Express by Holiday Inn Alicante - Alicante, Spain     

We were a group of 6 sharing 3 rooms for 9 days over Christmas 2007. Not used to staying in budget hotels, and having seen Holiday Inn Express standards before, we actually expected much worse than this, so had a pleasnt surprise. Frankly, the hotel is of a much higher standard than the Holiday Inn Express norm: the rooms are adequately sized, clean and comfortable. The rooms facing rear have an awful view of other buildings, the rooms at the front face the sea. The hotel would appear to be a couple of years old. There's an Ibis and an Etap next door - cheaper, but drastically lower standards and no breakfast. Breakfast was buffet style and adequate, but did get monotonous after a few days because nothing ever changed: always the same cheese, meat, jam, bread types - but there was ample! Avoid the dispensed "fruit juice" though, it's just coloured, highly sweetened water! We had a few problems whilst there with rooms (they all have tea/coffee making facilities, by the way) but everything was resolved courteously and promptly by the helpful staff. Sure, some members of staff were more helpful than others, and probably should be commended (hello: Eduardo] but none of us had any real complaints to make. The biggest drawback is the location: it's 2.5 miles from town. We did know this before we booked, so we were fairly unperturbed - but bear in mind it is NOT possible to walk into town (there's no footpath: it's a highway), the bus costs ?1 each way, but ceases at 10pm (just when we want to go out!) and a taxi from the hotel into town costs around ?10-?12 with return fares around ?7 - for some reason we always had to pay the cost of the taxi from the point it was called out. They don't advertise the fact that a limited menu is available at the hotel in the evenings: pizza, bruschetta and the like - ask at the bar. The bar/lounge area is big and airy but far too bright at night. I guess they deliberately provide uncomfortable chairs in this express hotel chain, because they don't provide comfort for people to linger. Most of the other residents during the week will be business people, as there's an industrial estate and a factory next door. The beach directly opposite the hotel is tiny, and can only be reached by traversing the railway line. It was full of litter the whole of the time we were there. We hired a car to get around, but getting home from town late at night will be a problem unless someone avoids alcohol (we hired a taxi). There are some great places to explore: Elche, Torrevieja, Benidorm (yes!), Valencia, Guadalest, Altea. Alicante itself is a nice city, much bigger than we expected.

We were a group of 6 sharing 3 rooms for 9 days over Christmas 2007. Not used to staying in budget hotels, and having seen Holiday Inn Express standards before, we actually expected much worse than this, so had a pleasnt surprise. Frankly, the hotel is of a much higher standard than the Holiday Inn Express norm: the rooms are adequately sized, clean and comfortable. The rooms facing rear have an awful view of other buildings, the rooms at the front face the sea. The hotel would appear to be a couple of years old. There's an Ibis and an Etap next door - cheaper, but drastically lower standards and no breakfast. Breakfast was buffet style and adequate, but did get monotonous after a few days because nothing ever changed: always the same cheese, meat, jam, bread types - but there was ample! Avoid the dispensed "fruit juice" though, it's just coloured, highly sweetened water! We had a few problems whilst there with rooms (they all have tea/coffee making facilities, by the way) but everything was resolved courteously and promptly by the helpful staff. Sure, some members of staff were more helpful than others, and probably should be commended (hello: Eduardo] but none of us had any real complaints to make. The biggest drawback is the location: it's 2.5 miles from town. We did know this before we booked, so we were fairly unperturbed - but bear in mind it is NOT possible to walk into town (there's no footpath: it's a highway), the bus costs €1 each way, but ceases at 10pm (just when we want to go out!) and a taxi from the hotel into town costs around €10-€12 with return fares around €7 - for some reason we always had to pay the cost of the taxi from the point it was called out. They don't advertise the fact that a limited menu is available at the hotel in the evenings: pizza, bruschetta and the like - ask at the bar. The bar/lounge area is big and airy but far too bright at night. I guess they deliberately provide uncomfortable chairs in this express hotel chain, because they don't provide comfort for people to linger. Most of the other residents during the week will be business people, as there's an industrial estate and a factory next door. The beach directly opposite the hotel is tiny, and can only be reached by traversing the railway line. It was full of litter the whole of the time we were there. We hired a car to get around, but getting home from town late at night will be a problem unless someone avoids alcohol (we hired a taxi). There are some great places to explore: Elche, Torrevieja, Benidorm (yes!), Valencia, Guadalest, Altea. Alicante itself is a nice city, much bigger than we expected.