Holiday Inn Gloucester / Cheltenham - Gloucester, United Kingdom 

We stayed here at end of June on the annual journey south from Scotland at the start of the school holidays. The combination of a very spacious room, swimming pool/gym and pleasant relaxed staff made it the best stopover we have had. It's great to set off the following day with kids mellowed by a good breakfast and swim. As long as the weekend offer price is available ((?78 for room & breakfast) we will use this from now on in preference to the many other budget hotels we've tried all along the M5/M6 corridor

We stayed in the hotel for a 2 night weekend break. Unlike other reviews, we found no problem with the staff during the stay, the service we received was fine. We had a family room which consisted of a double plus 2 singles. It was clean, relatively spacious and had plenty of storage space. We used the leisure facilities throughout our stay, they were probably the best I have experienced in the UK. The pool is large enough to accomodate everyone and there is a jacuzzi, steam room and sauna. Best of all its free to residents. For evening meal, I would strongly recommend eating in the bar rather than the restaurant. The restaurant is purely carvery (which is something the hotel does not make clear) and whilst the quality was OK, there was little choice for us and the children. Bar meals were better in terms of choice and a children's menu. The Holiday Inn group are certainly geared up for children, they gave our kids complementary activity packs and swim bags during the evening meal. Breakfast was good with plenty of choice. The location is outside Gloucester and you will need a car to get around but it could well be used as a base to explore the Cotswolds etc. We were in Gloucester to attend a wedding, I would certainly stay in the hotel again if I needed to be based in that area for a reason whether on business or with the family.