really think it was a great deal, and suddenly the receptionist started trying to negotiate a deal with us. It quickly became evident that all the ‘policies’ were completely arbitrary and based on whatever he felt like, and were influenced by anything he could do to get a bit more money out of us, and once that money was parted with there was no getting it back. We didn’t end up going to breakfast on the first day and my friend was able to bring his vouchers back for a refund, when we went to do the same we were told that we could not have a refund. So one rule for some and another rule for others. He said that ‘because it was agreed beforehand with my friend that it would be refundable, that’s why he was given one’. But clearly it was totally arbitrary and they could have given a refund if they wanted. The general service and attitude was awful, when we returned to the hotel at night and the door was locked, the doorman didn’t assume we were hotel guests he acted like a bouncer at a night club. I’ve never been treated like this at another hotel. He made us prove we were guests there both nights by showing our room keys - and he was so impatient about it, he wouldn’t even let us come in from the rain and put our bags down a minute so that we could more easily get our room keys out. He was the same one who treated us like school children on our first arrival and told us which way we had to go around the staircase to check in. It wasn’t even busy so going the other way around the staircase would not have inconvenienced anyone. They all have this attitude that they want to be in control and direct where you go. It’s as if their hotel guests have all been so chaotic that they have to control their every move whenever they are in the lobby. Despite the late checkout which is the main reason we paid extra for the room ‘upgrade’ they never told the housekeepers so they knocked loudly at usual checkout time of 11am - when we told them we had late checkout they then screamed to their colleagues exclaiming ‘room not vacant’ and asked us when our late checkout was up to. The hotel itself is extremely dated, it hasn’t changed probably since 1982 when it was built. The main issue in the room was the toilet flush. Both ours and my friends in his room did not work. It was ridiculous. Inside the toilet lecture was disgusting. All in all, I just had an awful experience. The main negative for me was the service and attitude of the staff. I would strongly recommend seeking accommodation elsewhere.