Holiday Inn Hotel London-Elstree M25, Jct23

I went here for lunch with a work colleague, so my review is based on just eating not on a hotel stay.
When we got there, there were no staff behind the bar, just one cleaning tables, so we went and asking him if they did food, he just incoherently grumbled, but we spotted a menu so grabbed it and took a seat.
We made our choices and went to the bar to order. After standing there quite awkwardly for some time — in the meantime my friend was walking around the bar and the whole restaurant trying to find someone — someone came out to fill up the soft drinks on the bar, completely oblivious to me standing there and didn’t even acknowledge me. My friend kept on her search; she found someone and asked if we could make an order. Still no joy, so I asked the guy filling up the cabinet if I could place my order, he couldn’t but someone else would come shortly and off he disappeared.
Eventually, same grumbling person we spoke to at first came to take our order. «Yes», «hmm» «umm» then told me the amount due. So not overally impressed. Considering it was rather dead you would think that one of the multiple members of staff, some quite obviously managers mincing around the place would have saved me quarter of an hour standing there like a prune and asked/​taken our order.
I returned to our table to await the panini’s of choice. Over 40 minutes later and they were served. My friend ordered a mozzarella and tomato, mine was baked ham, mustard and 3 cheese. However, it was quite clear that my friend got all the cheese, and I had a smidge of cheddar in mine with dried crispy ends with nothing at all in it.
I asked the waitress if she wouldn’t mind putting some more cheese in it and putting it in the microwave, no need to cook a fresh one. This lady was lovely friendly and polite, just a shame that she wasn’t the one working behind the bar.
She returned with my amended panini all smiles and very lovely.
My friend couldn’t enjoy hers as she had basically 2 paninis worth of cheese in one and it was all too much.
The coleslaw that was served with it looked like it had been left out on the side in the heat for a week and so neither of us entertained eating that!
£24.15 for 2 paninis and 2 soft drinks and waiting an age for something that should have been out in a fifth of the time results in this review.
It would be 1 star if it wasn’t for the lovely lady with the smiles that sorted my panini out!
I won’t bother going back, which is a shame as my office is 2 minutes up the road, but let’s face it, who has a 2 hour lunch break in order to eat a panini?!

I’ll be honest, it wasn’t looking great for this hotel. For a start, I thought it was closer to the town centre of Elstree than it is, but that’s not the hotel’s fault. That’s my fault for failing to look at a map at any point in the booking process. After a 40 minute hike out of town, along the path at the edge of a very busy dual carriageway and through an industrial estate, I got to the M25 and Lo, there is the Holiday Inn. I was a bit grumpy by then. It then took at least 10 mins to get across the dual carriageway by cutting through the petrol station marooned in the middle of the road. Getting grumpier. There were no signs telling me how to get to reception as a pedestrian so I wound up going (what turned out to be) the long way round, cross-​country through the car park behind the hotel. Grumpier still. Finally found the front door and the reception and it was eerily quiet and soulless. Like ‘is this even open?’ quiet. Am I the only guest? It’s weird. Begin thinking it’s all a bit Alan Partridge and I’m not feeling comfortable about this at all. There are 2 members of staff at reception. One is dealing with another hotel guest (phew! I am not alone!) who seems to be unhappy about something. The other member of staff miserably begins taking my details for check-​in then scuttles into a back room and doesn’t come back so I just stand around for ages, getting more and more hacked off. Finally I got checked in and I grumped off to my room. I stopped off en route to check out the restaurant as I just wanted some early grub and off to bed because I’d been on the early flight that morning and was now just in a really bad mood. What’s this? The restaurant doesn’t open for another hour? Oh FFS! Yes, I could order room service, but that’s not the point. I’m hangry now and 6pm is hardly out of hours for some food! It’s all a bit of a washout, then, isn’t it? Well, no actually, bear with me. I get in the lift to go up to my room and — what’s this? — it’s a Great Glass Elevator! I love a glass lift. Especially this one that gives you an interesting view of the enormous chandelier in the hotel foyer on the way up and down. Hmmm. That’s nice, I thought. I got to my room and flopped on the bed and was pleased to notice I’d got a king size bed, and not one of those lumpy two-​queen-​sizes-​zipped-​together efforts either, a bona fide king size. I think they gave me a free upgrade. That’s nice, too, I thought. Things are looking up. And the pillows, they have detachable labels on them to tell me which are the firm ones and which are the soft ones. Another nice touch, though I could probably have worked it out by myself using my spidey senses. Another plus point for the room: there’s a proper ironing board and iron, not just a trouser press. Minus point, though: the ‘hair dryer’ is one of those built-​in warm-​air-​wafting-​wands from the 80s which are totally rubbish. Back to the plusses though: it’s nice and quiet, even though it is bounded by a dual carriageway and the M25. How did they manage that?
With still an hour til the restaurant opened, I figured I had no excuse to avoid using the leisure facilities so off I schlepped for a quick swim to fill in an hour. The lady at the leisure bit was lovely and welcoming and chatty. They should get this little ray of sunshine working on reception instead! The pool isn’t enormous so is not suitable for serious swimmers but is perfectly adequate for a post-​work wind down dip. I had it completely to myself (no other guests, see?!) for nearly an hour and it was heaven. After an hour or so bobbing about, a couple more people came in to MY POOL so I figured it was time to go. I was wrinkling up anyway. I went for a lovely long sauna en route back to the locker room. (Top tip: there’s a water dispenser opposite the sauna’s shower area so you don’t get all dehydrated and woozy if you stay in too long — another nice touch). I was feeling much more chipper after my nice long swim and sauna, and a quick chat with the ray of sunshine on my way out sent me on my merry way to the restaurant which was now open. They weren’t hugely busy and the waiter let me choose where I wanted to sit. I really appreciated that as when I am dining alone i do sometimes feel a bit conspicuous — and never more so than when I am rosy cheeked and wet haired, straight from the pool/​sauna, amidst the proper diners. I was also pleased to notice that along with the usual deep fried stuff, the menu had some decent healthy options too. They must get a lot of hotel-​weary business travellers who just want to eat something healthy and nourishing. After a huge and very delicious superfood salad with chargrilled piri piri chicken and a glass of deliciously soft Shiraz, I took myself off to my enormous bed in my peaceful room, a much happier camper that when I arrived. Oh, how my perceptions of the hotel changed over the course of an evening!

Don’t stay here for many reasons!
I have been backpacking through Europe the past two weeks and found this hotel for a great price. My friend and I wanted to save money so we thought this would be a good hotel to stay in while London. Well I would have rather stayed in a hostel!
1) it advertises as being a hotel next to transportation. However, you have to take a taxi or city bus to get to the train station! It is about a 35 – 40 minute walk along a busy bypass so i don’t recommend it. And then the train line from elstree nth mown as the «bed Pan» line to the locals because it is known to be delayed or cancelled. So you have to prepare for either waiting around at the station or being late to wherever you have to go. It also costs 15 pounds during peak hours to get anywhere, 8 pounds during off peak hours.
2) before booking the hotel it said «complimentary breakfast included» but when we got here they said the breakfast was 10 pounds each. When i told the receptionist, nicholas, it said included he asked «do you have a document to prove it?» I had talked to 4 other people staying at the hotel and they all said they same thing. Clearly, the hotel advertises free services knowing people will expect them but will not have documents to prove it. Terrible.
Service is terrible, it’s not close to anything (just a gas station about 10 min walking), and they don’t follow through with their services offered. Spend the extra money staying elsewhere. Or save your money and stay at a hostel – you’ll get your moneys worth there.