Ascott Hotel - Guest House - Manchester, United Kingdom 

comfortable but tired and dated
Posted: Sat, Jun 07 2008
Stayed here on a last minute deal as every other reasonably priced hotel in Manchester was full and to be honest whilst the hotel was adequate I certainly wont be recommending this hotel to anyone when there is so much better out there. Apparently the Ascott hotel won NorthWest B&B of the year in 2004 but Im not sure that anything has changed since. If heavy dark, old fashioned rooms with vast amounts of religious iconography and victoriana are your thing then Im sure you will love the place. If however like us you prefer light, modern rooms, good showers and without yellowing walls and faded tatty paintwork then go elsewhere. Whilst the welcome was warm enough the overall feeling is reminiscent of a rather grandiose but faded unreconstructed 1970's B&B. Our room had lots of laminated notices prominently displayed stating "No takeaways in the bedrooms" and "All stains must be paid for". A rather ancient looking shoe cleaning kit was propped up in the bathroom (?) with a tacky sticker saying "property of the Ascott hotel, do not remove". In a similar vein, the residents lounge closes for the day at 10.45am each morning and breakfast , which whilst perfectily adequate is only served for an hour each morning and even on the weekends finishes at 9.30am with the "last sitting" at 9.20am. Location wise the hotel is about a mile off the M602 down a leafy line and about a ?10 taxi ride from Manchester City Centre. NB do not follow signs to Eccles as the hotel is actually the other side of the motorway. As I said, there is nothing particularly wrong with the Ascott hotel, its just that B&B's have moved on and Manchester now offers some fantastic accommodation at the same price and within walking distance of the city centre.

A good B&B
Posted: Mon, Jun 02 2008
Driving up to Scotland my friend and I booked two single rooms at the Ascott. We had a most pleasant experience. The rooms were reasonably sized, very clean, the wireless wifi worked and was free (unlike the next 5 star hotel) and we were supplied next morning with a fine cooked breakfast. The bill - under ?50 each room. Very good value. One small word of warning. Our trip was on a Saturdat night and we found that we should have booked a restaurant beforehand. We did eat in the local curry house which was more than adequate but other local places within walking distance were full by 7.30pm