We stayed in this hotel because we wanted to extend our holiday after we reached Southampton from Isle of Wight. Good value and fast check in considering we had not booked. bed was huge and very comfortable...enjoyed the television entertainment ... made a change to the normal terrestrial channels! We didn't have breakfast but it appeared that it was very varied in terms of times available which was good!!

IBIS is a budget brand of the Accor group, who also own Etap (even budgety-er) and Novotel (less budgety). Don't expect individuality: all Accor hotels are similarly robotic and anonymous. Rooms are small but quite cheerful, with very firm but ok beds. Good parking. Easy stroll to city centre (try the Pearl Harbour on Above Bar for good Cantonese fare especially Sunday afternoons when extended Chinese families show up so it better be good). Despite its French origins, IBIS food is grim and reeks of unskilled preparation and portion control. Breakfast in particular is a sad affair: self service coffee from a machine, portioned cheese, canned ham, resuscitated bread. A Big Breakfast or bacon roll at the McDonalds round the corner is a much better bet in my opinion. (Bring your laptop and check your emails for free, avoiding the hefty Orange wifi rates at the Ibis.) There's a big Tesco across the car park: we put together a DIY roomservice picnic from there which was much nicer than anything the Ibis could offer.

My wife and I have just spent a night at this Ibis and thought it was OK. The previous review is right about the breakfast being a bit stark but it included fruit, cold meats, bread, juice, adlib coffee etc, at ?6 a head not too bad. The rooms are OK: basic but pleasant, rather firm beds I agree bur we slept alright. Good choice of TV channels.Orange wifi is rather expensive but they also offer Quadriga ethernet broadband for ?10 for 24 hours. Admittedly this has to be accessed via the TV and was too complicated for me to understand, so I never actually got to use it. Multi brand chain operations like Accor inevitably will do things in a pre programmed way but I found the staff reasonably pleasant and helpful and they seemed to enjoy their jobs. IIBIS has a bit more panache than ins competitors in the budget sector and as in this case, is more likely to have a handy city centre location.

We stayed at this hotel before and after a cruise, On the plus side, the hotel is convenient to the bus station and a short cab ride to the cruise terminal. It is also close to the rail station, the free citylink bus service and ASDA. There are two restaurants adjacent: McDonalds and TGI Fridays. The staff at the hotel was friendly and reasonably helpful and the premises were clean, as was the room. The room had a TV and a hot kettle, with the makings for tea and instant coffee. On the negative, the bed was marginally comfortable and came with only a duvet, making it quite hot in the warm weather. I guess a separate bed sheet would be an enormous extra in a $120 per night room. The hotel furnishings and decor are spartan, a bit less luxurious than a Sleep Inn in the U.S. And everything (apart from the tea bag and instant coffee) is an extra charge -- internet, breakfast (rather pricey at 6GBP or 12 USD for what looked to be pretty basic fare). In sum, the hotel is clean and well-located and less expensive than most. But, apart from the price, it is definitely budget.

Friendly staff on arrival and in restaurant. The hotel rooms need renovating. Was given room 101, which was a room to be accessed by wheelchair / disabled. Great for the people that need it (although still in need of renovation). Ceiling paint is peeling off, ventilator/AC needs cleaning, bathroom lamp was broken, bath tub old and dirty, toilet tank takes 15min to fill up again (and the same was in the room next door, noise!). Breakfast wasnothing special but OK. Will stay in the Novotel again next time (just opposite). If someone wants a basic hotel then ETAP Hotel (opposite) is opening in November 2007. It belongs to the same group of hotels as IBIS and Novotel.