'I paid £98 for a windowless room at Manchester's Britannia Sachas hotel - nothing could prepare me for what I found'
24.12.2023 - 17:51
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
Sachas in the heart of Manchester city centre is one of the city's most famous - and arguably infamous - hotels. But would spending a night there be as horrendous as the public reviews for the hotel might suggest?
This year, Britannia, who owns Sachas Hotel, was voted the worst hotel chain in the UK for the 11th year running. A pretty damning title, not to mention a stay at Sachas being called 'the stuff of nightmares' in a review at the start of this year.
Recent Trip Advisor reviews range from "Not a bad hotel. Just too hot," and "The worst reception service ever," to "Pleasantly surprised," and "Perfect base for a city break." One bugbear people seem to have are the hotel's bouncers allegedly making checking back in a difficult experience.
Of the 2,909 reviews left on the comparison website, Sachas has an average rating of 'poor' with a score of just 2.0 out of 5. But when I needed a Friday night stay in Manchester two weeks before Christmas, I thought it couldn't really be that bad... could it? Let's just say things were not as expected as soon as I opened the door to my room for the night.
I was only staying in Manchester one night, so anywhere half-decent to lay my head for a reasonable price would do. Contacting Sachas in November to book a room on Friday, December 15, the cheapest available was £98.
I'll admit this seemed a tad steep for a supposed budget hotel, but being smack in the Northern Quarter and on a night when office workers would be flocking to the city for Christmas parties, perhaps not too surprising. A buffet breakfast the following morning was an additional £12, which I opted for.
Checking in just after 2pm on the day, I was pleasantly surprised by the Art Deco stylings of the building and