With the nuptuals of Catherine Middleton and Prince William just around the corner it feels like the whole of the UK is gripped in wedding fever. We were however surprised and delighted to see Holiday Inn Express Manchester Salford Quays make an impromptu appearance on ITV's 'Tonight - The Great British Wedding' on Thursday 21st April. We're very proud of our hotels and we never fail to be impressed when one of our them pops up on the small screen. Click here to see our hotel in the background as brides compete to win their dream wedding approximately 17 minutes in!
A cracking day out in Newcastle
Holiday Inn Express Newcastle City Centre has teamed up with our friends at Newcastle's Centre for Life to offer a fantastic free child offer for the new 'Wallace and Gromit... present a World of Cracking Ideas' exhibition. Click here to learn more and take advantage of this great opportunity for a cracking day.
Our Holiday Inn Express hotel in Newcastle is just a two minute walk from the Centre for Life.
Changes to cheque payment policy
We would like to advise our guests that cheques will no longer be accepted as a method of payment at check-out at any of our 33 hotels with effect from 1st July 2011.
For the convenience of our customers we will continue to accept cheques as payment in advance of stays on the proviso that cheques are received at the relevant hotel no later than 21 days in advance of arrival date. In the event that the cheque is not received in this time, we will require an alternative form of payment.
Cheques will be accepted for the payment of bills from those companies who have agreed credit facilities with us. If you have any concerns, please contact your Sales Manager.
As cheques payments constitute a very small proportion of our transactions, we hope that this new policy does not cause any inconvenience and we thank our customers in advance for their cooperation.
March 2011
The bigger picture
Holiday Inn Express Swindon West is the first of our hotels to enjoy a full upgrade of their TV facilities. We've just completed the installation of brand new 32-inch flatscreen TVs in all 121 guestrooms, bringing a wider range of channels to our guests.
Four more lucky hotels are in line for the upgrade in the next few months, with more to follow later in the year.
Update: We're delighted to announce that Holiday Inn Express Milton Keynes has now also had a full upgrade of guestroom TVs and now boasts a 32-inch flatscreen TV in each guestroom.
Somerston named one of Constant Contact’s 2010 All Stars
We're very pleased to have received the 2010 All Star Award from Constant Contact®, Inc.recognising us as one of their top performers and most prolific user of its email marketing. We use email marketing to update our travel industry partners about great forthcoming offers, to invite our best customers to special events and to keep our customers up to date on conference and meeting deals.
Constant Contact looked at criteria including the following when selecting this year’s All Stars:
Frequency of campaigns, events and surveys
Open, bounce and click through rates
Mailing list sign up tools
Use of reporting tools
Edinburgh hotel unveils new-look Great Room
We're pleased to kick March off with the unveiling of a spruced up Great Room at Holiday Inn Express Edinburgh Waterfront. Guests at the hotel can now enjoy a refreshed look and feel with new carpeting, decor and furnishing. A stay in Edinburgh is always wonderful, but we hope that these changes made your break in Scotland's capital city even better.
February 2011
Somerston Hotels' Annual Awards 2010
2011 might be in full swing, but we took time to recognise and celebrate our 2010 with a glamorous award ceremony on Friday, February 25th.
Somerston's Annual Awards event is the highlight of our year and this year's event was made extra-special by the attendance of Olympic gold medallist, Denise Lewis OBE.
To discover who won what, take a look at our presentation below.
Best Companies Accreditation affirms Somerston's star status!
Each year Best Companies, the organisation behind The Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work For, celebrate the UK's best workplaces and award Best Companies Accreditation to acknowledge excellence in the workplace and recognise organisations with a 'Michelin Style' star status.
Best Companies award accreditation after confidentially asking employees 54 questions to measure their levels of fulfilment, motivation and engagement within their workplace and we are delighted and proud to announce that Somerston Hotels has been awarded Best Companies Accreditation at One Star status - acknowledging us as being 'first class'.
If you would like to learn more about job opportunities within Somerston, visit our Careers page today.
Jonathan Austin, Founder & CEO of Best Companies, presents Somerston's award to Steve Williamson, Group HR Manager, and Keith Griffiths, Managing Director of Somerston Hotels.
New facilities for February
It may be the shortest month of the year, but we're still determined to cram plenty into February so we're delighted to announce that the roll-out of our free WiFi facilities continues apace and the latest hotels to benefit are Holiday Inn Express Leeds City Centre and Holiday Inn Express Dartford Bridge.
Looking our best
We are extremely pleased to announce that work will commence on the redecoration and refurbishment of the public areas at two of busiest our hotels this month. Holiday Inn Express Bath and Holiday Inn Express London Hammersmith are both in line for a makeover as our teams work throughout February and early March to ensure that they continue to look their best for our guests!
Areas of the Great Room lounge may be unavailable after breakfast service at the hotels during the works and we apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
January 2011
Quitting Smoking for 2011
It's not just smokers up and down the country who are quitting smoking for the new year. We're delighted to announce that Holiday Inn Inn Express Warwick is now a fully non-smoking hotel.
Wishing you a Happy New Year!
We would like to take the opportunity to wish all of our guests, friends and colleagues a very happy and prosperous 2011.
As we're on the subject of all things 'new', we're happy to announce that we've launched new dinner menus at each of our Holiday Inn Express hotels where evening meals are served. We hope you enjoy the new choices and old favourites.
Christmas has come early for guests at our Holiday Inn Express hotels in Greenwich, Warwick, Bristol, Birmingham Oldbury and Chingford as all of the hotels now offer free WiFi in the lounge! Our fantastic IT team have been travelling across the country to ensure that our guests can get online at no cost to keep up to date with email and browse the web in the comfort of the Great Room. We're also offering WiFi in our guestrooms from as little as £4.95 per hour.
Check back soon to learn which of our hotels will be next!
An insider's guide to Glasgow
The hotel team at Holiday Inn Express Glasgow City Centre Riverside love their home city so much that they want to share their local knowledge with guests! Check out the hotel's guide to Glasgow to learn about great places to eat out, the best coffee in town, where to enjoy great live music and so much more. We've just added their latest recommendations including some tips on where to make the most of the festive season.
Holiday Inn Express hotels in Bath, Taunton and Exeter now offer free WiFi
We kick off November with the great news that guests at our Holiday Inn Express hotels in Bath, Taunton and Exeter can now enjoy free WiFi access in the Great Room lounge.
Guests are entitled to up to six hours free WiFi access in the hotels' public areas, while WiFi facilities in guestrooms cost from just £9.95 for 24-hour economy access or from just £12.95 for our higher bandwidth, business access.
News
We're very pleased to have received the 2010 All Star Award from Constant Contact®, Inc.recognising us as one of their top performers and most prolific user of its email marketing. We use email marketing to update our travel industry partners about great forthcoming offers, to invite our best customers to special events and to keep our customers up to date on conference and meeting deals. 
Each year 
Sample Menu 1