Velvet Hotel

“9/10”

So the staff were really kind here, the room was nice and they’re very easy to contact via email and WhatsApp before and during the stay! They included some lovely gifts for my husband which was so nice. We had a balcony room and didn’t realise the location was so loud until around 6am, it was our … more

So the staff were really kind here, the room was nice and they’re very easy to contact via email and WhatsApp before and during the stay! They included some lovely gifts for my husband which was so nice. We had a balcony room and didn’t realise the location was so loud until around 6am, it was our fault for not checking but just a warning for future people! The room was clean enough except for some dust here and there, but the bathrooms were lovely.

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“Great staff, but poor wifi”

loved my stay! beautiful room! Daria was superr sweet, intentional and friendly! tended to my needs and was really hospitable. the wifi connection was pretty bad though, didnt come up at all as a network on my phone & my friend’s. it only came ip on my ipad, and even still it wasnt the best at al… more

loved my stay! beautiful room! Daria was superr sweet, intentional and friendly! tended to my needs and was really hospitable. the wifi connection was pretty bad though, didnt come up at all as a network on my phone & my friend’s. it only came ip on my ipad, and even still it wasnt the best at all, it was very unstable. this is the only reason my review is short of five stars.

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“Third time was not the charm... yet first and second were.”

Welcome to the latest chapter of 'Fat Man Less Travelled'. Whilst I will be making some negative comments about my latest stay at the Velvet, I will, however, outline that the staff did attempt to rectify my concerns whilst I was there. This is the 3rd time my partner and I have stayed at the Vel… more

Welcome to the latest chapter of 'Fat Man Less Travelled'. Whilst I will be making some negative comments about my latest stay at the Velvet, I will, however, outline that the staff did attempt to rectify my concerns whilst I was there. This is the 3rd time my partner and I have stayed at the Velvet Hotel as part of our visits to Manchester for the Manchester Rubber Weekend. On this occasion, we've stayed in Room 102. When you walk through the doors, the room is perfectly proportioned and has a lovely bathroom suite with a separate bathtub room and shower room (the toilet is in the shower room). The room is situated right above the reception area, and overlooks Canal Street and the Chortlon Street Lock, meaning on occasions you could be sitting on the sofa with a cuppa watching skippers and tourers of canal boats pass by. However, being right above the reception area, if the building decides to extend its canopy over the reception, it will obscure the view from your windows. When we arrived, I did find a few issues with the room: 1. The handheld shower had detached itself from the wall, meaning the inner pipes were exposed, and I was worried that using it would damage it further. 2. The light switch beside the door didn't activate the lights or any of its functionality, meaning we had to keep the lights on by using the switches beside the bed. 3. The plug socket on my partner's side of the bed had a faulty socket. This was because a previous user had either used a plug with a dodgy 'earth' pin that snapped off, or they purposefully jammed the earth pin to open the lower pins to plug in an EU/US style plug without an adaptor. I reported all of these on my first day of our trip, and the receptionist did offer to relocate us to a new room. I refused this option as I thought these issues were very minor and wouldn't have caused me much bother. I was reporting them more so that I wouldn't be accused/charged for these issues. The maintenance team was reported about the items, but they confirmed that due to some issues, a small destruction of the shower unit would have been required to reattach the handheld unit to its backing panel; the light panel had stopped syncing to our room and needed replacing, and the plug socket would also need replacing - and all of this could not be completed whilst we stayed in the room. I thought that would be the end of my issues... and the Gods of Gay Heaven chuckled and decided to have some fun... Whilst I knew Velvet is based on Canal Street and that it is surrounded by various bars and clubs, what I wasn't expecting was that the music being played by 'The Brewers' next door would be pulsing in my ears till 4 am on most evenings of my trip (Thursday to Saturday). I'm a proper princess when it comes to my sleep, can't be too hot, too cold or too loud. So, needless to say, I had next to no sleep for the majority of my stay. As I mentioned previously, I've stayed here before on Floors 3 and 4 and didn't hear any street noise, so I assumed it would be the same in all rooms. My partner, on the other hand, can literally sleep through anything. Regularly, when we go on holiday, he'll rest his head on the pillow and be out like a light, and nothing wakes him until he awakens. The number of nights I've cursed his ability to sleep during my bouts of insomnia is never-ending. So he's quite happy to mention he had no issues with his sleep during our stay. I also found the Wi-Fi didn't appear very strong in room 102, averaging 5.5 Mbps download and 7.5 Mbps upload; I ended up connecting my devices to my mobile phone, as I had much stronger speeds (100+ Mbps). So despite the issues, my partner and I have already booked our stay for next year's Rubberman Event in 2027 and believe we'll be back on the 3rd floor, and for me at least, a much nicer night's sleep.

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