Hilton Manchester Deansgate

Stayed here Tuesday 23rd January 2007. Had booked tickets for Kylie last minute and had to find a hotel to stay in. Having stayed at the Edwardian Radisson in Peter St a couple nights previous I tried to book in there again, but alas they were fully booked. I looked around and found the Hilton had some rooms available. Although they were executive rooms and more expensive I took the plunge and booked one. The day before I arrived I received a call from the hotel confirming my reservation and enquiring what time I expected to check in etc. They informed me I should check in on the 23rd floor....using the executive lounge! A nice touch. On arrival we took the lift to the 23rd floor and were taken aback with the views as soon as the door opened. Fantastic roof to floor glass showing the whole north & east of Manchester. The assistant who welcomed us and checked us in was very cheery and informative. She showed us around the executive lounge, explained where to eat etc. pointing out that we could have breakfast in the exceutive lounge if we wished, however there would be a far greater choice in the restaurant on the ground floor and we could eat there also. She then showed us the glass panels in the floor to look down the 21 floors to the swimming pool below....awesome! I was a bit concerned about any dress code being in place for the executive lounge and it was reassuring to see that this was not the case. Jeans were acceptable!! We were given an executive room on the 21st floor(2111) and were amazed here again with the views. Stunning panoramic views over Manchester. The room was as modern as the one we had stayed in at the Radisson....but the views gave it the edge. The swimming pool, jacuzzi, sauna and steam room were amazing .......swimming along looking at people walking below in the street through glass panels in the swimming pool floor.... sitting in the jacuzzi watching the traffic zoom up and down Deansgate...need I say more. Used room service to get some food before heading out to the MEN to see Kylie. The food was excellent, only criticism was the time it took to arrive. On ordering I was told 30 minutes....but in reality it took about an 50 minutes. The restaurant manager did phone to advise the finishing touches were being made to the food and would be with us shortly...15 minutes later the food arrived.....worth the wait though. I notice from another review that they had a jacuzzi bath and a flat screen tv in the bathroom. In the executive room we were in we had just a normal bath and the flat screen tv was on the wall in the bedroom. Breakfast in the morning in the main restaurant was excellent also. Plenty of fruit, smoothies and juices to choose from. On the hot plate, plenty of freshly cooked breakfast items, just right for a full english breakfast. Then if you had room....pastries and toast. A fantastic hotel. Well worth paying that bit extra. The staff were very friendly and all seemed to be local. Will stay here again. Oh Kylie was amazing too. The last night of her tour.....awesome!!

I stayed here with my boyfriend for my 21st birthday as a treat from my mum and dad. It was defiantly one of the highlights of my birthday. We stayed in an executive room which wasn’t a massive room but it was decorated beautifully. The bathroom was also lovely with a TV so you watch telly whilst in the jacuzzi bath. The shower was very impressive with lots of different shower heads and there where the usual complimentary shampoo and shower gel. I found all the staff really lovely, when we first got to the room we could open the door (you push instead of pull) and a chamber maid who was passing by offered us assistance. And when I had a hair crisis I phoned up house keeping and they brought me up a pair of scissors straight away so I could trim my fringe. When we were checking out I had birthday balloons and the staff wished me a happy birthday. The executive lounge is defiantly worth the money. Drinks and snacks were all free as soon as we arrived. There were fridges full of soft drinks and bottles of sprits and beer. Its help yourself so you don’t feel like someone’s keeping count of what you’ve had. The views are amazing and it’s a nice place to just relax. Oh and the glass floor was a nice novelty. I wanted to have a drink in the bar with some friends who were out to celebrate my birthday but because we hadn’t booked a table they said it was at full occupancy, but after a quick talk on his radio the security man said we could go up a stand at the bar. When we got up it wasn’t busy at all just a lot of table with reserve signs on them, so we did end up with a table. The service was very slow considering it wasn’t that busy, it took about 20 minutes for us to get our drinks after ordering them. So we only stayed for one drink. But it was worth it for the views. The hotel is the perfect position for a night out in Manchester and we were able to stagger the few minutes back to the hotel, which was perfect. I enjoyed myself so much I wanted to stay longer.

We stayed at the Hilton Deansgate the 12th and 13th January and found the staff to be very friendly and helpful. The food in the Podium Restaurant for our Dinner was fantastic, really enjoyed it and the taste just top class. The Cloud 23 Bar was a bit of a let down, a shame you couldn't see all around the hotel just a part of Manchester, although we did get straight up, thanks to one of the bouncers no queuing for us. Found the room very clean and fresh and the views from the room, fantastic. Even left the curtains open to wake up the sun rising in Manchester, a great experience. A shame about not having a car park on site although it was just next door but were told it was full on our arrival so we were a bit miffed, but when we did pull into the car park we managed to find a spot and left our car there from the Friday until the Sunday with no worries. The concierge even validated our parking ticket so that when we left the car park on the Sunday we got a 40% discount courtesy of the Hilton. Would definetely visit again.

Stayed in the Hilton Deansgate the weekend of 13-14th of January. Nice hotel in a good location, minutes walk to bars, restaurants and shopping. Stayed in a standard twin room, which was a good size with floor to ceiling windows overlooking the city, flat screen tv with good range of channels and really comfy beds! Our rate of £110 each included breakfast and dinner on the first night. The dinner was pleasant, but the hotel restaurant wasn't the nicest - was just Massive with no atmosphere. The food was okay, and staff helpful - when you could get hold of them! The hotel bar has a great view of the city, and never had any problem with having to queue to get up like others did - just take the normal lift to the 23rd floor and don't wait in the bar queue! On another note - look out for the service in Manchester. We went to a lot of bars, a couple of bars for food during the day and the Livingroom for dinner on Sat 13th, and basically ALL of them had terrible service, rude staff, were short staffed..whether I'm just spoilt by the excellent service in bars and restaurants in my home town, I don't know, but I wasn't too impressed with Manchester overall. That's nothing to do with the hotel though!

We stayed here on a Saturday night as we were going to the M.E.N for a concert. This stay was booked using Hilton reward points. Upon arrival at the hotel, there was no valet parking. Something I would expect from what is classed as a 4 star property. The good news however is that there is a brand new car park next door that is secure and well lit. Upon checking in I was informed that the hotel was pretty full and as a Hilton Honors member they could not offer me a room upgrade. They did however offer a bottle of wine. This never showed up though. I did also ask about access to the Clouds bar on the 23rd floor and making a reservation but was told that as a resident, I did not need to. So we checked into our standard smoking room. Very modern and well done out. A fair size and obviously very new. My only comment here is that having seen the materials used, in about 2 years time, this is going to start looking very tired. We did find that the really nice plasma screen on the wall did not work but a phone call saw somebody in our room in less than five minutes and it was soon fixed. But then it happened. THE FIRE ALARM WENT OFF and we found ourselves standing outside in the cold. From reading on here this is not the first time even though the staff insisted that this sort of thing never happens. On the way down the fire escape stairs, it was also noticable that the emergency lighting was missing and that there was a lot of building debris to trip over. This means that if there is ever a real fire and the power is lot, people will probably get killed!!! But we were ready to leave anyway so set off to our concert. Arriving back earlier than expected (about 10pm) as our concert ended somewhat early we decided to go up to the Clouds bar but were told there would be a 20 minute wait and that I should join the small queue. As I don't queue for even the best bars, I chose to go to the residents bar instead and wait there. We had a couple of drinks and returned to the express lift to get upstairs. Now we were told it would be 30 minutes!!! We were told that as we had not queued we would just have to wait. When I told the doorman what the staff had told me I was told that the hotel staff "keep doing this" and that the bar is not a hotel bar and so runs it's own admission rules so tough. After asking if it was indeed Hilton who owned the bar (and they did) a quick "chat" to the duty manager saw us upstairs in the Clouds bar. Once up there, the views are great except for the fact that the bar faces AWAY from the city centre to what you see from 23 floors up is the rooftops of greater Manchester and Trafford. The service was poor and there was no buzz to the place even at 10pm on a satruday night. I can however guess that the odd footballer would like it if only to show off by buying the £2000 bottle of bubbly on the menu!!! So after a cocktail (very good by the way) we went back downstairs and chilled with a bottle of wine in the lobby bar until retiring for the night. The bed was very comfy and a good night sleep was had. Checkout was uneventful. So what gives. As a property, this is a really nice hotel. The standard of the fitting is high. But the problem is that Hilton own it. I have seen this in a few of their properties where they try to do 4 star and fail which is a shame a they are very good at 3 star. As such you get snobbish staff who actually believe they are something special. So lets revise this. This is just another Hilton. Sure it is new but that only adds to the problems. I would be tempted in 12 months time to revisit. Maybe by then it will have been downgraded to a 3 star and everybody will be happy. It's a shame really because I know other hotel chains would have taken what really is a jewel of a property and made it something special.

My fiance and I spent 3 nights here over New Year. The hotel is brand new. We are often a little reluctant to go to hotel chains but I have to say this one was excellent. We booked an executive room which gives you free use of the executive lounge on the 23rd floor - unlimited drinks, snacks etc all day with a free complimentary breakfast each morning. The rooms are exceptionally clean and all the staff extremely pleasant and helpful. We had free use of the health suite too which was great. The Podium restaurant serves fantastic food and Coud 23 bar overlooks the whole of Manchester from the 23rd floor - we spent New Year here and it was outstanding. The only way to access Cloud 23 is by lift which is manned by some large bouncers - people are always queing to go up there so make sure you arrive in plenty of time as they only let limited numbers in every night. Only problem we had was when we checked out - someone had tried to put £150 of drinks and food on our room - think the hotel need to tighten up on this but they gave us no problems when we queried it and immediately changed the bill without any fuss. Check out the glass floor window in the executive lounge - not for those scared of heights - it looks down all 23 floors and you can stand right on top of it - scarey! Great hotel - will definately be going back - great area for Manchester nightlife too

I stayed at the hilton with my boyfriend on 27th December, I am originally from Manchester and wanted to stay in such a landmark building, and being Xmas I didn't mind paying a little more than I usually would. Everything went very smoothly, check in took moments and the reception/concierge staff were very friendly and helpful. The room was fantastic with an opulent bed with feather pillows and duvet and fantastic floor to ceiling windows to show off the view. We visited the cloud bar which was lovely,although quite cold and very expensive, though the bar staff were obviously very well trained and even more important, very friendly. We were given preference over the non-residents who were waiting in the lobby, and although they did not seem to be kept waiting for a very long time, it was only 5pm so I'm sure it could be a bit tedious later on. On check out we left out bags with the concierge so we could look around Manchester, and again the staff were faultless. We would certainly stay there again.

Stayed here for 1 night in December. Arriving by car was able to pull in in a decent sized area in front of hotel and empty it prior to driving to adjacent Car Park. I received upgrade and was offered facility to check in on the ground floor or upstairs. If you have booked an exec room upstairs would probably be quicker in busy times. You can check out there if you wish. I did this and passed a queue downstairs on my way out. Usual quality bedding and room facilities. Bathroom also up to standard. Exec lounge also well equipped and located. Room service dinner was excellent. Location and view up Deansgate from high floor as expected. Only down side a knock on door late at night with noone there, not hotels fault I guess, and a Mini bar item not properly described on the bill which I certainly hadnt had. I asked what it was and was not told it was removed with permission over the phone. Staff at hotel friendly at every turn.

A fantastic looking building in the very heart of Manchester, the hotel itself takes up the first 23 floors of the building. Reception is very impressive and reflects the sheer enormity of the place. If staying in a suite or executive room, as I was, you are directed to the 23rd floor to check in, a complete waste of time, it would be far quicker to check in at reception, nothing is gained by the journey up there. My room was very good, well appointed, comfortable and with a great bathroom. The television and radio weren't the best and reception on both was a bit hit and miss. My colleague's room was not made up when he entered it and we had to have lunch while it was prepared. He also found that neither the phone nor shower worked. The Sky Bar on has truly spectacular views but is spoiled by the wholly unnecessary 'queue' for the lift. As a resident I should have been shown straight into the lift. Non guests had an even longer wait to be allowed up to the bar. On the night I was there the bar was only half full, I can only suppose the wait was to give it a sense of occasion, if not it was downright stupid not to say annoying. The hotel is completely non-smoking which resulted in many people collecting outside to smoke, not a nice spectacle for new guests to arrive to. Surely in a hotel this size, and with modern air conditioning, an area could be found for smokers to ply their filthy trade (I'm a smoker by the way). Breakfast was excellent in a cavernous restaurant. The hotel needs to sort out some teething problems. It has only been open for a couple of months and clearly has a few chinks it needs to iron out. I think the best way to describe the hotel is to say that it is a superior Hilton. That is to say, it is still, for all its size and glamour, just a Hilton.

Held our works christmas party at hilton, from the moment we checked in we experienced problems! Staff at check in were rude and our lady disappeared with my card!! getting in our rooms intially we were impressed but we headed for the only selling point......the windows!! Radio not working and after three calls to concerige we received no apology only told the satalite wasnt working.The meal provided at the party was too slow and people got up dancing way before desert was served. After the party ended we were very hungry and decided to order room service, it would have been quicker to walk into manchester (and cheaper!), we tried three times before somebody answered the phone!When checking out I queried the bill but the lady on check in could not explain as she didnt understand what I was saying!! Nice breakfast though but not worth £135!! Back to the V & A next year.