The Edwardian Manchester Hotel — Hotel in Manchester

We arrived on a Friday evening for a wedding, i originally called to ask for recommendations for parking as i am disabled, They didn’t really give us much option I believe the person on the phone had broken English and couldn’t quite understand. However they did say when we arrive we can park in the loading bay whilst we check in and drop off bags. So we did that, I got my badge out and put it in the windscreen completely visible. A man from reception comes out and quite bluntly says we couldn’t park there, he then saw the blue badge, said 3 hours max and then walked back into reception. A person parked infront of us and was greeted by another member of staff who then held the door open for them to enter and helped with bags, we did not get any support with our bags or even the door held open. We checked in and got out keys, this man on reception was friendly, advised us where to go and the facilities. He did mention we needed to book for the spa facilities but he said do it when we are wanting to go down, and provided the number. Off we went to our room. Overall a very nice room. Only issue was we booked a city view and basically had a view of some roof, I called down and asked if we were definitely in a city room as we had paid extra and it was disappointing. The man said it was but he could take us round to some other rooms to see if we liked them any better. The other rooms he showed us were worse, and they were connecting rooms which we personally didn’t feel comfortable with. So we decided to stick to our original room and just faced the fact we didn’t really have much of a ‘city view’. Woke up early on the Saturday to go to the spa as my partner was out for the day so this was the only opportunity for him to use it, we called down and we’re told they were fully booked till after 12pm, he was due to go out at 11am so he wasn’t able to. I decided to go at 5pm and there were kids screaming and splashing about, I wasn’t aware but there are certain hours where children are allowed so I’d recommend finding out these hours and going outside of these as it made the experience so less relaxing and tranquil. The spa was also very small and so many people crammed in there. There was very limited space to sit as many people were holding the beds with towels. I decided to use the shower in the changing rooms and they were very nice and private. However, the shampoo and condition felt awful, very different to what I had in the room. Felt very watered down so I decided not to bother and to go to my room instead. Much different they must have watered it down. I called down again to book for the Sunday morning before we checked out so my partner could at least use the spa once for the ‘5’ hotel he’s paid so much for. I was again told they were fully booked. And I explained that we weren’t made aware it was due to fill up quick and the lady at reception said they always do and people book months in advance! There was nowhere on the listing we booked through to say this, same with treatments, the man when we checked in also told us we could just call whenever we wanted to go straight down, so felt very mislead. We had travelled 6 hours and paid so much money to come to this hotel for 3 days and couldn’t use the facilities. Magically she managed to find space for us and booked us in. We went down in the morning and there was another woman on the desk who couldn’t find us booked in, but she let us go in anyway. It was much quieter and no children, this was at 9am. Much nicer experience. Unfortunately we still could not book any treatments which was quite disappointing so I would defo recommend emailing to book if you want to use the spa and gym or if you wanna book a treatment as it isn’t worth the risk. There is so many hidden catches to watch out for. Defo wouldn’t call this a 5 hotel, I have been to...

The positives:||- The rooms were clean and comfortable, with good air conditioning (although the windows in our room didn’t open).|- The room service was efficient and the food quality was good.|- The check-in experience was quick and easy.|- The breakfast buffet was a great selection, although the cost of extras seemed high.|- The location was convenient.||Areas for improvement:||- The ice machine on our floor was broken when we arrived, but this was fixed by the next day.|- My son ordered cereal for breakfast in the room service, but there wasn’t much milk provided.|- The bathroom was more of a wet room, and a fair amount of water escaped from the shower, getting the toilet area quite wet. Although the sink was outside the wet room, which was a good thing.|- The staff was mixed in terms of friendliness. The check-in was great, but the check-out was slightly less friendly.||Issues experienced:||- I was really disappointed on the first night. I had had a drink at Peter Street Kitchen, one of the hotel bars (the other one was closed for a private event). Two issues arose:| 1. When I went to put the drinks on my room, I was initially told I didn’t have credit on my room, even though I had agreed to a £300 credit at check-in. A phone call later confirmed that I did have credit, so the issue was resolved.| 2. As I was leaving the bar and going to the lift, another bar staff member followed me and asked abruptly if we had paid. I found this insulting because they had assumed I had just left without paying. I suggested that she should have checked with her colleague before accusing a customer in front of others. I barely got an apology for this.||This experience was a bad start, and we didn’t use either bar after that. I think the hotel should have taken better steps to address these issues. ||- The swimming pool has specific times for children, I think 9-11 and 4-6. However, my 11-year-old son was disappointed because it wasn’t set up as family-friendly. At 9:30 am, there was another dad with his young daughter (thankfully), but otherwise, there was one other couple in the pool who were quite close together. There were also many people across all the sunbeds and hot tub, many of whom were on their phones taking photos and videos. I found this quite inappropriate. I would either recommend that the hotel makes it an adult-only area or that they don’t allow phones or cameras during the family times. We only stayed for about five minutes, my son was bored and I felt really uncomfortable with the situation. I suggest this is addressed urgently before...

Update: Thank you for taking the time to understand the issue and for working to resolve it, that truly matters. I’m very satisfied with how the receptionist and manager handled the situation today. Their professionalism and care made a big difference. I sincerely hope that in the future, room arrangements can better reflect the needs of each guest. And if a specific room type isn’t available, it would be very helpful to inform the guest in advance especially when the request was made well ahead of time, as ours was last month.

Old review - Not worth the money and very disappointed!!!

We booked a 5-star hotel, expecting comfort and the room type we reserved, but we were very disappointed. After a 4-hour train trip, my husband and I were given a twin bed instead of one big bed for two. I understand that on the Booking.com system you gave us two options, and my husband requested a double bed as soon as he made the booking — and that was a while ago. We didn't receive any confirmation until we arrived. Even though our booking clearly stated two adults, with both persons having the same last name and initials, Mr. & Mrs., doesn't that clearly make more sense as a married couple?

On top of that, another unexpected issue: we were placed in a disability-accessible room, which the receptionist didn’t mention to us when we checked in. We never requested this. I fully respect that these rooms are essential for guests who need them, but this setup wasn’t suitable for us. Why? The sink was so low, I literally hurt my back brushing my teeth. Again, to confirm — we were not informed about this change at check-in. We were only informed that we got a twin bed!

Can I sleep on the floor, on the ground, in a tent? Yes! But I really didn’t expect this when we paid for a 5-star hotel...

For the price we paid and the hotel’s 5-star rating, we expected better. At the very least, we should have been given the correct room, especially since we made the request well in advance. Someone should have offered us a discount for the inconvenience — not just put us in whatever room was left without informing us. It’s so irresponsible. This was not the relaxing start to our trip we were hoping for.

Extra — I changed the rating to even lower because in this room, we could hear water dripping the...