We do like to be beside the seaside …. at the new Holiday Inn hotel in Bournemouth

A new Holiday Inn has just opened in Bournemouth, bringing some much needed quality to the town.

Long-term readers will know that I have a soft spot for decent hotels opening up in British seaside resorts, since one of the things – admittedly not the only thing – that stops people spending more time on the British coast is the dire selection of accommodation.

It is genuinely the case that the best hotel in Scarborough, for instance (somewhere I stay for family reasons occasionally) is the Premier Inn – worryingly, nothing else comes close.

Bournemouth is bucking the trend.  I reviewed the new Hilton Bournemouth here – it’s even got an executive lounge! – and the new Hampton by Hilton, which is attached, here.

Holiday Inn has now joined them.  A new Holiday Inn opened this week – it is the fully refurbished ex-Ramada Encore.  It is owned by Interstate, who built the impressive new combined Holiday Inn Bath Road (reviewed here)  and Staybridge Suites (reviewed here) at Heathrow which opened recently.

Looking at the pictures, it is a surprisingly funky Holiday Inn which I would be happy to stay in.   It is on Bath Road and claims to be “easy walking distance of Bournemouth Beach and town centre.”  Note that it does not have a pool, so the Hilton remains a better choice if you’re worried about wet weather activities.

Full details are on this page of the IHG website.

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IHG One Rewards update – July 2025:

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