Why does this Hilton Garden Inn cost so much?
Hidden away in a (somewhat famous) suburb of Manchester is a pretty standard hotel, with pretty standard rooms. It's not a bad place to stay, but it's not exactly the last Hilton I stayed at. Once, twice or sometimes thrice a year the very reasonable room rate jumps to £699/night.
The reason for that incredible leap in price (rooms can be as low as £63 on a weekday) isn't what's in the hotel, it's what's just outside of it. The Hilton Garden Inn is built directly into the stands of Old Trafford Cricket Club. That means that approximately half the rooms look onto the pitch, and those rooms have balconies.
A few times a year the cricket pitch is covered up, a stage is erected and 65,000 music-lovers are entertained. Over the years Harry Styles, Bon Jovi, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Radiohead have played. We stayed on Friday 21st June 2024 for Green Day, the week prior it was the Foo Fighters.
What do you get on concert nights?
For a "mere" £699 you get a one-night stay, a wristband for floor entry, and a balcony with an amazing view of the stage and the crowd. The hotel faces the stage, so in some ways you get a better view than the corporate boxes that look at it from the side.
Breakfast is included in the stay, and the check-in time is 3pm and checkout is 12noon.
The only real change from a regular stay is that no glasses are allowed on the balcony (they helpfully provide large paper cups to decant any drinks into) and there's a polite request to keep your room lights off when the acts are on. As the concert was in the Summer it only got dark for the last few songs.
We were told that bag searches would be in operation on arrival, however, this appears to be just for those going into the cricket ground itself and not hotel guests. No visitors are allowed into the hotel, and there was security at the front door checking to make sure you had a reservation.
On concert days there's no on-street or off-street parking at the hotel due to road closures. Instead, you're directed to the other Old Trafford (Football Ground) to park for free. This has one big advantage (24hrs security) but it's also tricky to find the car park, and the directions that the hotel helpfully sent out a week beforehand were not very clear. It is just a five-minute walk from the car park to the hotel, but it might feel like a slog if you have a lot of luggage.
What was the room like?
We had a "King Pitch View Room". The pictures below show a modern, clean although fairly small room. We stayed in the new wing that was opened in 2023, the original wing opened in 2017.
Within the room, you had a TV, a cute Smeg fridge (no drinks were provided) and a small desk. There were power sockets at table height next to both sides of the beds. There was a Smeg kettle (no coffee machine) along with tea, coffee and sugar.
The room was bright and airy, and surprisingly soundproofed when you closed the doors.
The room had a desk chair, which looked very much like an office chair, and another chair next to the balcony doors. Outside you have two stool chairs to sit on that are quite comfortable, and there are two padded seat cushions in the wardrobe.
The bathroom was small, with just a shower, but was perfectly fine for a one-night stay. Amenities were Crabtree, and they were mounted on the wall next to the sink and in the shower. The shower was pretty weak, it wasn't the kind of hot water blast you need the morning after a late night.
What was the experience like?
Check-in was easy, although they had a system outage to were relying on pieces of card to work out who had what room. I'm Hilton Gold but there were no upgrades available. I had also bid for a room upgrade, but that wasn't successful. The reception team were friendly, and although outside was mayhem the reception area was pretty relaxed. Once we checked in we were directed to another member of staff who gave us wristbands that allowed entry to the main stadium. We were then pointed towards a set of stairs, and we took a slightly convoluted route to the newer wing of the hotel.
Room service was from a limited menu due to the concert being on. You had a choice of pizza, burgers, and "extras" which weirdly included full means like fish & chips. Not being overly excited about the options we just had food delivered from Dishoom in central Manchester. This hit a snag when police wouldn't allow the Deliveroo driver to get close to the stadium due to his bike. After some stairs, a short walk, and some more stairs, we sat eating outstanding Indian food, whilst watching the warm-up acts.
One thing I wasn't sure about was if we'd get a good night's sleep The gig finished just after 10pm (there's a 10:30pm noise curfew) and all of the fans had left by 11pm. After that, we heard no noise from outside, or from other rooms. It was a surprisingly quiet experience.
Breakfast at the Hilton Garden Inn, Old Trafford
Breakfast the next morning was busy. We had to wait five minutes for a table to be cleared, and it looked like quite a few people were nursing sore heads. Breakfast is served in what appears to be a large hospitality area that would come into its own when there's a cricket match. There's a small bar on one side of the room (one guest, who looked like they hadn't had any sleep, tried to convince staff to let them have a beer), a coffee station as you walk in, a second coffee station on the opposite side of the room and then a smaller room with the food items.
The breakfast room overlooks the pitch - in fact it's hard to get away from the fact that you're inside a Cricket ground, as every walkway or window seems to look onto it. It's a light and modern room, and the only real letdowns were the speed in which the self-service food was replenished. I had to go without sausages or bacon as they were none left and despite promises, they didn't appear in time.
There's a good selection of pastries, fresh fruit, muffins and two toasting machines for bread. The hot food that they did have was eggs, hash browns, beans, and tomatoes. There were also healthier options in a fridge unit and a do-it-yourself waffle machine which was sadly out of action due to some overzealous youngsters pouring waffle mix everywhere.
I'm an early riser, so I headed out before breakfast to get a coffee while my wife slept. There's a Cafe Nero built into the stadium, accessible via reception or an external door.
Checkout was easy via the Hilton app, so we just dropped our key cards off and walked out into the sunshine.
Room costs at the Hilton Garden Inn, Old Trafford
Putting aside the £699-concert rate, rooms on non-concert days are very well-priced. Considering how it's just a five-minute taxi or tram ride from central Manchester it's a bargain. Weekday rates are as low as £63 for a King room. You do see rates increase significantly when there are football matches on, as Old Trafford stadium is just a five-minute walk.
Getting to the Hilton Garden Inn, Manchester
Although it's located outside of central Manchester, getting here is really easy. A tram station sits right next to the hotel and it's a two-minute walk from the hotel front door. It's worth saying that none of the rooms are impacted by noise from the tram.
It's relatively easy to get here from the M60 or M62 by travelling through Trafford Park. See my comments above for an explanation of where to park on concert days
Would I stay again?
If I was looking for a budget hotel in Manchester where I could get a good night's sleep then I would absolutely stay again. The pricing is great, it's a clean and modern hotel, and I can walk to the tram stop and be in the centre in five minutes.
The concert experience was amazing. If there are events next Summer we'll be rushing to staying here again. It's a completely different way of watching bands: no jostling, or long walks to the bar or the bathroom, and if you're not feeling whoever is on stage then just go sit on the bed for a bit.
The Pointszilla Newsletter