Manchester - Any been to the Britannia Sachas Hotel?

flutterbyuk25

Hey all

I'm looking for a cheap weekend break in Manchester Sat 28th-Mon 30th March.

The Britannia Sachas hotel is coming up as £84 total for the 2 nights.

But the reviews on tripadvisor are awful!! But the hotel *looks* really nice on various websites and has ok reviews elsewhere.

Has anyone been there? I would like to know what it's like.

I'm not expecting 5* luxury, just somewhere clean and tidy to sleep in at night in a central location.

TIA

x

hostertlady

well i stayed there last year with hubby to do shopping trip and i didn't find it awful. we had a nice meal in the evening, it is right in the heart of the shopping area ( huge primark etc) the room was fine, we had to park in a multi story carpark a fair bit away but it was fine overnight..

the only thing that i can think that might have put people off is the fact that there are usually groups of girls and groups of lads who stay there for going on the razz for the night. but there is a night doorman and he keeps an eye on things...
the breakfast was lovely too

Blue264

The legendary Sachas!

What can I possibly say without a law suit...:D
I have stayed there myself (about 2yrs ago) in a deluxe room and much against my will because the hotel has one hell of a reputation that Britannia are desperately trying to shake off. A name change would be a good start as the reputation goes back a good 30yrs now to the days when the rooms were let at £15 per hour. Need I say more...

On the upside, it does have a very central location and leisure facilites including a pool.
You can usually get a room at Sachas when the vast majority of other hotels are fully booked.
The deluxe rooms are more than passable.
The hotel doors are locked to non-residents at night and they have a couple of burly doormen to keep randoms out.
If you get peckish in the night there are a couple of vending machines in reception.
The breakfast is excellent. Possibly the best scambled eggs and mushrooms I have had in any hotel. We all went back for seconds when we stayed there.

Downside, that central location is down a back street so I never recommend it to people travelling on their own or arriving at night.
The hotel does have a small number of internal rooms without windows and they are marketed as economy rooms. One of my friends stayed there and threw back the curtains to be greeted by a poster of the New York skyline.
This bit may have changed, but even in the deluxe rooms, there are no irons but they have an ironing room on each floor.

So, as long as you aren't a single woman travelling on your own, this hotel may suffice and is worth a try. At least you will be going into it with your eyes open.
I would be very interested to read your opinion after you have stayed there because locals know the past reputation too well and it does tarnish their view.

littlereddevil

I have never stayed in a decent Brittania hotel yet !

discoinferno_99

Stayed once and that was one time too many. Rooms were simple, but ok. However it is still very much the sort of place where drunk lads roam the corridors and red light activities are going on - just with rooms booked for the night rather than the hour.

Personally I'd chance my arm either via Priceline where you have a decent chance of bagging a 4* Manchester City Centre hotel for about the same price. I can recommend the Ramada in Piccadilly having had a couple of good stays their recently. However that is a bit more expensive at £112 for your dates.

Pollycat

I stayed here for one night when I went to a concert at MEN Arena.

I wanted a single room, close to the centre and within walking distance (not in high heels!) of the Arena.

The hotel ticked all the boxes.

I plumped for an 'inside' room as I was only going to dump my stuff, go out shopping, come back to change, go to the concert, come back and sleep, then check out.

There was no window in the room but that didn't bother me for the time I was there.

I didn't see any drunks roaming the corridors and felt quite safe, being a middle aged lady on her own.

The room was in need of some refurbishment but no worse than others I've stayed in and it was clean.

The breakfast was included and was substantial (buffet-style).

This was in June 2006.

flutterbyuk25

Thanks all.

It's only going to be somewhere to sleep and have breakfast so think I may chance it.

There have been refurbishments lately so as long as they are completed then fingers crossed all will be good.

I'll let you know what I think of it if I do go ahead and stay there

x