Great John Street Hotel

What a disappointment after all the hype ! Badly designed bedrooms and bathrooms with nowhere to place clothes overnight or cufflinks or toiletries. Appalling food- breakfast in bed arrived after 25 minutes delay with stone cold coffee, milk and toast. Downstairs the breakfasst was little better- the scrambled eggs were as horrid to look at as to taste ! Like sick ! The servicing of the rooms is poor- newspapers were simply left in a heap on the floor, towels were not changed twice daily, teabags and milk were not automatically replaced. We had to ask. The prices justify 5 stars, the reality hovers around 3.

This was suppose to be another romantic stay for us in Manchester on a Saturday night. Unfortunately, it was marred by the attitude of the night manager ( his initials are MS, although he refused to give us his name ) and I would welcome an management response as there are always two sides to a story. We stayed in an boudoir room. Quite small and dark, but the bathroom was absolutely gorgeous. I've just read other reviews here and they certainly do have a problem with the heating ( the room temp was set at 16C - too hot for our liking ) which cannot be adjusted. I even got the night manager to check it. There is also a problem with sound insulation. The manager was called back to our room after the people in the next room complained about us playing music. It really was not that loud! Overall we would have enjoyed our stay, but we certainly won't be coming back. Let me explain. The main bar on the ground floor was 'closed' to residents as there was a private function. The other bar is on the top floor. You need the lift or you face a lot of stairs. We ate out and returned to the hotel. We decided to have another bottle of wine.The function was still in full swing. In hindsight maybe we were wrong, but we just couldn't be bothered to troop up ( again ) to the top floor bar, so we decided to order the wine from the main bar, with the intention of going back to our room located on the 1st floor. I imagine another service charge would be added to the final bill if the wine was sent direct to the room. They refused to serve us and very rudely informed us up to go up to the other bar. I responded that we were paying them £235 and expected a decent level of service. From what the night manager said, this comment of mine got twisted around. We had no intention of ' gate -crashing' the function. We just couldn't be bothered to go to the top floor. Perhaps it would make sense to have private functions there on a saturday night rather than the ground floor bar? By the time we reached the other bar, we were informed that we couldn't have a bottle of wine,but would be served by the glass. As one bottle of house red is £18.95- more than The Lowry- goodness knows how much they charge per glass. The night manager was then immediately summoned. After a discussion that lasted well over 45 mins, in which the manager stated at one stage we had abused and insulted staff - if that was the case why still offer to serve us per glass? - my partner was going to leave the hotel there and then - I persuaded him otherwise as he had paid for for us both - and I was reduced to tears because what had been a lovely romantic getaway had turned into such a stupid, petty quarrel over a bottle of wine. Eventually we agreed to go back to the room with a bottle of house red compliments of the night manager. That speaks for itself. We were escorted back to our room like naughty school children! Then came the complaint about the music. What a disaster. Absolutely disgraceful and I'm still very upset about the whole experience. In the morning we skipped breakfast, my partner paid the bill and we couldn't wait to get out of the place quick enough. A small,beautiful hotel, but the service?

I work as an event manager for a large bank so I am used to staying at amazing hotels - this one was right up there! The service was not what you get in the likes of Four Seasons but it was friendly at least. The rooms were amazing (and i had the entry level) with comfy beds, mezzanine bathrooms, roll top baths, and fab decor. The bar was nice although £10 each for a glass of champers in Manchester seemed a little expensive! Breakfast was yummy too. Unfortunately we were woken by very noisy neighbours coming back drunk at 5am, they persisted to shout for at least 10 minutes - when we mentioned this to staff the following morning they laughed and said that "ah so you were next door!, We had to cut their electricity off to shut them up!" - no apology! Overall a fab stay and really convenient for the town centre, would go back.

Stayed her recently on a business trip and was reasonably pleased. The staff seemed fine, although I didn't ask too much of them Ultimately it boils down to what you want your money to go on. The room I had was fabulous, a suite really, and felt like a home from home. Huge King size bed with feather duvet downstairs, sitting room upstairs with fantastic bathroom. TVs and music systems in both "reception" rooms, some really nice decorative touches, I liked it a lot I prefer to spend my money on the room rather than the staff or service - and contrast this place with the Radisson Edwardian where my colleague was staying - a much worse room, but with lots of services and a flashy cocktail bar. I'd rather stay here, and would be happy to return

Where to begin? We have stayed here about 5 times and I just don't know why we keep coming back for more punishment. Perhaps it's the location, the rooms, the fact that we're getting older and forget things, who knows. I think it's because we clutch on to straws in the hope that someone shakes this place up and fixes the problems that we - and probably most other people (and I have read them here from others) - complain about. The staff - They are useless. The noise - has borderline health and safety issues. The room temperatures - boiling hot in summer, freezing in winter. They have new A/C's fitted which will solve the issue but when we stayed there last month the heating system was out. I think we have stayed there twice without reason to complain. Usually when we have complained we get excuse after excuse how it's not their fault. Like it wasn't there fault that they couldn't stop the two rooms next to us having a drunken party and run in and out of their rooms slamming the doors up until 3am in the morning. Not their fault that the heating system failed and it wa sso cold we couldn't sleep. Not their fault that the builders behind the hotel started work at 5am and woke us all up with the noise, beep beep reversing vehicles, builders shouting and swearing. Not their fault that they woke us up at 7am to tell us that the taxi - which we hadn't ordered - was outside. Our stay was so bad th last time we just refused to pay. We didn't get any sleep until about 7.30am. I'm really not joking. We finally slept and because it was so late we slept in and woke up around 10.30am. We were getting ready and then we got a call from the rudest receptionist in the world telling us that if we weren't out by 11am they would charge us another night. We told her we had woken late but would do our best to be out. She told us again that if we go past 11am we would be charged. We complained to the manager who agreed with us completely that it was a bad situation and she would give us the room for free. We left satisfied that they had done the right thing. Then we got a letter from the owner of the hotel objecting to every complaint we had, denying that any of it was true, and charged us for the room!!!! They illegally billed our credit card in our opinion. The manager said that the room would not be charged and we left it at that. As soon as we left they charged us. The manager told us that she was over-ruled and that we have to pay because we used the services. You have to understand - this place is atrocious. There are just too many great places to stay in Manchester to risk it here. The Alias Rosetti is where we stay now. That place is great and I bet they wouldn't keep Cilla Black waiting for 40 minutes because their credit card machine had stopped working (but that wasn't their fault either). Do yourself a favour, stay away.

The hotel is nicely styled with lovely rooms. The room I had on the 1st floor overlooked the back of the hotel, with little natural light. So, asthetically, I can't fault this hotel. Now the service, or lack of it. I had originally booked for one night, and whilst checking in asked for a further nights extended stay. This was "no problem", and I duly (or so I thought) extended. The next morning, I confirmed with reception about the additional nights stay, and again "yes no problem"! That evening, returning from work, my room card didn't work. I asked for help at reception and was told that my personals had been packed! Luckily, the guy who checked me in was present, so I challenged this with him and they spoke with the manager... However, I had been told at this point that they were 100% full, so they just couldn't accommodate me. I explained they had no choice! I was parked in the bar and offered a drink on the house. In fairness to them they did sort out a room (in fact the very same one) and they had me moved back within 15 minutes of the problem being raised. Not sure what hppened to the other guest who must have been displaced due to me...! On checking out they had charged me for the drink on the house. At this point I really couldn't be bothered to explain what had happenend to someone else, so I just paid for the Gin & Tonic. On getting my Amex statement, I THEN discovered that they had charged me twice for the first night. Obviously when they checked me out (and closed by bill) and again, when I formally checked out... Finally, the noice WAS A HUGE ISSUE at this hotel. I stayed in mid-December (and I suppose more people staying out late), but my hotel room was over the bar, and I was woken about 1am and coulnd't get back to sleep until 3am. I could clearly hear people talking... the music... glasses klinking... Beware! Overall, this would be a lovely place if you sacked all the staff, put in better sound proofing, streamlined the business process so that basic mistakes are prevented. Failing that, stay well clear as there are many other better (and cheaper) hotels in Manchester.

This hotel is beautifully decorated and in a good location for shopping, if you get a deal then it is probably worth going, but the regular rates are not acceptable for the level of service. The rooms had not been properly serviced when we stayed - the nice touch of fresh milk in the mini bar was spoiled by the lack of tea bags and the milk being sour. Breakfast was very poor for the price, friendly but ineffective service, carton orange juice - at £11.50 - £16.50 very steep. They could do to sort out the heating problem - everywhere in the hotel is excessively warm, and there is some problem with internal noise (? the lift shaft). The rooms really are fantastic though - I would stay again.

We booked on the day and we arrived to find check in friendly and smooth, the room ready and the entire property spotless. After we had been shopping in Manchester we returned to the hotel and had a couple of drinks in the bar. The bar is very nice and the service friendly and professional. We went out for dinner and when we returned we had a few more drinks in the bar (!). There was a few other guests in the bar but as there are not that many rooms it wasn't boisterous or loud. It was quite intimate really with lots of other couples. We went to look at the view from the roof terrace and had a nosy at the hot tub. It was far too cold for us to brave the elements, however I can imagine in the summer the terrace would be an ideal place to sit and chill out; the view is brilliant. Our bed was the comfiest I have slept in in a long time. The bathroom was excellent with a very long, roll top bath that you could properly stretch out in, it was very relaxing. We did not have breakfast so cannot comment. I can say that check in was very swift and all the staff we met were extremely kind, courteous and professional. I would stay again at this hotel and would recommend it to others.

I arrived at the hotel in the pouring rain at 9pm after lots of travelling, to be told that the hotel 'did not have a reservation for me'. The next morning I got hold of my business travel agent who had proof they had spoken & faxed the hotel with the required details. It turned out that the (extremely chippy, rude & unhelpful) staff had not bothered to check their messages or fax machine. Small things niggled like staff not holding doors open when you were struggling with luggage, having to chase up room service after long delays, then finding no-one had passed on the order, etc etc Although I loved the hotel itself I would not be able to stay there again as it's so hit & miss. Next time I may get there & find they'd over booked or something. A shame that such a lovely hotel could be ruined by terrible staff.