Holiday Inn Runcorn (I)

Goodness me where to start on this one?! Ok 1st off with one exception (the “chef”) all the bar and restaurant staff were fab. Didn’t get names sadly but they were super nice, friendly and mostly clearly embarrassed by the fiasco in which they work and deserve my admiration for that alone! Hotel was booked for 3 nights by my company for a nearby course and so location wise it was great - and to be fair quiet despite being slap bang in a residential area and near a busy road Plenty of car parking, but the tarmac is full of potholes so watch out Check in was quick, nice girl at reception. Had room 112 It took me a while to figure out that this was actually down 2 flights of stairs and at the very far end of the long corridor. I had the swing doors to the stairs and guest health club access right outside my room so was concerned it’d be very noisy, but again I really didn’t notice too much noise and certainly not at night Room was tiny and really dated. No usb ports anywhere & a particularly aged & uncomfortable bed which is unusual for a H.I Bathroom was clean but the shower was a nightmare. It screamed when switched on then continued until switched off and despite asking for it to be fixed 3 days running it never was AC worked pretty well but the cleaners would turn it off when they made up the room so coming back to an oven at 1730 each evening was uncomfortable and irritating My main gripe is with the food - or lack thereof! Breakfast was just a typical okayish daily free for all buffet with food not replenished frequently enough and powdered orange. Dinner however …. On the 1st night after letting me look through the menu and choose the tuna salad the barman said no tuna sorry. So I asked for ribs , nope they’re out too!! I said just tell me what else you don’t have and save both of us a bit of time Settled on a crispy duck salad. I sat at a booth and after about 25 mins the chef appeared with my salad and a burger He said salad? I said thanks and then he put the burger down too I told him that’s not mine so he asked who’s it was? I was like how do I know He asked me who I was with and I said no one and he said are you sure 🤣🙄 I said I think I’d know He was really narky at this point. Anyway burger and eater were finally reunited. Salad was ok, soggy and lukewarm duck but not the worst thing I’ve ever eaten (& I’ve been to China!) Next night I tried the grubby room they call the restaurant - think 80’s cafeteria - no tuna, ribs, duck, mushrooms, halloumi, mashed potato, veggie burger, vegan cheese or wait for it WINE?! Of any description The chef was screeching in the kitchen like a lunatic and the poor servers were fraught and one was literally on the verge of tears it was shockingly bad Last night same again no anything so I tried the soggy limp pizza and when I asked for extra tomato, good old Heston Blumenthal in the kitchen really excelled himself… he cut a raw tomato in 1/4’s and added one to each 1/4 of my pizza!! Genius. By this point - and without wine so a tad hysterical - I just decided I had to laugh The final straw came when they told me - after ordering - that they’d just changed payment systems and no one could charge anything to the room and the bill had to be paid by card or cash!! I politely refused as my company has prepaid dinner and breakfast so they weren’t getting double & after they checked with reception, I was released on bail I’d definitely not stay again if I could help it Maybe Premier Inn could buy it and give it the love (& decent beds) it deserves

No BBC channels on TV. We checked in so my wife could relax before an evening hospital appointment and she was hoping to watch Wimbledon. Maintenance guy could not retune the TV, housekeeping tried another TV, but same problem. We asked to change rooms but we were told this was not possible and receptionist very curtly told us we'd have to book somewhere else - not very helpful / not possible on a busy Friday evening in July! Very disappointed in attitude of staff. In the year 2026 and supposedly staying in a hotel from a world renowned chain, this was simply not good enough. In the end we got a refund and left without staying overnight - our weekend stay was ruined and my wife was stressed out going to her hospital appointment. We then had the further stress of driving back home in the busy Friday traffic - all because Holiday Inn Runcorn can't get their act together Needless to say we will not be returning to this hotel and can not recommend it to others.

This was a last minute booking during the recent hot weather so we wanted somewhere with air conditioning. The link on the confirmation email took us to the wrong place so do double check the directions. The rooms are ok, the double room that we had (231) was small and a little dated. The twin (511) was bigger but South facing and the air conditioning struggled to keep up. We didn’t use the pool etc There is plenty of free parking. We ate in the restaurant- breakfast was good with 2 friendly and efficient members of staff and a good selection of hot and cold food available. Dinner was a comedy of errors with 2 not so efficient members of staff. Orders were taken only to be told 10 minutes later that half of the order wasn’t available. White wine was not chilled. Starters arrived after the main meals. We were expected to sign for the bill without seeing a printed copy of it which I was unhappy with and glad that I insisted on at least seeing the bill on a screen as all of the food that wasn’t available was still on the bill! It took a more capable member of staff at reception to sort it all out. It’s a handy place to stop off but I won’t be rushing back.