Glasgow – Holiday Inn Express City Centre Theatreland
After three nights in the Holiday Inn Express Riverside hotel, I moved for one night to the Theatreland hotel from the same chain. This was a rewards night, so I didn’t have to pay for it which was rather handy. For those who prefer a more decadent stay, there’s a separate Holiday Inn located next door, but I prefer the Express version as it’s cheaper….
The staff at reception were helpful and personable, although there was some confusion about breakfast times in the morning given that it was a Bank Holiday. I also wasn’t offered a drinks voucher, I was just automatically given the extra rewards points, which I must admit was probably what I’d have gone for if given the choice. First impressions were all very positive from the welcome at reception though.
My first reaction to this room was to be pre-annoyed and to check the IHG web-site to see if there were other rooms in the hotel that were available, as I hate rooms with interconnecting doors. They’re a disaster, primarily as noise between the rooms is just excessive. However, the hotel was apparently full and so I thought that I’d be stuck with the room. The room’s main door was also left unlocked and on the latch, although no-one had rushed in to pinch the coffees or anything.
As it transpired, there were no issues as despite my barricading the interconnecting doors in case next door tried to get in, I’m not sure that the neighbouring room was ever given to another guest. There was a section of the door where it was possible to see into the next room, which isn’t really ever an acceptable situation for a hotel and if that room had of been occupied, then I’d have been merrily rating the hotel as 1/5 for an unacceptably low rate of privacy. However, it wasn’t, so I didn’t. But I still take the view, and I know from reading reviews over the years that my opinion is not uncommon, that connecting rooms are a real problem for privacy and noise issues, and so they simply shouldn’t both be let out to different customers.
The breakfast room, with the hot drinks, pastries and yoghurts visible above.
And the hot options, with the menu choices being exactly the same as the Holiday Inn Express that I had visited the day before.
My first little selection and I picked out the most cooked bacon I could find, although they hadn’t frazzled it (which is how I like it, all crisped up) like the previous Holiday Inn Express. Anyway, all was well and the staff in the breakfast area were helpful and polite. I got there just before 07:00 on a bank holiday and it was already quite busy, although there were still plenty of seats.
Overall, I was near to hating this hotel in the expectation of noise issues from guests being put into the neighbouring room with the interconnecting door. Since they didn’t, whether by design or good fortune, I have nothing bad to say about the stay, the hotel seemed perfectly well managed. The rooms seem to have been modernised relatively recently, although there was no air conditioning which slightly surprised me. However, there was a fan and the window opened, so this sufficed for me.
