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."

OH DEAR! NOT GOOD.

This report from the Manchester Evening News in the UK gives a not too glowing report to two of the cities Ibis'.

This is the main extract regarding the Ibis hotels:

"Undercover inspectors from Which? Holiday checked into eight of the city's most visited budget spots - but their findings were less than spotless with reports of mould growing on a mattress in the Ibis, in Charles Street, and a suspected blood stain on a duvet in the chain's Portland Street hotel."

The full article is here:

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/s/1088651_hotels_for_a_dirty_weekend?rss=yes

Ironically, although I live in Manchester I have never visited either of these hotels so I can't make any comment from personal experience.

IBIS LEEDS CENTRE - DECEMBER 2008

In Leeds (city in West Yorkshire , UK) for a concert Saturday night.
Stayed at the Ibis Leeds Centre.

Very big hotel (168 rooms on 12 floors) about 15 mins walk from the heart of Leeds centre.

Be aware that if they put you above the 10th floor it's probably a smoking room.

The hotel has no car park but there is a pay and display car park across the (very busy) road. It is normally 5 GBP for overnight but at weekends its 1 GBP.

There is an "in house" cab firm who are very efficent and very cheap (3.50 GBP to Leeds centre).

The staff were very friendly and efficient although they did initially put us in a smoking room which we didn't fancy. They changed it quick enough but it meant another 10 minute wait at the reception.

We did have something to eat in the restaurant/bar and it was the worst meal I have had all year.

We had an Aberdeen Angus Steak Burger (with fries and salad) at 8.95 GBP. The chips were cold, the burger was burnt, the bun was stale and the salad was limp. Altogether the worst experience I have ever had in an Ibis. We had to leave in a hurry so no time to complain and didn't fancy another wait at reception to do so..

Rooms have shower but no bath (or at least ours did).

The best thing about it was the price. I don't know the rack rate for rooms but I paid 39 GBP but then I did book it 6 months in advance.

Overall OK and would stay there again. Got the impression it is a favourite stay over for stag and hen parties judging by the large numbers of groups of young men and young women in the bar. Suspect it could get a bit noisy if you get unlucky. We had no problems with our room though.

The concert was great though. Here's the ticket:

IBIS LONDON EUSTON ST.PANCRAS- DECEMBER 2008

Back in London again working I stayed at this Ibis near Euston. Stayed here before and its OK. Its probably the most expensive Ibis I have stayed in (120 GBP for one night, breakfast extra (about 7 GBP). This is quite expensive for an Ibis but probably very competitve for a hotel so centrally located in London. Its literally about 2 minutes walk from Euston station and about 15 mins walk from the Eurostar terminal at St Pancras.

It's quite a busy hotel so expect to queue to check in and out. (see pic)

Had a meal in the restaurant. It was OK. Two course for 12.50 GBP. Soup and roll starter with a choice of main course. I had roast beef and potatoes and vegetable. Excellent roast beef.

Rooms are clean and modern. Mine was a bit cold during the night and couldn't find any source of heating. My colleague who stayed in another part of the hotel said he was too hot in the night so its a bit hit and miss though.

My room had bath with shower over bath.

Friendly staff. Nice quiet bar area for a drink with sports on big TV screens. Room has nice big TV but not many channels though.

OVER TO YOU

As well as the reviews I will publish I have decided to let you have a go. If you have stayed at an Ibis recently anywhere in the world you can send me a short (50-100 words) review, preferably with a pic (though don't worry if not) and I will consider it for publication on this blog. No fees and the terms and conditions are whatever I decide them to be. Nothing actionable please.
Reviews to ibisblog@hotmail.co.uk

MILANO CENTRO - JULY 2008

A couple of friends just back from here.

Here's a review of the hotel from one of my friends.

"Just got back from spending 5 nights at the IBIS CENTRO Milan.Generally it was good - very comfy bed & thick curtains - so slept well.

Breakfast is usual unhealthy northern European breakfast - ham, salami Cheese croissants - some cereal but limited fruit but the coffee is good. Bar was good with limited reasonably priced food however be warned the restaurant is very expensive - on arrival we paid 55 euro for a basic lunch (for two).

The hotel emphasises closeness to Republica Metro station (right outside front entrance) but there is nothing there apart from the Metro. Far better is to go the other way (left via a choice of three roads) to Porta Venezia metro which is at the end of Via Buenos Aries a major shopping street.

The streets between the hotel and Porta Venezia have loads of restaurants and bars, some African.

The hotel is also within 10-15 easy walk of Central station which makes it easy for days out.

One disappointment - the reception staff were unable to sell me a stamp for a postcard and post it. This is a basic requirement in an unfamiliar city not knowing where to get stamps from."