Manchester Townhouses by Charles Hope

GOOD Self-catering. Modern flat with two double (4ft 6ins width - so not King Sized) beds, comfortable. One bedroom is en suite, one bedroom uses the main bathroom next to it; both have Villeroy & Boch bathroom suites. High spec kitchen appliances (Bosch, Smeg) but if going to use dishwasher one needs twice as much crockery & cutlery to be ecological (6 of each item). If opt for handwashing kitchenware at sink instead, then need a drainer on surface to allow air circulation for natural drying. Tea-bags and milk sachets helpful till get chance to get supplies (short walk to Co-Op across road). Garage parking option vital as is very rare to get a space on the street and eager parking wardens so we saw frequent penalty notices on cars in our few days here (e.g. if park on "crossing areas with bobbled surface on pavement" or partly over double yellow lines.). Very convenient location as short walk to Cornbrook Metrolink Tram Station (and almost all tram lines stop there). BAD Took a while to get key from key safe outside apartment 331 then had to ring guest helpline to discover where flat was - flat was not in 331 BUT in Princess Street ground floor of the tower block. This was unclear in the instructions. Was stated "full sized beds" implying King Size but they were 4ft 6inch wide double beds (not suitable for 2 people when 1 of us is almost 2 metres tall). No blind on door to patio (upstairs) so occupants can be clearly seen from other flats when in corridor to main bathroom, especially so at night-time. Streetlight outside bedroom windows is brighter than daylight so need blackout blinds close to window to make room dark (existing blind away from window and grey). A blind on side window of lounge is also needed for privacy from footpath as only a blind on main window of bay) No placemats for glass table. No colander for draining food. Only x1 coffee capsule (unlabelled) for coffee machine and no sachets of coffee (just tea-bags). QR code for information about appliances did not work - took you to a blank page with just a message "Hope you enjoyed your stay" and a link to the Charles Hope website which went to their home page. Need instructions for appliances and explanation of the triple rubbish bins. We guessed green was for recycling and black for non-recyclable items, but the yellow pedal bin remained a mystery (food waste perhaps?). Instructions for heating needed- we just use "advance" and increased temperature which we hoped would revert to scheduled pattern later on. Lounge cool as very tall ceiling and x3 outside walls - underground garage is 3rd (rear) wall. Instructions for leaving keys on departure were poor - said "leave on kitchen table" but then how do you lock the flat! Key safe box outside 331 was extremely difficult to open. Eventually emailed Guest Services who said lock flat and leave them in letterbox. We then got messages the next morning asking where the keys were - so poor communication within the organisation!

The apartment was great, clean and well equipped. Communication prior to arrival was excellent and the staff were very pleasant and helpful. It was perfect for a family stay... Parking was expensive at 15 pounds per day but apart from that everything was excellent.

Very decent and well equipped apartment. Checkin details is clear except the car park which require some time to sort out.

Incredible experience from start to finish. Communication from the team was great, and the apartments were 10 out of 10. Extremely clean and well equipped. We rented 3 apartments for 12 of us and couldn’t have been happier. With the tram only a 2 minute walk it’s extremely easy to get in and out of the centre of Manchester. Plenty of parking available on summits, either paid for through the apartment for secure parking or free on street. None of our group had a bad word to say about the accommodation! Would 110% stay again.

The property was perfect. Decor was beautiful and clean. Finding the apartment was not easy, although when I telephoned for help , someone was on the other end helping me. There is parking but again a bit of a faff. I had to get out of car on other side of barrier, find property and get the fob. Walk back to my car on the other side of the car park in order to get in and park car. On vacating I had to park car on the outside of gate , leave car and put fob back into property and then walk back to car. After saying that my friends and I enjoyed our stay .

Great apartment, good position in town . Very clean with nice facilities. Beds very comfortable with high quality linen . Very spacious and kitchen well stocked with modern appliances. Perfect place to use as a base to go and watch football or cricket in Manchester

Communication - shocking!. Phone number does not work. Did not receive check in details and had to chase. Eventually found a number different to one on here that worked and got check in details sent. On arrival - very hard to find and said 'floor G' when infact it should have said BLOCK G. We found our door and got in to collect fob for car park - this again was a carry on. Did not work on gate to get in. Only worked on the NCP gate and we should not be paying for parking. A lovely lady in building across from our apartment clearly deals with a lot of the guest and told us the last guest bumped their car up onto pavement to get in - which we had to do in the end. Complained and was told a cleaner would look into fob for us - surprise surprise - we never seen one. the apartment itself is new and lovely. So once in and car park car and find it, all would be good!!. Good location for the tram.