Holiday Inn Brentwood, an IHG Hotel

Our rooms were opposite each other which worked really well for our family dynamic. We very much enjoyed our evening meal - the food was very good and staff were extremely accommodating, friendly and understanding as we managed the needs of our 3 year old. We loved the live music of Kier Ramshaw. We enjoyed being able to use the swimming pool the morning of our departure.

I would have liked to have a more healthy option of natural or Greek yogurt but I was told the hotel did not have any. We feel it should not be necessary to pay for parking the cars in the hotel car park.

The breakfast was good although I only had it when it was part of the deal. I booked 1 night initially to make sure that I got a good nights sleep before booking for a 2nd and 3rd night. The Saturday cost £145 pounds without breakfast which I thought was very expensive! Unfortunately on the Sunday morning at 6.30 am the fire alarm went off. I jumped out of bread and hurt my neck. I tried to ring reception to find out if it was a false alarm, but the phone didn’t work! I had to get dressed and go downstairs to ask what was wrong. Turns out that someone had burnt toast and set the alarm off. I was trying to get to sleep (now with a blinding headache, from leaping out of bed, when it went off again at around 7 am! It ruined the day as I had flown over from Spain to see my family for 2 days but was unable to get out of bed until quite late. The headache and lack of sleep affected the whole day!

See above

Rooms were comfortable Little one enjoyed the swimming pool

We had dinner in Marco’s restaurant- what a let down We got seated in back of the empty restaurant away from everyone and everything- to begin with and it was darkly lit We ordered pasta - I requested extra garlic - it was slivers of raw garlic and the sauce had no seasoning whatsoever- we gave up adding the salt in the end!! Breakfast was a bit of a letdown- waited a long time for our vegetarian sausages the first morning Asked staff several times about the pancake machine not working- was eventually sorted out (after my child had a tantrum) Hash browns were tough n chewy :(

The hotel is comprised of an original older building which houses the perfectly adequate rooms and a set of modern extensions that house the other facilities including excellent dining facilities and a pool. these are well designed and attractive, greatly exceeding our expectations. The staff were ver friendly and helpful. My 3 children loved it.

The rooms are a little old, but totally comfortable and more than adequate for a short stay

The beds were nice, also the bedside tables + lamps and the curtains. The decor' colour was also nice. The bar area was lovely and the breakfast area was also very good, especially the food buffet. The breakfast choice and quality were excellent. The pool, jucuzzi and changing rooms were very good. A nice facility to enhance one's stay.

There was some dampness on the bathroom ceiling and some damage to the carpet colour in one corner of the bedroom. I prefer a shower spray that can be hand-held, not fixed to the wall. The lighting in the bathroom made one's face be in shadow when looking in the mirror (perhaps an additional suitably placed light would solve this). It seemed like there was little or now difference in the firmness/softness of all 8 pillows. I ended up with a stiff and painful neck after the first night.

The staff were super friendly and helpful. Changed our room bedding and towels after we were getting ready for a wedding. Victoria on reception was really helpful and could not have done any more for us all.

The room had a slight musty smell when entering maybe the air con, we didn't complain as it was only temporary. The parking charge is ridiculous especially if staying as a resident.

perfect location, just down the road from the High Street. Beds where comfortable pillows were even better. staff on main reception where lovely.

The Aircon didn't work, the room was extremely hot. We had to have the window open all night. the room had two bottles complimentary waters which is okay if you are just a normal double room but it was two doubles and there is a party at three. The main room lights didn't have a switch, so we had to have the lamps on just to see.

Breakfast was pretty good

The fire alarm went off at 6.30 am the phone beside the bed didn’t work so I had to get dressed to go to reception to find out if there was a fire. Then it went off again at 7.00 am. I had come from abroad to see family for the weekend and it ruined my day, as I was so tired and got a headache from leaping out of bed to escape the “fire” which turned out to be toast that had burnt in the dining area

Room is good, with all the basics for a standard 4 star. It is only about half-an-hour drive from southend-on-sea which is abosulutely fine to have a great stay/breakfast in the morning and drive to the beach, with lower price than beach-side hotels. Oksana was great and gave our DS an ice cream voucher which he loved.

Nothing major, booking.com had inclusive parking charges which is great but can get expensive. Otherwise, please ask the reception first before paying outside in the machine which is expensive.

good pool and jacuzzi with steam rooms and saunas excellent restaurant on site (Marco’s) room was very basic but comfortable quiet lovely breakfast

woman who checked us in and out was absolutely useless - overcharged (twice), couldn’t reverse it (twice), gave us the wrong invoice (checked out the wrong room even though we were clear when asked our room number). bathrooms in the room could do with an update would be nice to have somewhere to sit at the pool