I recently organised three days out to Liverpool for myself and a couple of friends. We were getting stressed as we found that most hotels were £45+ per night, when I found Arinza on laterooms.com (I didn't even know LR existed until I frantically googled hotels in Liverpool!). Arinza do an advance booking offer on Late Rooms where you get 20% off if you stay more than one night - so my two nights were £78.40, or £39.20 per night, rather than the total of £100 or so I was looking at before.
Arinza supply you with a whole apartment, which includes electricals (i.e. kettle, and supposedly hairdryer, though we didn't find the latter), linen, towels and a little bit of soap and shampoo. You get little extras like a bag of ice in the freezer. Basically, it's a stripped-down version of anyone's house, rather than a hotel room; we had flat 2, which had 2 bedrooms (one double, one single), a bathroom (with a bath) and a combination kitchen and living room, which had two comfy leather-ish sofa beds (the backs flatten out to provide something much better than you may imagine). I kipped on one of the sofa beds and apparently got better sleep than my friends!
The electricals are a bit basic, admittedly - the toaster was a mad contraption, and the DVD player took a little bit of manhandling to stop it from eating or rejecting my DVDs - but I couldn't really find anything amiss. There's freeview on the TV, although I couldn't seem to find BBC Northwest. I'm not much of a TV watcher anyway, mind, so that didn't really bother me.
Generally - they''re fairly modern, and clean. The floor is squeaky, and things like mugs aren't so nice (ours were stained/looked dirty, so I used glasses - even for hot water...), but the building is comfortable and secure, with a gated car park! Anybody put off by the apartments being in Toxteth needn't worry - they're literally just beyond the sign anyway, and Toxteth isn't even that bad. It's a good thing we had a car, though, as it's a little bit of a trek into the city.
My booking was supposedly at a busy time (International Beatles Day and the like), but I didn't have any issues with noise from other parties. We only had one other car in the car park, too. I did notice that it was listed as fully booked on the website, so pre-booking is important! The check-in procedure is really lax - turn up any time after 2pm, give Arinza a ring (their number is on a piece of paper on the door) and they will let you in. I came prepared with a couple of booking confirmations, my passport and my provisional, but that proved to be over-preparation. The owners don't man the building, so if you want any help you WILL need to phone them - best save the number in case.
You get a little binder with information on emergency procedures, places to go and contact information, which is nice to have around.
If you like having a lot of structure, you might find Arinza a little bewildering; we didn't even know how to check out, so we wrote a little note and then posted our keys through their letterbox! Their apartments are really good value for money, though, so I would fully recommend them, especially if you have transport from Toxteth to central Liverpool. Just remember to book through Late Rooms, and early, to get that 20% off.
I'm torn between four and five stars, so I'll be harsh and go for four - the main downside being that I wouldn't have found much use in Arinza if we didn't have a car! I don't drive, so as great as they are, I don't know if I'd have been able to use them. A few points off for being overly casual/generally lacking information, but otherwise fantastic. Would definitely recommend. read more