{"id":10287,"date":"2022-08-05T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-05T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/?p=10287"},"modified":"2022-08-05T20:29:49","modified_gmt":"2022-08-05T19:29:49","slug":"my-review-of-kimpton-clocktower-manchester","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/2022\/08\/05\/my-review-of-kimpton-clocktower-manchester\/","title":{"rendered":"My review of Kimpton Clocktower, Manchester"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

(08\/2022 Update – just had a second stay here)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was visiting Manchester again, and although I didn’t intend to stay at the Kimpton<\/a> again, it’s very cheap using the Ambassador BOGOF voucher<\/a> (\u00a3125 for two nights) so I decided to give it another try.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The current social password Stay Cool<\/em> surprises with me a postcard, oh well…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The room I’ve got this time is on the 3rd floor. Although not as big as last time, it feels so much better – refreshed furniture, bright daylight from the massive windows, and very high ceiling.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Social Hour is hosted 6-7pm on weekdays and 5-6pm on weekends. There’s a nice selection of drinks.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Diamond members can choose breakfast as their welcome amenity, which is served in the Refuge bar.<\/p>\n\n\n

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It’s mainly buffet, but with a few cook-to-order options too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

—————————————————————————–<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Originally posted 07\/2021)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ve stayed at both Kimptons at Edinburgh<\/a> and Glasgow<\/a>, and I like them both. Therefore I’ve chosen to try out the Kimpton Clocktower hotel<\/a> at Manchester to use my Ambassador BOGOF voucher. The Clocktower is significantly cheaper than the other three Kimptons – I paid only \u00a3158 for both nights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The hotel is located off the Oxford road. Despite its proximity to the road and train station I barely heard any noises in my room. It’s not central, but Canal street, the Piccadilly station and city centre are just a short walk away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The highlight of the hotel is, no doubt the lobby, which is hugely impressive:<\/p>\n\n\n

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Built at 1895 it was originally an office building, and converted to a hotel nearly one hundred years later. If you are a history fan remember to request a free brochure when you check in.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The secret password gives me a Manchester Bee and a box of cream fudge.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Having booked the very basic Urban Double<\/em>, I’m then upgraded to Deluxe <\/em>room for which category-wise is quite generous. Upon opening the door you see a small vestibule:<\/p>\n\n\n

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And the actual room is actually on the higher floor. The whole setting is kind of a duplex.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the room looks nothing like the stock photos, in a sad way. Sorry for the bad photos, but it brings up the first point I want to make: because of the positioning most rooms are very lacking in natural light, which is worsened by the fact that windows are very small. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Furnishing is tired and dysfunctional. Bed is ok, but I have no idea why anyone would think that 18th-century desk and stool are by any means comfortable enough for anyone to sit. Instead of properly installing the mirror they just leave a standalone one against the wall which feels quite strange.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bathroom actually looks much better. Maybe they are in the middle of refurbishing all rooms?<\/p>\n\n\n

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I have to stay that I have never felt as depressed in a hotel room like this before. It just doesn’t give you the cosy feel that a luxury hotel should aim for at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Breakfast is charged at \u00a318.50pp and there’s no discount if you order upfront. After realising that it doesn’t even include the cooked-to-order items it is a definite no from me. However, a \u00a310 drinks voucher is provided to IHG members, and you could spend it at the famous Refuge Bar.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Although I was really amazed by the glorious hall at first sight, the room unfortunately is a big disappointment and is nowhere near a five-star hotel’s standard. The hotel and its Refuge Bar is still worth a visit, but in my opinion there are many better accommodation choices in Manchester, e.g. the new Indigo<\/a> near Victoria station. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(08\/2022 Update – just had a second stay here) I was visiting Manchester again, and although I didn’t intend to stay at the Kimpton again, it’s...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,39],"tags":[128],"class_list":["post-10287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ihg","category-uk","tag-hotel-review"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10287"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10287\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13080,"href":"https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10287\/revisions\/13080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}