Holiday Inn Express Portsmouth - Gunwharf Quays by IHG

The staff were excellent and the location was good, and I appreciated that the hotel welcomes dogs. Still, for £170 for one night for two, I was very disappointed. Room 125 was dusty, the bathroom was tired and needed redoing, the grouting was dirty, water leaked from the shower, and the drain smell was unpleasant. The air conditioning didn’t work, though they supplied a fan, and the bathroom extractor was broken. The corridors also need attention, with stained walls and frayed carpets. For that price, there are much better hotels in Southsea, and this wasn’t what I’d expect from a Holiday Inn Express. The bar stayed open until 2am, but there was no water to buy. We were told to use a vending machine on the second floor, which was difficult to reach from our first-floor room because of mobility issues. I own a dog, but I don’t like dogs near me while I’m eating, and my mum, who doesn’t own one, felt the same. It would be better if dogs were encouraged to stay in the separate room next to the breakfast buffet.

Our first visit went really well. The staff were efficient and friendly, the rooms clean and comfortable, and breakfast had a good range of options. Disabled drivers need a special parking notice, and they’ll issue one before your booking-in time if you arrive early, with extra time allowed after checkout too. That help made a big difference for us. Thanks for a great stay.

The rooms were pretty good, though another chair would have helped. The heating worked, but we switched it off because it was noisy. As in many hotels, people came back during the night and let the doors bang shut. You’d think they’d have fitted soft-close doors by now! The location is handy for shopping, and booking ahead can get you some good deals. Breakfast and 24-hour parking are included, and some outlets, restaurants and bars offer a 10-20% hotel discount.

Breakfast was okay, though other hotel chains do it much better. The bed felt like a partly deflated air mattress, and there was mould around the shower and on the curtain. It wasn’t very quiet either, with a lot of noise that I think came from the air conditioning pipework. The water to the rooms stopped at one point, but staff dealt with it quickly.