Garner Reading City Centre by IHG

Location: The hotel is conveniently located in the center of Reading, within walking distance of the train station, Oracle shopping center, and numerous restaurants. This central position makes it highly accessible for travelers and business guests.

A real mixed bag with this hotel. Some huge positives and some negatives too which really affected our ability the give a higher rating. It's in a great, central location. We couldn't park in the onsite carpark but parked just a few minutes walk away and were given a 50% discount when we mentioned this at check in (you just swipe the card you're given when you pay at the car parking machine) which was useful. Reception staff on both check in and out were super efficient and helpful. The hotel is clean, modern and finished to a high standard. We had booked a dinner, bed and breakfast option which offered great value for money. The room was a standard double and whilst it was spacious, the bed itself was tiny. It was really soft, seemed to dip in the middle and was very high. Over the bed is (what we assumed) was the smoke alarm. It flashed all night and we felt that whilst it's absolutely necessary, it was absolutely not necessary to place directly above the bed and made for a dreadful nights sleep. The bathroom was fab - clean and comfortable with plenty of towels and toiletries. The dinner included in the price is from the onsite menu in the Indian restaurant downstairs and was a real highlight of the stay. The food was superb and authentic and our waiter made us so welcome. Unfortunately, breakfast the next morning was not so good. The service was again fab and the cold selection of continental breakfast was fairly good. The hot breakfast was pretty awful - congealed scrambled eggs, shoe leather like bacon and really poor quality sausages. It was lukewarm at best. Was a really disappointing end to a pretty underwhelming stay in what could be, with a few tweaks, an exceptional hotel.

Great location in the centre of Reading. Clean establishment with friendly, helpful staff. Car parking available at an extra charge (it's tight but manageable in a big car). Does the job perfectly. Only downside-no lifts.