Holiday Inn Basingstoke

Very disappointing – poor facilities, poor service and a parking fine afterwards. My wife and I popped into the hotel on a Sunday afternoon for a drink and some lunch. We have visited many times before without any issues, but unfortunately this experience was completely different. If you are thinking of doing the same, I hope this review is useful. When we arrived, the reception and bar area were completely empty and I eventually had to go looking for a member of staff just to get served a drink. The restaurant was closed off and, judging by its appearance, looked as though it had been out of use for some time. Much of the lounge area was also closed off, so there was nowhere to have lunch as we had intended. When I ordered a pint, it initially came out almost entirely as foam and was clearly behaving like a line that had not been used for some time. Rather than discard it and pour a fresh one, the barman repeatedly topped up the same glass until it eventually resembled a full pint. When I asked for a fresh pint, I was told that "it always does that" and that it wasn't the first pint poured, which seemed surprising given that the place was completely empty. We decided to sit outside in the garden area, but unfortunately this was no better. It looked as though it had not been swept or properly cleaned for weeks. There were cigarette butts and old, faded crisp packets littering the area, and some of the seating was broken. We eventually went back inside to finish our drinks. As we left, the two members of staff who were now on reception thanked us and we thought no more about the visit. Then, a week later, we received a parking charge. We have visited this hotel many times previously and have never experienced this. We certainly didn't see any obvious signage drawing our attention to a requirement to register the car, and, more importantly, neither of the two members of staff on reception mentioned it to us despite clearly seeing us leave. Had somebody simply said, "Have you registered your car?", we would obviously have done so. Overall, this was a very disappointing experience. We arrived intending to spend money on lunch and drinks, found the restaurant unavailable, large parts of the hotel closed, the outside area dirty and poorly maintained, received questionable bar service and then, to top it all off, received a parking charge for visiting. For somewhere we have happily visited on numerous occasions in the past, the decline was particularly disappointing. Sadly, based on this experience, we won't be returning.

2 weeks ago · via Google

Ok, so as with any low cost hotel the room was nothing special, but was clean and tidy. The staff were really friendly and helpful, making the stay a bit more enjoyable. Located next to an Asda Express garage, so a nice quick meal deal instead of the rather dear evening meal. Would use again.

2 months ago · via Google

The guy at reception (I’m sorry I don’t have name, but wears a suit) you make every stay of ours so welcoming. You are so accommodating, welcoming and polite. The bar staff too are also very lovely. Rooms are clean, comfy beds and I can’t fault the friendly cleaners too!

4 months ago · via Google

We booked a two-night stay at this hotel and it turned into a shocking experience from the moment we arrived. When we were shown to our room, it was immediately obvious how outdated and poorly maintained it was. There was dust everywhere, a large water stain on the chair, and when I checked the bed, there was a big black mark down the side. Even worse, the white bed sheets looked like they had not been changed, with what appeared to be bodily fluid stains on them. The mattress itself had a huge brown stain from some sort of spill and was shocking . To make matters worse, the phone in the room did not work, so I had to go down to reception. The receptionist was not particularly helpful and simply said someone would come later to change the bedding. A maintenance worker named Kiran was then sent to fix the phone and actually offered us clean bedding so we could change the bed ourselves because they apparently do not have cleaners on site. Thankfully, Kiran then checked the rest of the room, saw the condition it was in, and offered to move us to a newly refurbished room, which was much cleaner and far more acceptable. He was the only helpful part of this experience. Unfortunately, the overall cleanliness standards throughout the hotel were still very poor. The outsourced cleaners arrived the next day and left dirty towels, cleaning cloths, and cleaning products in our room. On both floors, dirty plates and cups from other rooms were left dumped in the corridors for long periods. Overall, this hotel was extremely disappointing and far below acceptable standards for cleanliness and maintenance. Aside from the help from Kiran, the experience was unpleasant and not one we would repeat.

2 months ago · via Google