EUSTON-ST.PANCRAS- LONDON NOV 2012

Here again. This must be the most stayed in Ibis in my collection! Not much new to add to the other times. Still a good location (200 yards from Euston Station and a good 10 mins walk from Kings Cross). Still clean and comfortable. Still costs too much in my opinion, but it is competetive with other hotels in central London , thats for sure. The staff are very friendly. Had a nice chat with the two staff on the bar. One French , one Polish. Very interesting stories of how people end up where they end up. Good at their jobs as well. So Accor take note. Treat these staff well because you are lucky to have them.  Cost me 117 gbp this time for a Saturday night stay. No tips really other than try not to get a room that backs onto the delivery bay as that can be a bit noisy. Good pub nearby, The Bree Louise,for lovers of real ale.

IBIS SHEFFIELD, YORKSHIRE, UK

Its OK. Thats about it really. Good points. Nice friendly staff. Central location i.e. about 10 mins walk from main railway station and pretty near a tram stop.Cheap (paid about £30 quid for a room on a Saturday night). Bad points. A bit shabby. Looks like it might get a bit of a stag/hen crowd if you were unlucky. Although to be fair we didn't have any problems with noise or anything of that kind. Couple of little down points. Bathroom smelt musty. No bedside table on one side of the bed (see pic). Also there appeared to be an adjoining door which is always a bit unsettling I think (see pic) General points. There is a pub right next door (Norfolk Arms) . Don't know what it was like. Didn't go in but looked OK from the outside. Would stay again. For the price it did what it says on the tin. Breakfast a bit limited but hey ho, its only £5.50 if you book the night before. 

IBIS BRISTOL CENTRE - JULY 2012

Back here again. On pleasure visit again. Actually we were refugees from camping in the English summer. Just turned up and the cost was £62 for the night. Not bad. The hotel is undergoing a major re-furbishment but we didn't experience any disamenity. We were there on a Sunday though so maybe its different during the working week. Very clean. Nice friendly staff. Good location. Not a lot to fault to be honest. If you like real ale then try the hope and Anchor pub which is about 10 mins walk away.

IBIS BRISTOL CENTRE - APRIL 2012

Stayed here before a couple of years ago. Not changed much apart from the price. About £80 a night give or take a couple of quid. Good points. Very central. Close to College Green and Clifton Triangle so not far to walk for bars and restaurants. 5 mins walk from and excellent pub called the Hope and Anchor. Friendly staff. Good parking across the road. Not cheap (about £12.50 for 24 hours. Get your ticket validated at the hotel or it will cost you more). Bad points. Breakfast OK but cold every morning we had it. Rooms clean but looking a bit in need of attention. Carpet scuffed and frayed for example. Definitely recommend it though.

EUSTON-ST.PANCRAS DEC.2011

Here on pleasure for a change. Only stayed the one night and it was fine. Room clean. Staff friendly. I used my A-Club Hotel Voucher and got nearly £35 quid off the room so worth collecting the points.

EUSTON-ST.PANCRAS NOV.2011

Here again on business. Not a lot changed except the price seems to have peaked at about £120 quid.

Fairly quick check in but then it was mid morning.

Bit of rowdiness at the bar later in the evening which went unchecked and unchallenged.

Nothing serious just some loudmouth swearing and shouting which the staff should have challenged but they didn't.

Some people actually left the bar as a result.

Quite unusual for this Ibis as the management is usually quite hands-on.

Room good. Clean. Didn't have breakfast so can't comment.

EUSTON-ST.PANCRAS LONDON MARCH 2011

Here again on business.

Nice pic of room and a shot of the new blinds that have replaced the rather tatty curtains.

BRUSSELS - HOTEL IBIS ST.CATHERINE - JUNE and OCT 2010

Stayed here a couple of times again recently. I have reviewed this place to death so if you want to see my view and a few pics then look at previous posts. Here are a few new pics from October visit.

However by way of a change here are some mixed reviews from Tripadvisor.

BRUSSELS - GARE DE MIDI - JUNE 2010

In Brussels again working. Stayed at an Ibis I haven't stayed in before. Its the Ibis which is nearest to the Gare De Midi railways station which is where the Eurostar terminates. Its literally across the road from the station. The hotel is fine. Clean and with suprisingly big rooms. You can tell from the photo that some of the rooms have a single bed as well as a double. By far the biggest Ibis room I have ever stayed in.

Pro- Cheaper than the other more central Ibis's in Brussels. Close to the Eurostar terminal. Clean. Friendly reception staff.

Cons - The area around the hotel is a bit seedy. Not badly but typically like the area round most railway stations in most cities. Didn't feel threatened but not sure i would spend an awful lot of time walking round the area on my own after dark. Its also not as central as the St. Catherine and Grand Place Ibis's. Central that is to the old medieval part of Brussels. Its about 20 mins walk from the Grand Place and about 10-12 euro in a cab. Railway station just across the road of course where there is a Metro station as well. I would happily stay again but not if the St Catherine was available.

LONDON EUSTON-ST.PANCRAS - SEPT 2010

Back here again. The queues at check in are becoming a real problem and checking in and checking out can take 15/20 mins.

If you use the express check out its OK but if you want to leave your bag in storage you still have to queue.

Tempers were getting a little frayed when I was there this time. Rest of it the usual. Paid £109.00 GBP this time.

View from room 235 wasn't great but the free drink voucher they gave me at check in was nice. Don't know why they gave it me but they did. Didn't ask questions!!

BRUSSELS CENTRE STE. CATHERINE BELGIUM - OCTOBER 2009

Was back in Brussels working last October. The hotel is still good value though like most hotels the prices seem to have crept up in the last couple of years. the best thing about this hotel is its location. It is next to the Ste. Catherine Metro stop and is close to an area of really good fish restaurants. When I first went to Brussels the area around this hotel was pretty shabby but it has certainly improved in recent years. Ideal for the Grand Place. Its about a 10 minute walk. If you are staying in Brussels in conncetion with the European Commission the Ste. Catherine metro stop (about 100 yards from the hotel) is about 4 stops (about 15mins max) from the Schuman metro stop which is at the heart of the Commission district.

COMPETITION TIME!!

Bit of an odd competition from Ibis to celebrate the opening of their 50th hotel in Brazil. (Good news if you are going to the football World Cup in 2014 or the Olympics in 2016. It really does look like Brazil's decade doesn't it?)



The news story is here



The competition website is here

LONDON EUSTON-ST.PANCRAS - JAN 2010

Back in London again.

Not much more to report on this one since the last visit.

Its still good value although the price is creeping up I find. Maybe its just the dates I go.

A couple of pics show the room.

Clean, good value, great location.

Bar getting better I think. Friendly staff, few more people using it as a place to actually have a drink rather than a meeting place before going somewhere else.

LONDON EUSTON-ST.PANCRAS - SEPT 2009

Been here a good few times before. Not bad value for this mid week stay . £69 GBP per night without breakfast.

Only new thing I noticed was the (pictured) booking form which allows guests to book their next stay in advance by filling in the form and leaving it at the desk on checkout.

I can recommend this hotel as a good, cheap, central London location. See previous posts for reviews, here, here, and here

BRISTOL CENTRE - JULY 2009

A stop over on a Sunday night on the way back from a festival in Dorset. This Ibis is one of two in Bristol (the other being nearer to Temple Meads station).

Its about 5/10 minutes walk from the newly regenerated floating harbour area of the city. It is in a very new development of apartments and bars/nightclubs. We stayed on a Sunday night and it was fine though I imagine due to its location it is a bit livelier on a Friday and Saturday nights.

Very friendly , almost entirely French, staff. Very helpful. A bit of a disaster when I ordered a pizza later in the evening which the kitchen "forgot", but to be fair I was offered a complementary drink and an apology and the situation was soon put right.

The hotel itself has no parking but is quite close to an underground car park which if you ask the hotel they will validate your ticket and you will get a discount. The full 24 hours costs £14 but we arrived at about 8pm and left at about 10 am the following morning and with the validated ticket it cost £9.

The hotel is right next to a museum called Explore@Bristol which is the huge globe in the picutres.

The pictures show the room, the bathroom (which is the shower/toilet pod type) and the view out of the window.

All in all a pleasant enough place and relatively cheap considering its central location, we paid 50GBP for a twin room.

LONDON EUSTON-ST.PANCRAS - MARCH 2009

Back to an oft visited Ibis. Arrived to check in about 5.30 pm and straight up to reception. No queue. Different story in the morning though. A queue of about 15 mins. OK if your'e not in a rush. Not if you are.

Should have used express checkout (see pic). Wanted to leave bag in store room to collect later so had to queue anyway.

Nice and clean. Friendly staff. Tea and coffee making facilities as standard these days. Cheap for central London. £67 GBP for a room for two.

Pics show room, new TV style and view from room.

BID FOR A BED?!!

This seems a crazy scheme but generally these Ibis people know what they are doing. Apparently you can pay what you want for a bed at the Ibis in Singapore. More details here. Don't really understand it but worth a look.

There is only one Ibis in Singapore so I assume this is the pic of it...

(pic from Ibis Hotel Website - www.ibishotel.com )

BLIMEY! - THAT'S A LOT OF HOTELS - JANUARY 2009

News story here about the amazing expansion of the Ibis hotel chain in China.

Earlier this year they opened 6 hotels in 10 days.

Here's the one in Shanghai (pic courtesy of Accor)

Suppose there are a lot of people though.

If embed link doesn't work try this

http://www.travelmole.com/stories/1133883.php

IBIS CARLISLE - JAN 2009

Sometimes I just pass by an Ibis or see an advert for one ( like the ad in this picture taken at Carlisle racecourse) and just momentarily wonder what it's like. I sometimes go to http://www.tripadvisor.com/ just to see what people are saying about it. Well if you go here you can see what 43 people (up to now) think of the only Ibis in Carlisle.

IBIS LONDON EARLS COURT- DEC 2008

A review sent to me by "Jimbo" of a stay at the above.

" A large hotel of over 250 rooms, the Ibis overlooks both imposing Earls Court exhibition centres.

A good breakfast although due to volume of people a good ten minute wait before you got a table.

Average bar on first floor, although prices reasonable, showing Sky Sports.

Quite a walk from tube station and in a bit of a roughish part of town."