voco Manchester - City Centre by IHG — Hotel in Manchester

We have been coming to Manchester for over 22 years. Without a doubt Voco is the best hotel we've ever stayed in here, We will definitely be back. ||There are so many positives I feel I must start at the beginning. ||On our arrival, Friday we were welcomed by Apoova (I beg forgiveness for any misspelling of names). My husband had problems with his payment card and whilst being sorted was met with nothing but kindness, understanding and patience (just what you need when cortisol begins its journey through your system). We encountered Apoova again when needing extra provisions for the room which were delivered quick as a flash, with the same warm and generous spirit. All reception staff were welcoming and helpful. Alex, the FOH Manager equally an active part of the superb Team , showing she obviously leads by example with professional dignity, style and grace.|Matt, only on the bar for our first night is the first person EVER to get my drink order right without question or fuss and proved he has exemplary customer service skills which I truly benefitted from. Thank you.|We dined in the restaurant on our second night and found the food to be excellent. This is where we first encountered Lucas, the giant of silver service perfection, again another example of exemplary customer service. His little touches at breakfast, taking our coffee order with his "nothing is too much trouble" attitude, swift and efficient delivery and genuine warmth were very much appreciated.. Special mentions must be made also to the tireless efficiency of Rosie and Delesh who seamlessly ensured the service ran smoothly, and an extra special mention to the delightful Joel sweltering in the kitchen who was both charmingly warm and professional in equal measure.|By far the biggest asset of this hotel is their team. The entire staff were on the same page and despite the fast paced environment they made everything seem effortless helping us to feel valued & respected||The Room; By far the best night's sleep I've ever had in a hotel anywhere! The bed was beyond comfortable, with ample pillows and quality bedding. Bliss. There was zero noise along the corridors or from outside. We had a standard room which was perfect in size and I brought A LOT of luggage. The room even included a mini fridge and safe which were appreciated. The shower was amazing and I felt both invigorated and refreshed by its power and warmth. Excellent products (even though I brought my own) - lots of lovely touches. ||My husband stumbled upon the hotel just a few days before our arrival, particularly struck by the amazing price deal which saw us making a considerable saving on our booking for one of the regularly used hotels nearby which we booked a year in advance. ||All our special requests were met without fuss (first floor room, near the lift) which particularly impressed my husband due to his recently acquired mobility issues due to injury.||A huge bonus is that we can visit with our dogs as this hotel is pet friendly. Next time!||We had a very lovely stay, thank you all. We stay in Manchester several times a year and I am already excited for staying here again. We...

My wife and I visited Voco Manchester on Thursday 20th Feb. We chose this hotel as it was hosting a Fawlty Towers Dining Experience there. I booked it through Booking.com and paid in advance. ||When we arrived at reception, I was asked to leave my card details in case we charged anything to our room. I reluctantly gave them, as I knew we wouldn’t be charging anything to the room and would be paying for drinks as we went along and the food had already been paid for. We had a good evening and the hotel was as expected. We didn’t charge anything to the room, as expected. ||The following Monday the 24th, while trying to pay for something, my payment was declined. I was surprised as I knew there to be money in the account. Upon inspecting my account, I discovered that Voco had taken £84.15 out of the account on Monday, despite me already paying. I contacted them and they said a mistake had been made and that they would put the money back in and that I should see it back in my account in ‘a few days’. They said they were ‘sorry’. I was extremely unhappy about this as £84.15 is a lot of money to me, a partially sighted and disabled man. It had left my account with just £5 in it and they said I would be without for up to a week. A week is a long, long time to be without money that has been taken through no fault of your own. ||I contacted the front desk and explained that It wasn’t until Friday the 28th that some of my money reappeared. ||(It was still short of the £1.20 city tax that I had also already paid). ||I said that I felt that being sorry wasn’t good enough. I had been left to struggle on with no money of my own and having to borrow to feed myself for a week, and that I felt that compensation was in order. After a string of emails with the Hotel Manager, who during over a dozen of these, knew that I was left with no money for a week and was disabled, I was told that to compensate me for being without £85 for 5 days, I wasn’t entitled to a full refund. I was given a choice: 20% of my original payment back, or, if I were to book with them again, I could have a 20% reduction and a room upgrade plus breakfast. |So. Their offer was for me to come and spend another £130 with them for a night! Seriously!? They left me broke for a week where I had to borrow money to live and then their offer of ‘compensation’ was to come and spend yet more money with them. This was a final offer, they said. I took my partial refund and said I was not at all happy and would certainly not be giving them more money, even if I could have afforded their obscene compensation offer. I would have expected an unreserved apology and an invite to stay with them free of charge, given their mistake and what it put me through. ||So, my post is to give you an insight into the management policy of this hotel and, whether or not you believe I’m being harsh on them, as £85 out of your bank for a week would be no big deal and that their alleged compensation was fair, I urge you to be cautious when you check in and they ask you for your bank details. If it happens to you, be prepared. |All the above are facts and...

I stayed here on business for 5 nights in February 2025, in room 414. The total price was £646.

The hotel is in a great location and staff are generally very friendly and helpful. I had booked a second stay at this hotel in March but have just switched to the Holiday Inn instead as I just do not want to stay here again.

Unfortunately I had a ton of little problems that added up to make this a not very pleasant stay and I was very happy to leave this morning.

The room was not very clean. There was someone else’s toenails on the floor that were not vacuumed up the entire time I was there. There were some pretty gross stains on the mirror that also didn’t get cleaned during my stay and grease from someone else’s food on the arms of the chairs.

The bathroom sink was blocked and I asked for it to be looked at. It was unblocked, but then every time I used the sink water poured out of the bottom of the sink on to the floor.

The coffee machine leaked. I asked for it to be looked at and it was, but it still leaked. I just stopped using it.

The TV does not work. The only tuned in channel is a local Manchester one, no BBC, ITV or Sky news. I imagine the people at the hotel will say ‘it does work’. Go up to the room and actually try it for yourself.

The room was really, really cold. The AC does not heat and there is no heating in the room. I am usually a very ‘hot’ person and don’t feel the cold, but I was not warm enough in the room.

The WiFi often did not work. When connecting I got a ‘too many connections’ message (see picture).

The display on the safe doesn’t work properly so you can’t see all the numbers you’re pressing when setting the code. Pretty essential if you want to be able to open it again.

The last morning when I went for breakfast the person said it was not included in my room. Despite having been there, eating breakfast.. the entire week. After much scrabbling around eventually he said I could have it. He was super friendly, but..come on.. I’ve literally been there for 6 days eating the food.

Breakfast was OK - but not excellent. It was very bog standard greasy hotel stuff and the godawful toaster gets stuck every time so you have to ask someone to come and poke it with a bread knife. There is a big sign telling guests not to do that, so they’re obviously used to it.

Basically this is not a very good IHG hotel and not the standard I expect. There are cheaper IHG options in Manchester and given the age and location of this property I expected better. It looks nice and has good decor, but is not well maintained.

Staff did respond when I asked for things to be sorted out, but I just don’t want to have to nag you when I am staying there for work and am busy.

Look after the basic maintenance and then people who stay in hotels 45+ nights a year won’t write you long miserable reviews like this. I am quite happy to stay in a no frills budget hotel, but expect it to be clean and warm. This is not a budget hotel and it was cold and dirty - not very pleasant. No thanks Voco, you’re definitely off my list...