beduin

Something is wrong here.. i've been traveling thoughout the UK and not one hotel satisfied my expectations from IHG. Here are my findings after traveling through London, Northampton, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, Edinburgh and Glasgow:
1-They're very short on upgrades (you actually have to remind them that you are Spire and ask for an upgrade).
2- If you get upgraded, you'll just get the room one category up, never a fully fledged suite like elsewhere in the world.
3- All the rooms I've seen except one were extremely small. Sometimes the Executive rooms are the same size as the standard rooms, but with additional furniture.
4- Too cold receptionists, and you feel they're under alot of pressure to process as many guests as possible. A good example of how managements are rationing employees and working them like donkeys which then spills onto customer service.

JustinIreland

I've stayed in approx 25 IHG Properties in the last 18 months or so. 5 of them would have been in the UK and I must admit the UK standards are certainly lower than what I have found in Mainland Europe for the most part.

If I was ranking all the places I visited in the last 18 months from 1-25, I would:
- Put one hotel in Top 10
- Put one hotel at about number 15
- The other 3 would be in the bottom 5.

So I'd agree with what you are saying, HIE in particular is much poorer in the UK compared to what you find in Mainland Europe, it's a world apart from what I see in other countries who simply seem to care more and they do the minimum possible for breakfast.

Maintenance also seems bad in comparison overall, for example there's one HIE I go into in Central Europe and another that I stayed in occasionally for stopovers for work in UK, they were both built around the same year and same room generation, one looks brand new and everything works perfectly and the other one looks like management don't care. Even in Indigo and Crowne Plaza properties I've seen a difference.

Maybe I'm unlucky but overall I find the hotels outside the UK generally appear to be more tightly adhering to brand standards and you get a consistent experience, whereas in the UK often hotels are not being so strict on that and feel more disjointed and like a loose franchise of IHG where outside they appear to be more tightly integrated to IHG even though at the end of the day they are pretty much all franchised.

beduin

Latest: a stay in Holiday Inn High Wycomb M40.
1- Upgraded to a room that's called a suite, but not a suite. It's just a large room. No partition as such.
2- For some reason someone entered my room yesterday. The receptionist was overwhealmed with guests and got confused. Upon my complaint he apologized and declared that this will be his last week! He is fed up with the work load.
3- The breakfast was the minimum standard. I asked for tea and a hot chocolate for my son, it took them 30 minutes to get it (after I had to remind them that is). The staff are clearly over worked.

Lewis Watson

If you want upgrades your best with crowne plaza hotels in UK. Many holiday Inn and holiday Inn express hotels don't even have the ability to upgrade. All the rooms are standard.

rumbataz

I've had good success at Hotel Indigo Newcastle, UK. They do have 'Executive' rooms and will upgrade Spire if you're lucky. Unfortunately (for customers) the hotel tends to be busy so there's a distinct lack of upgrade availability.

But I agree that, generally speaking, UK IHG properties are pretty poor when it comes to getting decent rooms if you're Spire.

binman

It's not just IHG bug UK hospitality is dire. In England in particular the staff are rarely friendly though I have had some pleasant experiences. In Scotland I find the staff are generally locals and it makes s huge difference.
Biggest difference of all was getting diamond status match. Hilton are just so much better in thdvUK than IHG.

Flying Lawyer

Friendliness of staff might change after Brexit. The PM wants to get rid of many of the foreign workers, so probably several have to leave and need to be replaced by locals in England, too. On the other hand, we might get a lack of service due to the lack of labour force.

turner32

I've not seen anything to suggest that our PM wants to get rid of foreign workers. This could, yet again be mischief-making from the European media. To suggest that English staff are treating foreign people differently, is over-reaching slightly I think, but then, I haven't read Der Spiegel recently.

Flying Lawyer

Binman brought up the idea that local staff in Scotland is nicer than staff in England. In England - where I live - I hardly see local staff. And Ms May questions the right of Europeans to settle in the UK. This is not a matter of reading then Spiegel but probably a matter of following anything else but certain English mass media.

Land-of-Miles

It is rare in my experience to find many local staff in English properties, the vast majority are Eastern European and whilst a sweeping generalisation it might be said that they lack "warmth".

Whether this changes following our Great Escape from the EU, remains to be seen. I do notice a big difference in those places I regularly visit which do tend to deploy local staff so there are grounds for cautious optimism.

chrism20

In some areas it's as rare up here in Scotland as it is in England IMO. There is a bigger percentage of locals but at a guess I'd say in the cities it's way less than 50%. The person you see at the front desk may speak English as their first language but you can be guaranteed a huge percentage of the housekeeping and F&B staff speak English as a second language. That's based on approximately 100 nights a year in Scottish hotels over the last five to six years.

:D!

The thread title is misleading.

A lot of UK HIX are literally too cold for half of the year. The heating doesn't work very well if at all. Changing room does not help because it's the same in all rooms.

On the topic of hotel staff who grew up in Eastern Europe as opposed to the UK, I have not noticed any major differences between the two groups regarding the level of warmth displayed; the differences are greater between individuals.

JustinIreland

Worst IHG hotel I have been in has been the one at Stansted Airport, HIX there was really really bad, normally stay at the Premier Inn next door if I'm ever in the area even if I have to pay for Breakfast and don't get points.