Holiday Inn Express Leigh - Sports Village, an IHG Hotel

Staff were great. Room clean, standard UK Hotel room. Food was overpriced but that's standard hotel stuff. Included breakfast was good.

I mixed up the dates when booking, arriving late at night I found that I did not have a room booked until next month! The Duty Manager who is from Romania was a massive help, she was very professional and helpful and a credit to the company. She helped sort things out with Booking.com who I used and despite it being a long process did everything possible and in good grace and humor. It was sorted out and I got a good clean warm room for the night. She made my visit.

Perfect for my trip, everything was as described. All the staff I met were friendly and professional, with a special mention for the gentleman who was there in the early hours, I didn’t get his name but I think he was the night manager, and he also served breakfast. They all seemed to have their main duties, but immediately attended to any role if they saw you needed anything. However this particular gentleman struck me as exceptional, his demeanour stood out. I didn’t manage to see him at check out or I would have told him personally. He was proper old school and I could imagine him at any top notch hotel. I’m sure his example influences all the other team members and I meant to ask if he trained all the others.

For me, this hotel excels in the seven areas I need: 1. It's clean 2. It's safe 3. Comfortable beds 4. Great showers 5. Reasonable prices 5. Plenty of parking 7. Great location (easy to find and exit, big supermarket within a few minutes of walking, hot meals at the nearby pub again within 5-10 mins walk, and large shops nearby in the Sports Village for when you realise you've forgotten something). I don't need staff to be running around after me, they just need to check me in and out efficiently and ensure I have a clean room, and the Holiday Inn Express team here are great at this. (Special thanks to Wendy [I think?] and Thea from Reception, and especially to Steven from the housekeeping team!) They're a small team who seem to be working hard and doing a pretty intensive job on their feet for hours at a time looking after hundreds of guests but everyone I met was pleasant and quick to answer any questions. The air-con is loud to start but it's effective and after the first half-hour it just became background noise. Same when there was a very cold night - the little panel by the door is easy to use and soon warmed up the room. There's also a little heater in the room in case you get chill. I've stayed at other hotels in the same price range and this one is head and shoulders above them. Will definitely continue to try to stay here whenever I'm in the area. Thank you.

Great location, so convenient for staying over after a Leigh Leopards match. Matchday discount for food and drink is a bonus. Room was very comfortable.