Holiday Inn Telford Ironbridge

My wife and I stayed here in late March with the idea of using it as a base to explore Ironbridge and Shropshire. Had we known what Telford was like (really just a big shopping centre surrounded by carparks and business parks) we probably would have opted for something in ironbridge itself. However, this is a nice-enough hotel. The rooms were clean, the bed comfy, and the decor pretty neutral. Staff were all good. The Leisure Centre in particular is fantastic. The pool is huge! What really lets this place down is the Olive Tree Restaurant. They absolutely charge through the roof for their Ala Carte menu but what arrives on the plate is far from the quality you'd expect. The lamb shank I had was undercooked and tough and I really had to fight to get the meat to separate from the bone. The accompanying veggies were microwaved into oblivion I suspect. My wife's duck, ordered 'medium' was as tender as an old leather boot. We had to ask for our plates to be cleared away and the air conditioning had broken so the room was boiling. We skipped desert as we couldn't bear to be in the room any longer. Having said that, we like to single out two of the restuarant staff. Lee, who was great, despite the circumstances, and David, on the breakfast shift who seemed a cut above the rest. The breakfast by the way was a good buffet selection with plenty of fruit. This hotel is fine, really, but just give the food a miss.

My wife and I spent a Saturday night here. Very courteous, friendly staff, swift check-in and out. Excellent facilities, we used the leisure complex, which was clean and tidy, as was our room. Only complaint was noise from adjoining rooms, the walls are not very thick. We ate dinner in the restuarant, reasonably priced and plentiful, breakfast was buffet style, good also. Would stay here again if in the area.

Stayed there on business on the 24th April and was pleasently surprised to be allowed to check in at 9.30am. The room was clean and pleasent. About 18.00 in the evening the fire alarm sounded so we all exited the hotel. No roll call was performed but thankfully the fire was a false alarm. After about 10 mins we went back in. The hotel has wireless internet access which although not cheap I decided to try - much to my regret. The connection was very slow and also dropped half a dozen times or more forcing me to log in again. In the morning I commented on the appalling connection and the receptionist was kind to take the amount off the bill. The evening meal was reasonably priced and also of reasonable quality, as was breakfast the next day. What I wasn't keen on was the fact that the croissants and muffins came in pre-wrapped plastic making me think they were not freshly made on a daily basis. Staff at dinner and breakfast request you prove you are a hotel quest.

Arrived on Friday afternoon for a winter weekend break, and yes it was wintery. Hotel reception was warm and friendly, we had lunch from the bar which was excellant.Hotel room was very good everything you needed ( we had a fridge ) . TV had all the channels including Sky sports but not movie channels but you had pay for view movies with latest films.We ate in the restaurant that evening and food was first choice , lots to choose from not cheap but not too expensive.Breakfast was also very good lots of choices. Theres loads to see at Telford and surrouding areas so we had an excellant weekend break and the Holiady Inn was a really good choice Hotel to stay in and would recommend it to anyone....

We initially booked 2 executive rooms for £85 per night on the website. All fine, except that we then changed it for 1 suite and 1 exec for 2 nights and swopped round the other exec for 1 night only. So all in all we booked 2 exec rooms and 1 suite for the whole weekend. Suite was fine, large bathroom, wireless internet access, a fridge which you can put things in. But breakfast was extra and when we went for a drink at the bar were asked to "prove" we were staying there. On check out - big mix up with the bills. the 3rd exec room was downgraded to a standard and the receptionist chose to argue the toss even though we had telephoned on the day before arrival to confirm that they were selling exec rooms at £85 and standards at £75 - the cheek was they were trying to charge us £85 for the standard claiming that was the asking price ! Took more than half an hour to sort out and friend who took the other exec got charged for breakfasts and newspapers she did not order. I think the staff need a reality check and to learn not to lie ! Would I go back ? Only because I have to go to RAF Cosford and there is no other hotel...but beware - check everything and the small print !!

I stayed at the Telford Holiday Inn on business for 8 months through 2004. On a general note, I think this is the best hotel in Telford ... however, there is not much competition. On the plus side - The hotel is well located for working in Telford (walkable to the town centre) but it is located on the outskirts in a slightly quieter area. It is also next to the International (conference) Centre. The staff are generally very friendly and helpful. The rooms are clean and tidy as arethe public areas. The room service is fine, as is the restaurant. Breakfast is pretty good. On the negative side - The decor throughout is getting a bit tired and the leisure club can get busy. However, by far the biggest problem with this hotel is their policy of overbooking - Having some experience of the hotel industry I understand that overbooking is common policy but when a hotel is frequently overbooked by 30+ rooms then it just serves to frustrate guests, many of whom are return custom. Because the hotel gets a lot of conference delegates and Telford business contracts, they can pretty much guarantee to fill rooms and they therefore do not seem to try to meet the needs of the frequent guests. I had to wait until I reached Platinum status in the Priority Club awards scheme to force my right to guaranteed availability! So, to summarise, nice hotel, nice staff, just avoid staying there while a conference is on and make sure you've got a room!!

I made a block booking at this hotel (business) in September 2004 through to the end of March 2005. Despite this they've twice tried to bump me out to another hotel because they've overbooked (most recently by 30 rooms!) Not exactly the way to conduct business.

We had a nice week long stay here while attending an archery tournament at the Lilleshall Sports Center. The full breakfast lasted us to dinner. They were always willing to open the business center for us to check our email on the Internet. The tray of teas, coffee and cookies was refilled each day. We choose the hotel because we have found that A/C rooms allow one to close the windows if its noisy outside. Note that the area was far from noisy and we had our window open a lot. The ASDA super market (A walmart of sorts) was near by and nice to have close by. The staff was very nice at the front desk and dining room. The only difficulty we had was our reservation. It was erased when they were switching to a new computer system. With a little insistance on my part they gave me the rate I was quoted. I would stay there again when visiting the sports complex.

Great for Ironbridge museums. Rooms were comforatable for 2 adults and 2 children and the air-conditioning was efficient. Restaruant was fine, especially for the children. The comunal areas are small and tatty and the pool was always busy (although the hotle had rung us before hand to warn that the hotel was busy that weekend).

Stayed a couple of nights here during a warm summer. Bed comfortable and bathroom fine. No air-conditioning meant that you had to have the window open, which meant noise from other rooms. The design of the windows, hinged at the top and opened out from the bottom, forced the smoke from the rooms below into our room - UGH! For my next stay in the area I would go somewhere else - it made our stay miserable. Restaurant fine and staff helpful, it's just those darn windows.