On arriving at the hotel my first impressions were good the reception area was clean, sleak and well attended it was staffed by a very freindly young lady who reeled off the usual scripted hotel speak, nothing unusual there then. However on completing the formalities she informed me that the Thistle has or was undergoing a refurb and asked if i wanted 'one of the good rooms' for an extra £10. I refused the offer as i didn't expect to be in my room that long, i was watching cricket that evening then going for drinks. The route to my room was interesting and i did wonder wether i should drop some breadcrumbs to find my way back. On opening the door to my room ...  Read the complete review

As a travel agent I tend to get offered preferential rates at certain hotels, this is usually to try and fill up empty rooms in their hotels. One year everyone in our department decided to have a girly New Year in Manchester and I was given the job of organising the hotel and at New Year it is not the easiest of tasks. The Thistle Hotel offered special rates to agents of £25 per room, this I thought would be ideal as I needed to make an agent's booking I had to use the dedicated agent's booking line to make the reservation which works in a similar way to telephone reservations for the general public, alternatively the Thistle Hotel has an online booking system to ...  Read the complete review

This place is just a wee bit shabby. It's too hot (1st sign of an old folk's hotel) now a 'Thistle' - Advantages: Has beds - Disadvantages: No room to swing even the most compact of cats in rooms, Cack breakfast, Extremely indifferent service

My latest experience of this amazing city, of which I had never had the pleasure of visiting prior to April of this year was this weekend, after being lucky enough to be selected as part of a team to partake in a footie quiz on Digital TV in the not too distant future - although can't say any more than that at the mo! Our venue on this occasion was The Thistle Hotel in Manchester, opposite what was once, as I understand Piccadilly Gardens (now under redevelopment pending the Commonwealth games next year) and about 5 minutes walk from Manchester Piccadilly train station and the Arndale Centre. The hotel has 205 bedrooms, a minute reception area, a ...  Read the complete review