Jurys Inn Hotels: What Makes A Good Hotel Stay?

What makes a good hotel stay? Is it the location, friendly staff, great beds, cleanliness, unique decor or a wide arrange of services available? What’s the most important thing to you when traveling a lot for work or going on a holiday? We recently spent a week on the road with Poets of the Fall and checked out these three beautiful Jurys Inn Hotels in Glasgow, Nottingham and Manchester. During this trip we tried to figure out our own preferences and answers to these often asked questions.

How DOES one pick a good hotel?

Fangirl Quest’s return to Jurys Inn hotels

During our recent UK tour with a rock band we knew we had to pick good hotels for several cities, so we spent a while looking at many different options. What we expected from the trip were loooong days of driving and working at the concert venues, so we knew we needed to find comfortable hotels in great locations in the remaining three cities where we didn’t yet have friends or other places to stay at.

Central location: Jurys Inn Manchester is located right next to the train station.

We figured it’d be easier to just pick a hotel chain who have hotels in every city… and then it hit us: we’d worked with Jurys Inn Hotels before in Cardiff and absolutely loved our stay, so we immediately pulled up their list of locations. And what do you know? All locations (and many more) have Jurys Inn hotels in them!

And since we already had a lovely relationship with the fine folks at Jurys Inn, we contacted them and agreed that we’d get to “test drive” all the locations and then share our experiences in the blog.

And here are now, feeling very happy after a great tour in one of our favorite countries! ?

An impressive view from Jurys Inn Glasgow… even on a rainy day.

Great alone… even better with friends

In the beginning of the tour we stayed in London with a couple of good friends, Noomi and Joonas. Just a couple of weeks before our arrival, they asked if we wanted them to join us for a few days on the road. “Hell yeah”, we said, and started planning it all out: bigger rental car to fit the luggage of four people and of course, accommodation for our roadtrip buddies.

We told them to check out the Jurys Inn website and they immediately liked what they saw, so they too ended up booking rooms with them. In hindsight we can say: phew, thank goodness they did! It saved us the hassle of trying to find our way to two different addresses within busy cities and we got to enjoy a lovely breakfast together every morning before hitting the road ?

Poets of the Fall gang in Manchester.

Friendly faces in every city

Jurys Inn Glasgow

It was a long drive up to Glasgow after the gig in London. Furthermore, the city’s endless one-way streets caused us some headaches as we didn’t find our way to the parking lot straight away. (We should’ve checked the address in advance, to be honest.)

But just in case you too are traveling by car, here’s a handy tip: while Jurys Inn Glasgow doesn’t have their own parking, there’s the Jamaica Street QPark just around the corner. The driving entrance to the parking is actually located just off Howard Street in the beginning of Adams Court Lane; the pedestrian entrance is closer to the hotel entrance, across the street.

Pretty details in decoration.

They didn’t lie: breakfast is important!

Aside from easy parking, another thing we consider a pretty important one in a hotel is, of course, breakfast. Instead of venturing out to look for (our favorite coffee house!) Pret-A-Manger, we can just take the elevator down and choose from a variety of delicious options.

(Believe me, we’ve tried to manage with some of the cheap hostel breakfasts before and it isn’t worth it. Toast, jam and horrible instant coffee just isn’t the sustenance we want to start our travel days with.)

Now, I did photograph all the hash browns and bacon and eggs and beans and what-have-yous that Jurys Inn had to offer. But what I’m posting here is a healthy pink photo of some smoothies and natural yogurt. That way, we can pretend that that’s what we ate and didn’t fill our plates with traditional British foods and mouthwatering pastries at all… *makes an innocent face*

A lovely breakfast with plenty of options; healthy and otherwise!

By the way, the Glasgow hotel also features a stylish bar and restaurant onsite. Sadly, we didn’t have time to have dinner or enjoy drinks this time, but we were curious and took a little peek at them anyway. Just look at all these lovely colors, lights and decor!

The lovely lobby bar at Jurys Inn Glasgow.

All in all, we had a great time in Glasgow! The Poets of the Fall concert was incredible and all the people we met were extremely friendly. And even though our hours of sleep were cut a little short due to another long drive in the morning, we slept like little happy babies in (what we hear are called) DREAM beds designed by Jurys Inn.

?? Visit the Jurys Inn Glasgow website for more information | Prices start from £99 for a Standard Double Bedroom (as of 11/2018)

Jurys Inn Nottingham

#StayHappy in Nottingham! We did, we assure you: the concert at the local venue Rock City was amazing and we met many, many wonderful fans of Poets. After a long day on the road and a super busy, sweaty evening at a rock concert, we weren’t maybe sporting our freshest faces upon our arrival at Jurys Inn Nottingham. Nevertheless, we wanted a selfie with the welcoming note on the mirror anyway.

See how I “accidentally” blurred our faces and focused on the writing… what an amateur photography mistake! ?

Tired but happy: a warm welcome in Jurys Inn Nottingham.

In Nottingham we really loved the central location of the hotel. It was easy to find, even late at night all tired after the concert. Again, we were a little sad to miss the beautiful restaurant & bar onsite, but the delicious breakfast made up for that a little bit.

It was raining heavily when we left, but a friendly staff member borrowed us a huge umbrella so we didn’t get soaking wet while picking up the car.

Again, while Jurys Inn Nottingham doesn’t have their own parking, there’s a couple of big and convenient ones just across the bridge, a few minutes walk away. Just look for the Queens Road parking before arrival and you’re set!

?? Visit the Jurys Inn Nottingham website for more information | Prices start from £87 for a Standard Double Bedroom (as of 11/2018)

Well rested on the road.

Jurys Inn Manchester

Right, so we asked what makes a great hotel? Obviously, the whole experience starts right at the door when you step into a hotel. What does it all look like? Are you greeted with a smile? Is there a long queue at the reception, anything else notable?

In Jurys Inn Manchester we weren’t (instantly) greeted with a smile, but instead with this bright and pretty sign. The Manchester hotel has been completely refurbished and you can totally tell. Delightful colors, decor and that lovely fresh smell of a new hotel!

The friendly staff was there to help us out with the check-in so we got it done within minutes.

Nice to see you! Jurys Inn Manchester’s check-in screens.

What we also loved about Jurys Inn Manchester were the prettiest little details all over: these retro travel decorations on the lobby walls and the pretty armchairs all over. We wish we’d just had more time to spend in the hotel and feel like proper cosmopolitans. Just imagine us typing away on our laptops while lounging in turquoise lobby chairs! Chic.

(Oh well, being on tour with our favorite band is sorf of great too, even if it does mean we’re constantly busy!)

Like in all the other Jurys Inn hotels, Manchester didn’t disappoint when it comes to comfortable beds, great breakfast and amazingly friendly staff.

?? Visit the Jurys Inn Manchester website for more information | Prices start from £89 for a Standard Double Bedroom (as of 11/2018)

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When choosing a hotel, it’s the simple things

In conclusion: it’s the simple things that make a great hotel. Comfortable beds, clean rooms, a good location, friendly staff members and a great breakfast seem to be the things that we appreciate the most, every single time.

Plus, when you travel as much as we do, it’s always nice to notice that the hotel has been designed with love and care. We can certainly occasionally live without all the pretty decor and bonus goodies like a cozy lobby, a cafe or a bar downstairs and a complimentary, fast wi-fi, but you know what?

In the end, these things do actually matter as well.

They just feel extra nice, like the cherry on top of a really good dessert that adds to your happy travel mood. And a happy mood is extremely important when adventuring.

Happy bloggers planning the day ahead in Jurys Inn Glasgow.

Hotel collaboration with Jurys Inn: We received complimentary stays for reviewing and photography purposes. All the views, experiences and photos are our own