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Review: the new Holiday Inn Manchester Airport hotel – surprisingly accomplished

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This is our review of the new Holiday Inn Manchester Airport hotel.

There is a lot of activity in the Manchester Airport hotel scene at the moment. Accor’s little-known Tribe brand is gearing up to open (website here) and will be closest hotel to the railway station. The Crowne Plaza is undergoing a refurbishment. A brand new ibis Budget opened last year opposite Terminal 2.

And, the subject of this article and sitting directly next to ibis Budget, a brand new Holiday Inn also opened opposite Terminal 2 last year.

Holiday Inn Manchester Airport hotel

Up in Manchester to visit aether, the private terminal (article here) I thought I’d give the new Holiday Inn a try.

The hotel website is here.

Getting to Holiday Inn Manchester Airport

The Holiday Inn and ibis Budget sit about 50 feet apart opposite Terminal 2 and are the nearest hotels to the terminal.

That said, the Crowne Plaza, Radisson and Clayton are also walkable so this shouldn’t necessarily define your choice.

If you arrive into Terminal 2 it is a very short stroll across the road to the two hotels. If you come via the railway station, as I did, it’s messier.

Signage is almost non-existent. There is one easily missed poster saying that you should follow the signs to T2 and it will take 10-15 minutes. What this ACTUALLY means is ‘take the covered skywalk to T2’. It would have been handy to mention the skywalk ….

Opposite the poster is a sign on an outside wall pointing to T2 so I followed it. You immediately see the hotel to your left. That’s the good news.

The bad news is that this seems to be a road sign for cars. You are literally risking your life walking down the (no pavement) airport road. Just as you reach the hotel there is a blind corner where cars shoot around and would be unable to stop before they hit you. To get into the hotel grounds you jump through a hole in the fence and run down a well-worn slope. If none of this is an issue, you can walk it in four minutes as I did, which is 11 minutes less than the advertised time via the skywalk. Leave Granny, the baby buggy and your wheeled luggage at home though.

(If you do take the skywalk, as you should, the hotel is well signed once you enter Terminal 2. You take the lifts opposite the Virgin Atlantic check-in desks to arrivals and head to the exit. It is a very short walk.)

Holiday Inn Manchester Airport hotel

Inside Holiday Inn Manchester Airport

As soon as you walk in, you can tell that this is a new-style Holiday Inn with the ‘open lobby’ concept.

The idea is that you have a large well-decorated lobby with a variety of areas for eating, drinking, working and relaxing. It’s similar to what Moxy does but less industrial! See the image above and:

Holiday Inn Manchester Airport hotel

I should mention Firin, the ‘modern Turkish cuisine’ restaurant in the hotel. Whilst I didn’t eat there, I was discussing it with the aether private terminal staff in the evening and they said that it had good feedback.

If meze and pide are not your thing, the ‘all day dining’ restaurant sells the sort of comfort food you’d expect at a Holiday Inn.

A Premium Room at Holiday Inn Manchester Airport

I had booked a standard room and was upgraded, via my IHG One Rewards Platinum Elite status, to a Premium Room. This tends to sell for a £25-£30 premium.

I haven’t seen a standard room, but a Premium room comes with a free mini bar amongst other perks.

If you were planning to hit the bar then you can justify your £25 extra here. We’ll come to the contents in a minute.

You also get a coffee machine (standard rooms just have a kettle) and a corner sofa. I’m not sure if the toiletries are upgraded are not.

Holiday Inn Manchester Airport hotel

Perhaps I shouldn’t have been so easily pleased at being given a couple of free Kit-Kat Chunky’s, but after an unbelievably wet and cold day in Manchester (plus the joys of a ‘no wi-fi’, ‘no working plug sockets’, ‘signal failure delays’ Avanti train from Euston) it made me happy.

One tiny whinge: when I checked in, I was offered a free drinks voucher or 600 points as my Platinum welcome amenity. I took the drinks, and was pleased to see I was given two vouchers despite being on my own. I then got to the room to find that I’d been given a free minibar of wine and beer anyway. If you’re upgraded or book a Premium Room direct, take the points.

Inside my room

The designers have done the best they can with a 27 sq m shoebox space. As you can see above, there is a good sized desk with an anglepoise lamp and multiple sockets, a big TV, and smart artwork.

This shot from the other angle shows the sofa:

Holiday Inn Manchester Airport

The bathroom isn’t huge but is certainly smart:

Holiday Inn Manchester Airport hotel bathroom

…. with this attractively tiled shower:

Holiday Inn Manchester Airport bathroom

Toiletries are from Urban Skincare Co in wall-mounted bottles.

There’s a safe and hairdryer in the wardrobe, along with a shelf for your suitcase and two coat hooks above. It’s all very smartly done.

The only downside was the view, straight into the ibis Budget opposite. The rooms on the other side have a clear view so you may want to ask for one of those.

Holiday Inn Manchester Airport view

The free mini-bar contained two cans of Camden Hells lager, three mini-bottles of wine (white, rose, red), two Kit-Kat Chunky’s, two bags of Pipers crisps and two bottle of water.

Breakfast

Breakfast is served from 5am, which is necessary given that the main bank of flights from Manchester is in the early morning.

It costs £17.50 per person if you pay in the restaurant, so compare this with the ‘breakfast inclusive’ rates on the website. Diamond Elite members of IHG One Rewards receive breakfast for free. It was very quiet when I went down at 6.30am so, given how busy the hotel was the night before, I suspect many people chose to eat in the terminal.

I was pleasantly surprised by the wide range of items available – it is definitely well above average for a hotel of this standard. There are no ‘cooked to order’ items but the buffet contains a broad range of hot food. You have to get your own coffee from a machine but there are three of them to avoid queues.

Holiday Inn Manchester Airport breakfast

Conclusion

Whatever your image of the Holiday Inn brand, you can’t argue that the new builds aren’t impressive.

There is a lot to like in the Holiday Inn Manchester Airport – decent desks, good lighting, smart bathrooms, loads of sockets and – in Premium rooms – a decent free mini bar and a large corner sofa. Having a well regarded Turkish restaurant on top of the expected ‘all day dining’ is an extra bonus.

If you want to be in a new hotel and as near to Terminal 2 as possible, you can choose between this and the ibis Budget. You need to see what the price difference is and where your preferences are. The bar and restaurants of the Holiday Inn are only a 5-second walk from the ibis (website here) if you do end up there, but the Holiday Inn is worth the extra.

The Holiday Inn Manchester Airport website is here.

Looking for a hotel in Manchester?

We’ve reviewed a number of hotels in the city, including (click to read):

At the airport we have reviewed:

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Comments (59)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Harry T says:
    2 Jun2 June 04:58

    Looks like an example of good value at this price point/brand positioning.

    • Scott says:
      2 Jun2 June 06:03

      Depends on what you want to pay.

      This seems to average around £133 a night. Haven’t seen it below £100 since last year.

      Upgrade wise, once or twice I’ve ended up with the base room I booked as a diamond member .

      Room service wise, they have a £7 tray charge, so if you fancy a bowl of chips for £4ish, they become quite expensive. Not sure if you can go downstairs and collect them to avoid this?

      I stayed at the Crowne Plaza the other day and that was coming in at around £40-£50 cheaper than the HI. Sometimes they’re similarly priced, other times a bit more.
      (The 3rd floor is being renovated at present, so the hotel.isnt fully renovated yet).

      As for the Ibis, that always seems to be around the £90 mark when I’ve looked.
      Yes it’s convenient for the airport, but I might look at the Thorley Lane HIX or Premier Inns that could be £30 cheaper on a good day (or stay in Heald Green with free parking compared to £25 at the HI T2).

      • Scott says:
        2 Jun2 June 06:15

        Looking at Sunday 9th Jjne:

        Holiday Inn T2 £122 (parking £25)
        Crowne Plaza £98 (parking £15)
        Holiday Inn Express Thorley Lane £97 (parking £12)
        Ibis Budget £89.10
        Local Premier Inns £50-£64

        Crowne Plaza Liverpool Airport £59 (if you wanted to try that and the 45 min drive to MAN)

        • Scott says:
          2 Jun2 June 07:55

          £27.99 for the Altrincham Travelodge if you want a real bargain that day.
          £8.50? to park there, or maybe free a street or two away.

        • Ken says:
          2 Jun2 June 08:18

          Staying at an airport hotel to drive another 45 minutes (and more in peak traffic) to a different airport?

          Sounds great

          • TGLoyalty says:
            2 Jun2 June 10:02

            Might aswell Stay home and park for free and just drive the 2/3 hours on the day of travel 😂

        • Gordon says:
          2 Jun2 June 08:57

          I’ve found that HIX are on par with Premier inn’s, price wise, on my travels, HIX inc breakfast, premier inn £10, or dearer bath road LHR, HIX, earn points, not an option with Premier inn.

  • Penny Butterfield says:
    2 Jun2 June 08:08

    At the beginning of this article you mention that the Crowne Plaza at Manchester Airport (also IHG) has had a top to toe refurbishment. We stayed there last month and it was one of the worst hotels I’ve stayed in. Tired decor, awful WiFi (unusable) and expensive disappointing food. On the plus the staff were nice.

    • TGLoyalty says:
      2 Jun2 June 10:03

      He clearly said undergoing ie not finished.

      • Rob says:
        2 Jun2 June 11:02

        No, I changed it after reading the comment. My understanding (from the hotel website) was that it was completed but clearly they overstated it.

        • TGLoyalty says:
          2 Jun2 June 11:15

          Ah okay. Not complete deffo still underway.

          Lots of hotels bend the truth by saying things like access to all refurbished public areas or the like

          Birmingham town centre CP is also undergoing a refurb at the moment, the lobby/bar/restaurant was done but the old
          af lifts are being replaced.

          Stratford-upon-Avon CP had a fire last month so it’ll be interesting to see what happens to that.

    • Scott says:
      2 Jun2 June 10:50

      Didn’t think the decor was that bad at the CP. Yes, the bathrooms and hallways need brought up to date, but for the most part, if there’s a decent price difference, the CP is a good thing (especially for T3)
      (A few CPs I’ve stayed at are what you may call “tired”. Seems to be a “charm” of the brand at some airports)

      As for the Liverpool Airport CP, probably more useful for flying from there. May give it a try sometime to see how it’s changed since Covid.

      Agree the wi-fi is dodgy. Kept dropping out for me the other day, so switched to data, which surprisingly wasn’t too bad considering it can be non-existent in the area (even the airport wi-fi is flakey at present).
      Sure they jam phone signals in a few mile radius of the airport!

      Breakfast and water pressure far superior at the HI.

    • Dom says:
      2 Jun2 June 11:41

      I stayed at the Crowne Plaza beginning of May, we got a room which had clearly been refurbished and everything looked new and clean. The refurb didn’t extend to the air conditioning though which was quite unreliable and a bit noisy at times.

      • TGLoyalty says:
        2 Jun2 June 15:20

        Same as Birmingham then. Should’ve been forced to sort that out or forever complaints.

  • Stephen says:
    2 Jun2 June 08:11

    Tried HI LGW the other day – which looked like it had had a refresh. They even provide bubbly for breakfast!

  • John Murray says:
    2 Jun2 June 08:16

    I admire your commitment to the review cause Rob – the UK’s second worse train service (after Northern) up to the UK’s worst airport! After my last couple of experiences going through MAN I’d rather just stay indoors and enjoy that rather nice looking Holiday Inn! 🤣

    • Panda Mick says:
      2 Jun2 June 08:51

      Can’t disagree with any of this.

      May I also add: In a rush for the train, want to avoid the queues for the ticket machines, of which there are normally plenty, and pay contactless into Manchester? Nope.

      Stand there in the cold, watching your train depart, as you queue with 20 others…

      • JDB says:
        2 Jun2 June 09:12

        Blimey, do they really not use e-tickets on trains up north? We have had them for years on GWR and one sees very few people with paper tickets these days. Book/pay online and ticket immediately in the app or can be added to Apple wallet. Scan at the gates at all big stations and little stations don’t have gates.

        • James C says:
          2 Jun2 June 09:32

          No there are e-tickets on Northern, TransPennie Express etc. In fact the coverage is far better than the South where Great Northern and Southern barriers aren’t set up for e-tickets which is which is where I’ve stood missing trains waiting to buy a paper ticket.

          • lumma says:
            2 Jun2 June 10:56

            Worst are the tfl owned stations when you’re leaving London and using more than one TOC. You can’t use an E-ticket but you also can’t collect paper tickets from them either

      • TGLoyalty says:
        2 Jun2 June 10:05

        Buy it on the Uber app and receive it instantly plus 10% credit

        Or any train operator app … LNER always has an Amex offer.

      • icg2201 says:
        2 Jun2 June 12:48

        Or you can just buy an e-ticket on an app in advance of arriving at the airport – it is the 21st Century, after all!

  • Swifty says:
    2 Jun2 June 08:44

    The free mini bar is incredible! I’ve stayed in the Malta IC and they came round everyday to mark what you’d had on a sheet and charge on checkout. Also, conversely, gave me a bottle of Moet plus petit fours on first night, and fresh fruit intricately cut every morning with chocolates in room.

    • Crafty says:
      2 Jun2 June 14:17

      Yes. That’s how a mini bar, other than when free, works!

  • NorthernLass says:
    2 Jun2 June 09:16

    This definitely the nicest HI I’ve stayed in, but it’s priced at nearly double what you normally see for other HI’s in northern towns (in Manchester city centre it obviously depends what’s happening on a particular day, but often still priced below the airport one).
    If you do book a superior room, or get upgraded, check they’re actually stocked the mini bar! The first time I stayed the lady who checked me in gushed about the mini bar and I was very underwhelmed to find 2 just cans of pop and the chunky Kit Kat. The next time we found all the wine and beer as well, and realised it must have been overlooked previously!
    But MAN airport hotels are so overpriced currently; if we’re connecting it makes more sense to fly to LHR the day before and stay in the HIEX or CP at T4 for around £90, and avoid the stress of a potential BA delay/cancellation.

    • TGLoyalty says:
      2 Jun2 June 10:12

      This is a brand new hotel with all the benefits of that but also lots of capital expenditure to recoup but also prices are always relative to locations. If they didn’t sell an acceptable % of rooms at that price they’d drop the rates!

      Those other tired / aged HI which haven’t had a refurbishment for years and have lots of competition will set their rates against their local competition.

      It’s like someone adding in CP JL airport … the two prices are completely unrelated as they service airports with a totally different level of demand.

      • Scott says:
        2 Jun2 June 11:15

        Well, the CP at MAN, is a week or so, is about £1 more than the HI.

        (I tend to find LHR far worse than LHR. £100+ for a Premier Inn that used to be £35 )

        Never sure how Manchester works.
        £92 for a HIX I sometimes stay at next Sunday, yet I paid £46 the week before. Nothing major on that day, and other hotels about average for a Sunday.
        The Salford Quays HIX or Stockport HIX might be £200+ yet other hotels in the area a 1/3rd of the price.

        Waiting for Taylor Swift (if she’s coming to Manchester?) to push rates up towards 4 figures and “unavailable” against everything within at least 50 miles 😉

        • TGLoyalty says:
          2 Jun2 June 11:22

          Suspect you booked on an exceptionally cheap rate deal or promo as the very helpful flexible dates feature on the IHG app shows that the lowest rate for HIX on a Sunday night is actually £68 next Sunday otherwise every Sunday night in summer is c£80-95 and £105 or so during half terms.

          HI only seems to be £10–15 more per night but ofcourse breakfast isn’t included.

          • Scott says:
            2 Jun2 June 11:59

            I just look at the website and if prices are good, book.

            It’s like Friday 21st June. No idea if it’s because The Killers are doing a gig at say the Etihad? but:

            HIX Salford Quays £269 (22nd £126, 23rd £53)
            HIX Manchester East £213 (22nd £213, 23rd £64)
            HIX Stockport £106
            HI MAN £118 (£105 on the 23rd)
            CP MAN £120 (£98 on the 23rd)
            HIX MAN £86 (22nd £115, about the same as the CP and HI)

          • TGLoyalty says:
            2 Jun2 June 12:11

            Not being funny but public events like gigs aren’t the only reason single hotels have high rates 😂

            The price is dynamic based on existing bookings and then there’s large corporate bookings or even other private events nearby especially probably the bbc for Salford Quays.

        • Ramsey says:
          3 Jun3 June 09:59

          No Taylor Swift is avoiding Manchester and has her concerts in Liverpool 😁

      • NorthernLass says:
        2 Jun2 June 12:02

        Totally aware of that, I’m just saying I’m not going to be paying £130 when I can pay £90. We use airport hotels quite a lot so it adds up.
        @Scott – Manchester is like that. You see HIEX and Voco priced higher than the Kimpton and Indigo on some nights! It’s not such a huge city that distances from stations, venues, etc would make a difference.

        • Ken says:
          2 Jun2 June 13:07

          Manchester and Liverpool weekend rates are very closely correlated to if United or Liverpool are playing at home.
          It can add 50% to the bog standard IHG / Marriott price. And the better hotels go up as well.
          Taylor Swift will do exactly the same (playing Liverpool rather than Mcr) and Holiday Inn express for example will be almost £300 when she plays.

  • Diydegsy says:
    2 Jun2 June 09:21

    We have stayed here twice even though we have been departing from T1 both times as we use meet and greet T1 ,do twilight bag drop off and walk through to the holiday inn. The staff are pleasant and the restaurant is good but sometimes the service can be a bit slow. You could see lots of people leaving the bar/ restaurant here and going back across to the Ibis so maybe the bar here is better . Nice surprise to have the mini bar as we have never received that in any other holiday inn as a diamond member. Definitely our first choice for Manchester flights now.

  • James C says:
    2 Jun2 June 09:48

    Just to mention that there is a Doubletree which is also walkable from the station (though similarly you have to cross a road). The Radisson is the most conveniently located of all the Manchester Airport hotels. It’s connected to the actual skywalks so couldn’t be easier to access the terminals or station. I like to book a room with runway views- really excellent views over the airfield!

    • Rob says:
      2 Jun2 June 09:54

      Oddly the Radisson is marginally further from T2 although if raining massively more convenient.

    • MF176 says:
      2 Jun2 June 10:06

      Yes agree on the Doubletree, cross the road and enter via the coach station and follow the sky bridge round, very easy.

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