Holiday Inn Reading

I’ve stayed at this property twice now, and after the first, I was quite reluctant to visit again. My second visit confirmed that this is NOT the place to be.
While the hotel has obviously been renovated, they put far too much emphasis on appearance and not nearly enough on functionality or service.
Room:
While the room was clean and, for the most part, well maintained, there are a few really annoying aspects to it. First, the overall lack of drawers or storage space for your items. Three small drawers in a night stand (available on one side of the bed only) and two even smaller drawers at floor level in the closet make it ridiculous to even think you can completely unpack if you’re there for more than a night or two. In fairness, there is a shelf above the cubby dedicated to the tea pot (which leaked every time it was used — water everywhere!) it has an ugly vase cemented into the center of it, so it’s not really available for the guest. Again, appearance over functionality.
20% of the closet is taken up by a hanging monstrosity of an ironing board contraption and the remaining portion has only those stupid hangers that have to be inserted into rings around the rod. Really? At £160/​night, I think that hanger theft might not be at the top of their worries.
Two types of pillows are placed on the bed with ribbons around them telling you whether they’re «soft» or «hard» — they’re both «hard» because they’re all foam. No feather pillows available :(
On the plus, there is an in-​room safe and a small fridge, so if you want to bring water or other beverages in from the outside, you can keep them chilled.
Bathroom
On the positive, the do have a wonderful rainshower, with good water pressure, but that’s about the only thing I can say nice about this bathroom. There is no shower door or shower curtain, only a small (~10 inches) pane of glass that is supposed to somehow keep most of the water inside the tub during a shower. It fails. Hence, you step out of the shower into either a puddle of water or a drenched bathmat each time. Oh joy!
The shelves in the bathroom are filled with miscellaneous paraphernalia that could all be put onto one shelf, allowing the guest to have some space to put their toiletries, but if you want that, you have to do it yourself (as with so many things in this hotel, self-​service seems to be a theme).
Lastly, the flushing mechanism for the toilet is behind the lid, so you are required to close the lid before you can flush. Stupidity at its finest.
Room Service
Though there is a «tray charge» of £3.50 for room service — ostensibly to provide the service, when they arrive, they put the food on the table and require that YOU, the guest, complete your name and room number on the check before you sign. I guess they didn’t know or couldn’t find out that information themselves before arriving at your room. The food was okay on the whole, but when they delivered my one meal within 5 minutes of me ordering it, I knew that my naan was not freshly prepared, and the overall quality of the meal was mediocre.
Front Desk
I’ve never been at a hotel where the front desk crew was as surly and argumentative. When I arrived to check in, their overall demeanor made me want to not check in and if I could have easily done so, I would have transferred to another hotel right then and there. Checking out was another experience of a similar nature.
Whilst checking out, the front desk informed me that my breakfast that morning was not included in the room rate (though when I made my reservation it was, and it had been for all six other days of my stay). When I pushed back the front desk agent started quoting «well, what I see in MY reservation system», as if that’s supposed to change my mind. When I asked her why the last day of my stay would have been different from all the others, she said, «I don’t know but MY reservation systems says it’s not included». When I mentioned that I was on a corporate rate that included the breakfast as it had been during my last stay, she started to look up my previous stays (a worrisome note that they even keep that information) and continued to argue with me. When it became obvious that I was angry about this, she kept saying «sorry, but that’s what it says», which only serves to upset a customer more. I do wonder how some people get through life if they don’t have a computer screen to tell them what to think and say. I had to ask FIVE times for her to quit arguing with me and just give me my receipt so I could leave.
All in all, I’ll avoid this property forever and suggest you do the same. A quality room in a hotel is the bare minimum expectation, but my money will be given to those properties who understand that service is even more important! I hope the £15 I paid for breakfast is well spent, because it’s the last of my money they’ll see.

I booked this hotel for 5 nights for a business stay. I found a rate on line which was consistent with similar hotels in the area and included breakfast. I chose this hotel not only for the reasonable price (although work was paying) but because it has a gym. The rate was approx £580, but I had to use a third party to book it — work rules. By the time they put the order in (20 mins later) the price had gone up to almost £800 not including breakfast. Perhaps a lesson in not booking too late, but beware late bookers.
For my first meal I ate Indian. Monty’s bar serves standard beers and slightly better wines. You can chode Indian, Thai and some other dishes from the bar. The service is attentive and the Indian food middle of the road. One of my pet hates is paper napkins as they do not feel in keeping with the style to which the bar desperately aspires to. (And they are scratchy!)
The hotel has an averagely decent gym and I was happy to see a swimming pool too. I wish there were slightly more types of multigym equipment. On the second day the gym was very busy in the evening. I found it quiet in the morning and also on Sunday night. The swimming pool has plenty of room, as it is not used as much. It is about 20 meters or so.
For my second meal I went Thai — again in Monty’s. The staff were again exceptionally friendly and professional. Food was an ok ³⁄₅. On the third night I tried Caprice’s, which is the hotel restaurant. More service, no paper napkins, a la carte, set and posher Indian menus available. The wine menu was also much more interesting.
Overall, this is a Holiday Inn. Probably the best Holiday Inn I’ve ever gone to, but still a Holiday Inn. 99% of customers are on business. It’s a large hotel and quite busy. The food is alright, service is very attentive and the facilities are good. Whether you decide to stay here should depend on the price you can get and the proximity to where you have to go! By the way… Wi-​Fi is not free. I hate that!

I stayed at this Holiday Inn in June 2011, and was pleasantly surprised. It was quite a shock to stay in a modern clean room in a Holiday Inn, and it just highlights how variable these hotels can be.
On checking in the staff were friendly and smiley. Definitely welcoming. Strangely you have to use your room key to activate the lift, I guess for security.
The bed was very comfortable. There was a big flatscreen tv. Lots of space. I was happy.
I paid £59 for one night, and it was good value for money.