Holiday Inn Express Southampton - West, An Ihg Hotel

“Nice stay but bit of a weird experience”

Nice hotel, liked the rooms and beds/pillows. Staff friendly on check in. Nice and quiet. Breakfast ok but hot food selection a bit limited, not as good as some other chains. If you are planning a later rise you might want to watch out - a member of staff opened my door and came into my room witho… more

Nice hotel, liked the rooms and beds/pillows. Staff friendly on check in. Nice and quiet. Breakfast ok but hot food selection a bit limited, not as good as some other chains. If you are planning a later rise you might want to watch out - a member of staff opened my door and came into my room without waiting to see if I would answer the door! This was at 9am. Then they asked me if I would be checking out by 11 (which is check out time). Not sure why they felt the need to check 2 hours earlier! Luckily I wasn’t in the shower or in the middle of dressing as that could have been very embarrassing.

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“1 night stay before cruise”

All in all a pleasant stay. Clean. Dogs stay was great and food was lovely. Small observations are no orange juice at breakfast only apple juice provided. I don't like apple juice. Also shower head wouldn't stay upright so had to hold it up to shower. However clean. Staff excellent. No real complai… more

All in all a pleasant stay. Clean. Dogs stay was great and food was lovely. Small observations are no orange juice at breakfast only apple juice provided. I don't like apple juice. Also shower head wouldn't stay upright so had to hold it up to shower. However clean. Staff excellent. No real complaints

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“What happened to the hot breakfast”

We've stayed here many times over the past few years and are generally happy with our stay, unfortunately this time we were very disappointed. We stayed for 2 nights and on our second morning by 09:10 they had run out of most hot breakfast items with only baked beans and sausages left with almost a… more

We've stayed here many times over the past few years and are generally happy with our stay, unfortunately this time we were very disappointed. We stayed for 2 nights and on our second morning by 09:10 they had run out of most hot breakfast items with only baked beans and sausages left with almost an hour of breakfast service left. According the the member of staff I spoke to this was down to supplier issues. She said if I have any complaints I should direct them to "Brakes" ( who I assume are the aforementioned suppliers of breakfast goods). I then overheard her later on say to another member if staff "they've got fruit, toast and cereal, what more do they want" This attitude is appalling and is certainly not what I would expect from a representative of this major worldwide hotel group. The next time I visit Southampton (which I do regularly) I will think twice before choosing this hotel again, even though I am a long standing member of the IHG rewards programme.

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“Holiday INN Express Nursling Southampton, A Mixed Experience.”

I stayed at the Holiday INN Express Nursling Southampton between the 8th-13th September. My experience during this stay was quite a mixed one. Access to the Hotel: At the time of my stay, access to the hotel was via a slip Road off a large roundabout on a plot of land in an area adjacent to a buil… more

I stayed at the Holiday INN Express Nursling Southampton between the 8th-13th September. My experience during this stay was quite a mixed one. Access to the Hotel: At the time of my stay, access to the hotel was via a slip Road off a large roundabout on a plot of land in an area adjacent to a building site. The access Road to the hotel was semi-concealed as it was only accessible between an erected steel fence which is signposted and runs along the pathway next to the site being developed. No real issues here as the access Road, although partly concealed, is accessible. Reception and Staff: The hotel reception area was nice and clean, fairly well presented and quite roomy and the check-in was speedy. At the desk, I was engaged by a stony-faced young lady who struggled to crack a smile. I gave her details of my prebooking and following a few moments of silence, she put a card on the desk, pointed to it and said, "Your room number is on the back" I advised that I had a vehicle and asked if I should park in any particular bay. The young lady said I needed to input my vehicle details in the Tablet and pointed in the direction of the pad mounted on a stand whilst looking in the other direction. I am pleased to say that during my stay, I found the rest of the staff to be very pleasant, polite and quite accommodating, so the attitude of this particular young lady was by no means typical. The Room and Facilities: On entry to the room, I tried the lights and then the TV, but discovered the electrics were dead. I used the phone beside the bed to call reception and was advised by a very polite gentleman that in order to activate the electricity in the room, I needed to put my card-key in and leave it in the card-slot on the wall next to the door. This must be done every time you enter the room. The room was fairly clean, spacious and well presented except for the sofa-bed that had what looked to be fresh food stains on the surface. A wipe with a warm damp cloth would have easily solved that problem. The double bed was nice and sturdy and very comfortable. There was also a small desk and nice comfy chair present. The washroom facilities were nicely presented, clean and fitted with a spacious shower cubicle. The room would benefit from the introduction of a small fridge and perhaps an upgrade to a smart TV. Free WIFI is also available. Food: The buffet breakfast was plentiful in variety with the usual bits you might expect in a full English. The bacon rashers in the pictures used in the hotel advert, look nice and lean and of premium quality. What you see in those pictures would easily score 10 out of 10. What you are served on site is quite fatty, dry and very different from the advert and would struggle to make a 5 out of 10. The only plates available for breakfast were just a tad bigger than a side plate and quite smaller than that used for lunch. If this is an attempt to save money, I doubt whether this is working as the unintended consequence is that some of the guests were putting heaps of food on their plate and returning for more. I did mention the small plate size to one of the staff and was advised that the concerns raised would be passed on. Although lunch and dinner are available, I chose to eat offsite. On site Parking: Onsite parking spaces are plentiful and the bays are well marked out and accessible. WARNING!! At this point, I would like warn all potential guests that you should take great care to note the day and time you park your vehicle on site and ensure that it aligns with the duration of your input in the Tablet. Around two weeks after my visit, I received several penalty Charge notices for illegal parking in the hotel car-park. When I called the hotel to challenge this, I was advised that parking enforcement is operated by a third-party on behalf of the hotel. After a short conversation, I was advised to forward the details of the penalty charge notices to the hotel by email and they would get the charges cancelled. True to their word, this happened the following day. Taking all things into consideration, I would still stay there again.

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