Pendulum Hotel

Terrible, terrible, terrible!! Thursday, 9am - I leave my backpack with my laptop in it in the hotel's luggage room (which they lock) after I check out of my room, I come back 4 hours later and the laptop is gone!!!!!! Not in my bag! I spent the next 5 hours demanding that they look in the restaurant and at the CCTV footage from the luggage room. I also had to run to the police station and file a report. In the meantime, the hotel manager, Mr Simon Mason, was claiming the whole time that he had watched the CCTV footage from the luggage room himself (the entire 4 hours in 10 minutes?!) and was adamant that no one had gone near my laptop! After I showed disbelief, he promised to send me the CCTV footage via email the following day. I finally left at 6 pm (5 hours later!) because I had to catch a flight back to France. The next day I went and spent £1,000 on a new laptop as I had urgent work to hand in that day and in the afternoon I emailed Mr Mason to request the CCTV footage...His reply was shocking. Miraculously, my laptop had been found! He claimed that a staff member had found it in the restaurant the morning I left and took it without handing it to the front desk or reporting it as lost property! And only prsented it 31 hours later!!!!! After I had spent 5 hours the day before begging them to check in the luggage room, my room AND THE RESTAURANT! My bloody property!!!! Of course when I sent him a copy of the receipt to show him how much their mistake had cost me, and asked for a refund of my 3-night stay (= £320), I never heard back from him again! Nor of course did he ever send me the CCTV footage, as promised. He said he sent me the laptop to France (which I still haven't received 9 days later), apologised for the inconvenience caused and never replied to any of my requests for a refund of my stay. In fact, he expected me to be grateful that he hadn't charged me the postage fees!!! He said it was "an act of goodwill". What a joke. I'm going public with this because I found the way this whole situation was handled to be of very low professional and ethical standards, and future potential guests need to be made aware that the hotel management will refuse any responsibility in the event where a member of staff misplaces their property and they have to leave without it, or it "mysteriously disappears" from the luggage room (and then miraculously reappears) - whichever is true. And that customer service is clearly not one of the priorities of this hotel's business strategy. And of course my University was made aware too not to use their services again in the future given this hotel can't be trusted with private property and sensitive data on it (from my PhD research), and the staff clearly lack appropriate training as regards guests' property. Their staff made huge mistakes, they put me through an ENORMOUS amount of stress, they cost me a HUGE amount of money and yet this hotel manager thought £320 to be more important. I am also convinced that a member of staff took the laptop out of my bag from the luggage room with the intention of stealing it and when Mr Mason sat and watched the entire 4-hour footage prior to sharing it with me, he saw it and then decided to come up with this ludicrous story to cover it up. Either way, I'm disgusted. Lessons learnt as regards this hotel: 1. If you do decide to book here, take your valuables with you wherever you go!!! 2. Service and mamagerial skills are bottom-tier. 3. Ethical standards non-existent. *UPDATE 13 October 2019*: My laptop did arrive eventually, albeit damaged. I've emailed Simon Mason. No response. Inadequacy at its best.

Located amidst University of Manchester this hotel's great location does not justify its price and its facilities are below par. The bedroom has all the character of a Hall of Residence. There are no light switches or power points adjacent to the bed. There is no air conditioning and leaving the windows open is noisy because of its location. The bed only has a heavy duvet and no top sheet so becomes uncomfortable for sleep. The bar/cafe staff were superb in contrast to the Reception staff who were completely indifferent over a three day stay.

Good location for visiting the centre of Manchester. Near the University old engineering buildings. The hotel rooms are very suspiciously like student rooms but the bathroom is very modern. Not a huge amount of space but plenty of places to set belongings down. Had a good deal when I stayed, but considering the normal price, and the “student” type room ( unless you are nostalgic), it would not be my first choice.

I recently stopped at the Pendulum hotel and everything was excellent.I was going to a rave and the hotel was ideally placed to get there in a few minutes walk,the staff were kind and polite and the room was brilliant,will definitely stop again.

My husband and I stayed here just for one evening and it was pretty good. Room was quite small but had all the amenities we needed and was clean. Bed was ok. Bathroom is a bit outdated but clean. The sink would randomly shoot out very hot water, yikes! Staff were great and very helpful. We didn’t use restaurant so can’t comment on that. Location seemed good and not too far from Piccadilly station.

This is a very basic hotel but would do for a business trip. Good points were It had an iron and hairdryer in the room Be careful when buying drinks at the bar, one bar man tried to charge us £11 for a glass of wine ( no wine on the menu was this price). It was dealt with, but make sure to check your bill when paying.

The hotel put on a great wedding for the son and now daughter-in-law to one of my best friends We were almost 80 people, a lovely decorated room for the ceremony, a sunny courtyard with bar inside and seating for at least 60 in the bar and 70 outside. Really well laid out and decorated room for the dinner and once that was over the room was converted for the evening with a band and DJ A BBQ Buffet was put on later in the evening for the guests Overall I would recommend this hotel for a wedding, they also did a special rate for guests staying over night

My colleague and I visited this hotel and stayed over night, the staff were lovely and the location was great for us, the meeting space was also great, the only thing i would say is that the bedrooms and lounge areas could do with a refurbishment.

I've had a comfortable stay during a conference at Pendulum. They were helpful in accommodating my early-hour itinerary overseas. The hotel's central location made it easy to explore the city at night, and I managed to get quite some work done as well. Can recommend for business travel.