Gardens Hotel

We've already booked another visit. This was my fourth stay, and the third time this year. As two older women travelling together, we feel safe and welcome here. The staff are all amazing, friendly, helpful, and make us feel valued. The rooms are clean and comfortable, with superb beds. It's noisy outside, but that's city-centre Manchester. Breakfast is well worth having, with high-quality bacon and sausage. The staff seem to pitch in together and help wherever needed.

The photos don't look anything like the hotel. I booked the room shown as one double and one single bed, but got two single beds instead. When I asked if it could be changed, the answer was just no. The sheets were dirty, and the place smelled strongly of weed and mould. It was filthy, old, and badly maintained, with chips and damage on every wall, dirty windows, and an unclean bathroom. Even the staircase felt unsafe and apparently couldn't be used because it was collapsing. I wouldn't stay again. I'm so disappointed that my money went to waste.

Check-in and checkout were fast, and my small room was clean, with a comfortable bed and plenty of fresh towels. But the sink and shower drained very slowly, and the lifts always had a strange rotten smell. Breakfast was a farce. I was told to help myself to the continental options, but no one took my cooked breakfast order. After ten minutes I had to track the man down. It took so long to arrive that I didn't want it anymore. It wasn't even busy, there were only two other people there at 7:30.

The room was so hot and smelly that I went straight downstairs to tell the staff, politely, that it was filthy, and showed them photos. I asked if it could be cleaned again and was flatly told no, there was no cleaner. I then asked for a refund so we could book somewhere else, even though other hotels at short notice cost twice as much. The supervisor said nobody on shift could discuss refunds. They offered no solution or alternative, just told us to come back in a few days to speak to a manager. We took our bags and booked elsewhere. While we were doing that, we saw another couple leaving for the same reason, a filthy room and no help from staff. What was meant to be a once-in-a-lifetime weekend running the Manchester marathon began with upset and worry. We'd booked two nights for the marathon, and prices had been raised because of the event. On arrival, building work was obvious because the staircase was falling down. Our room had no windows, something that wasn't clearly advertised, and the photos were very misleading. The whole hotel stank, and our room smelled strongly of weed. There was thick dirt and grime on the bed's headboard and everywhere else, stains on the carpet and sheets, grime all over the bathroom, and flies in the room. It was so unhygienic that staying there would have felt unsafe. Avoid, avoid, avoid.