UKTraveller4Fun

True but both of those are Scotland hence I did say England! There is a lot of people in the North West of England who wouldn't experience those other properties but very well may have Aloft Liverpool as their first Starwood Experience!

I agree the Scottish properties are excellent however there are a lot of people who would go to Liverpool but highly unlikely to go to Turnbery and still low likelyhood to go to Edinburgh but they get Aloft Liverpool as their introduction to Starwood! Did occur to me it gives Aloft a bad brand name and thus even harder to convince hotel owners to build an Aloft in the cities in the Midlands and North where Aloft is probably the most likely Starwood brand to feature! That all said with the merger pending Marriott already have a large presence so becomes less of an issue, although would be nice if they held Aloft Liverpool to account more than Starwood seem to!

navelfluff

Look after Plats well? On Thursday I was given a standard room on the 6th floor - not even one with a Nespresso machine (especially as I did around 40 nights with them last summer). I know Aloft don't do upgrades for Platinum, but I did expect slightly better. That said, the free breakfast was good and the additional hot drink voucher is a nice touch.

Land-of-Miles

I have never had a room with Nespresso beyond the odd suite upgrade. That said I always seem to get a quiet room on the top floor which is well sized, the breakfast is good, 2 free drinks per day from the shop (hot or cold) and fairly regular free bar drinks vouchers. For a budget brand and my very low corporate rate of £115 a night I am pretty happy with Aloft Excel.

SkiAdcock

Once the merger goes through & programs get merged, there will be another option in Liverpool. The Liverpool Marriott City Centre seems to get decent/good reviews on the Marriott forum. Last reports were good location, there is no executive lounge, but a full breakfast buffet including omelettes & waffles to order is provided to Gold/Plats. They seem to respect elites & upgrade (one FTer said he gets corner junior suite every stay). Small but well equipped fitness room & pool is fine. It's a relatively high category (Cat 7), presumably because FS in major city. Rates vary from inexpensive to normal biz rates, depending on dates.

Liverpool Marriott City Centre

Anyway, if Aloft doesn't improve from the reports on this thread there will be another option available in Liverpool.

Cheers.

UKTraveller4Fun

I am a very loyal SPG person and have been for years, until major changes at Aloft Liverpool I am staying at the Hilton or Doubletree, both by my experiences are infinitely more competently managed!

navelfluff

I just spent three nights here - my first time back after over a year. I was impressed with the small improvements at the property.

I was upgraded to a top-floor room (609), which I have stayed in many times before. The room now features dressing gowns & slippers, two bottles of water compared with the previous single bottle, a Nespresso machine with a superb selection of organic coffee pods, a bag of popcorn and a pack of six Oreos. Otherwise everything in-room is identical, including the non-standard little white soap bar.

Breakfast has also improved - although it was pretty good before. The breakfast meats (bacon, sausage & black pudding) now feature the name of the supplying local butcher and the quality is fantastic. There is also a whole honeycomb - delicious, although unlike the Hilton in Warsaw, for example, it isn't from hives on the roof of the hotel. I can't remember who previously provided the yoghurt pots, but now it is organic from Yeo Valley. I understand that they will shortly introduce a self-serve coffee machine, although the current (filter?) coffee is very good.

As a platinum I got two drinks vouchers. What has also changed since my last visit is the preferred car park - they now use the Q-Park off Dale Street instead of the NCP.

Land-of-Miles

This sounds quite good, how is the access to the car park? The NCP was quite good I thought and I often find it difficult to navigate multistoreys in my GTR. The Q Park at the Marriott is pretty good however and the Marriott is an interesting option (although the rooms are a bit dated and tired).

I wonder whether improvements like this will be sustained? Have they recategorised the rooms on the top floor do you know? The last room I had there was dreadful and I haven't stayed as a result for over a year. I have tended to go with the CP, Doubletree, Marriott or Indigo when in the City. The Indigo is fab (almost everything the Aloft should be) except the rooms are quite small (whilst quite a bit bigger than the small Aloft rooms, none of the Indigo rooms even the deluxe ones are terribly spacious).

cesco.g

Thanks for the updated report, navelfluff!
Any specific rooms to ask for a Plat upgrade?
And does the Plat breakfast benefit apply to second guest in same room?

Land-of-Miles

anything on the 6th floor except the very end rooms.

yes

cesco.g

Thanks, Land-of-Miles! With 2 people staying at the room, I would imagine breakfast vouchers being valid for both, correct?

navelfluff

Q Park seems tighter than the NCP so I imagine the GTR would be a nightmare.

Not sure about recategorisation of top floor rooms, but that's pretty much where I always stayed.

navelfluff

Correct.

navelfluff

With less travel to Liverpool, I have only stayed here a handful of times in the past year, the last being a few weeks ago in mid-December. I checked in this evening and was refused a drinks voucher. "We don't do them any more now that we are Marriott". I was given them on all previous visits, but that's me gone for good when I check out in the morning.

enox5

I stayed here recently, and it's a mixed bag. The hotel has a wonderful location in the centre of the city, in a beautiful listed building. I also got an excellent upgrade as a Marriott Gold to a large room on the top floor.

On the flip side, the breaklfast was shockingly bad. It was basically a go bag with £1.50 worth of items from Tesco! I don't know if this is a brand feature of Aloft, in order to appeal to a younger crowd. If it is, then it makes no sense to me!

The room didn't have an iron or any bottled water either.

RAPC

Sounds like a COVID breakfast. Was a buffet and made to order menu selections when I last stayed earlier this year.

Hotel will be cost saving at the moment. Rates in the £30s on some December dates. With my corporate rate, it is pricing up at £28 per night on those dates.