I've stayed in the Holiday Inn in Shepperton 10+ times in the last 9 months, and I feel qualified to say that this is not a great hotel at all.
The rooms are not spacious. Last year I was greeted with a card with a note from the manager telling me how lucky I am that the hotel rooms had been refurbished (lick of paint and a new shower curtain) but really these things are no-brainers for me......I expect a shower curtain without mould on it, don't you?
The maids like to arrange the hand towels on the bed in the shape of swans - a reference to the hotel's proximity to the Swan Sanctuary. This is a nice touch, but only really for the first visit, The towels themselves generally are thin, too small (tiny bath towels, I end up using two), and they strangely seem to smell of ginger nut biscuits and vinegar.
The staff are generally friendly and welcoming. The bar staff are polite and friendly especially to repeat visitors. The bar has two TVs that show football matches when they are on, although with low volume so as not to disturb the restaurant patrons. Bar food is not great - I find it is better to eat from the restaurant menu in the bar. I had a steak and ale pie that was a soggy floppy affair with peas and chips -- for £10.95. Not great. The burgers are a little too charred for my taste, although I like the Hot Bite burger - it comes with Jalapenos and hot sauce.
Unfortunately the room refurbishment didn't extend to the air conditioning, which blows out heat in the winter and cool air in the summer - with about the same volume as a jumbo jet taking off. This is very disturbing at night and in the winter if you choose to switch it off, the rooms get very cold.
There is a health center with a pool but I have not tried it. The hotel has a large car park to the rear which is very convenient. It's very well situated for Twickenham. I pay around £120 per night during the week to stay.
I have only visited the buffet breakfast once - all the hot food was stone cold - it's a shame because there was a decent selection - 2 types of sausages, beans, fried eggs, scrabbled eggs, black pudding (yum), bacon, button mushrooms etc. Coffee and tea come from self service vending machines :(
Wifi in the hotel is extortionate, and there is no decent mobile broadband signal. Many of the rooms get no mobile signal at all, or at least not enough for a phone conversation, which is very frustrating. Not the fault of the hotel though.
In summary, this hotel does the basics, but really, I've stayed in much better places for much less. read more