My review of the ibis Styles Glasgow Centre George Square hotel
If you’ve already read my last blog post, you’ll know that I recently took a little weekend trip to Glasgow to do a review of the two ibis Styles hotels in the city centre. This blog post is the ‘part two’ of my trip, focusing on the ibis Styles Glasgow Centre George Square.
Disclaimer: Although I stayed at the ibis Styles Glasgow Central for a PR trip, all experiences and opinions expressed in this blog are unbiased and 100% my own.
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ibis Styles Glasgow Centre George Square hotel – expectations and comparisons
Having a number of hotels all over the globe, it’s no surprise that I was already fairly familiar with the concept of an ibis Styles hotel before visiting the Glasgow George Square hotel. If you’ve never been to one though, the best way I can describe them is that they are an economy hotel chain without the copy and paste style.
Each ibis Styles hotel with have it’s own individual look and feel, usually inspired by local culture, icons or landmarks, but also have the familiarity of the standards and facilities you’d expect to find in any chain hotel.
Having already stayed at the ibis Styles Glasgow Central, I was intrigued to find out how similar or different the two hotels would feel. My experience at the first hotel had been very pleasant, so I was hopeful for the George Square hotel too!
Where is the ibis Styles Glasgow Centre George Square?
The ibis Styles Glasgow Centre George Square, as the name suggests, is located pretty much bang in the centre of Glasgow on Miller Street.
Nearby you’ll find the trendy Merchant City area, the Gallery of Modern Art, loads of shops, bars and restaurants, and of course, George Square itself which is home to the Glasgow City Chambers and a number of statues and monuments.
How to get to the ibis Styles Glasgow Centre George Square
The hotel is easy to reach on foot from any of Glasgow’s central train stations. Glasgow Central Station is only a 5 to 10 minute walk away.
The ibis Styles Glasgow Centre George Square is easy to spot on Miller Street too, as a quirky pastiche of the Duke of Wellington statue with his infamous traffic cone hat is encased in concrete on the wall outside!
Parking at ibis Styles Glasgow Centre George Square
There is on-street parking at the ibis Styles Glasgow Centre George Square, however this is subject to availability and payable at the nearby parking meters. Due to it’s location in Glasgow city centre, the hotel doesn’t have an on-site car park of it’s own, however.
Much in the same way that the ibis Glasgow Central has an agreement with Q Park, the George Square ibis Styles hotel has a deal where discounted car parking is available for guests at the NCP The Glasshouse car park, which is just a short walk away.
The lounge area and bar at the ibis Styles Glasgow Centre George Square
Having arrived at lunch time, and just a little too early to check into our room, it gave me a chance to get acquainted with the hotel’s main bar and lounge area.
The first thing I noted about the hotel was that it was in a much older building than the Glasgow Central ibis Styles, which was fairly new in construction. The older architecture in the George Square hotel has created a few unique features in the layout of the building and also served as inspiration in part to the hotel’s ‘style’. The hotel’s reception, for instance, is actually on the first floor as opposed to the ground level of the building. This gave the lounge area a distinctly different feel to the other ibis Styles in Glasgow.
Being off the street gives the lounge at the ibis Styles Central George Square an immediate feel of calm, removed from the hustle and bustle of the city centre. The decor is cheerful, bright and welcoming too, but in a totally different way than the lounge in the hotel I’d come from. This is what the ibis Styles hotels do best, unique personality!
The theme or ‘style’ of the ibis Styles Glasgow Centre George Square is inspired by the work of Glaswegian architect and artist Charles Rennie Mackintosh. All around the hotel from the rooms, to the lounge to the hallways, you’ll find references to his bold and colourful style, combined with iconic symbolism of the local area. References to the nearby Duke of Wellington Statue that has been sporting a traffic cone on his head for a number of years, and favourite Scottish brands like Tunnocks and Irn Bru all feature heavily.
Remote working facilities at ibis Styles Glasgow Centre George Square
Sadly, it wasn’t quite the weekend when I arrived at the hotel, so I had to settle into a few more hours on my laptop before being able to fully let my hair down in Glasgow!
The ibis Styles Glasgow Centre George Square had me covered though, when it came to remote working. The lounge area was nice and quiet during the day, with plenty of comfy seating and tables to set up in. The WiFi was up to the task of the heavy uploading and downloading of my big graphic design files too.
The icing on the cake,that makes this hotel perfect for a ‘work to play’ long weekend, is the unlimited free coffee machines in the lounge. Simply grab a mug and make your choice on the maching – the mochas are divine!
An added bonus that was also most welcome at both ibis Styles hotels I stayed at, is that you can grab a free Cadbury’s Crunchie from reception on Fridays!
Rooms at the ibis Styles Glasgow Centre George Square
We stayed in one of the Queen rooms at the ibis Styles George Square. I like how the theme carried through to the rooms but the colour scheme was slightly more toned down, switching to more subdued green and lavender tones, which make for a much better space for relaxation.
My favourite style feature of the bedroom is the large art print of the Duke of Wellington statue, in greyscale, except for the traffic cone in colour to complement the room. It’s a nice fun feature that ties the hotel to a bit of local colour and, if you look up the story behind the traffic cone, will really make you smile!
The room overall was a good size, with plenty of luggage space and a sofa to spread out onto if needed. Although the building and rooms were clearly older than the other ibis Styles in the city centre, they were still had a clean and modern feel, with a distinct character.
As expected, there are some similarities to be found in the two ibis Styles hotels in the city too. In the bathroom for instance, you’ll find the same toiletries, in the form of these refill bottles in the shower. As I’ve mentioned before, I do actually tend to prefer refills as they reduce unnecessary plastic waste, and at the end of the day, when do you ever actually use the little take-away bottles from hotels?
The bathroom overall was a good size too, with another double sized shower to be enjoyed and overall a nice clean and modern space.
Theme and style inspiration at the Glasgow Centre George Square ibis Styles
As I’ve mentioned a little further up, the decor of the hotel is primarily inspired by the work of famous Glaswegian architect, Charles Rennie Mackintosh. A pioneer of Art Nouveau in Britain, having been the architect behind the Glasgow School of Art building, which is considered the first building of this style in Great Britain, Mackintosh’s innovative style is now widely celebrated and recognised.
You’ll spot Mackintosh inspired styling throughout the hotel, in everything from the wall art to the furniture design, like the strong metal grid lines on the wardrobe to the unique light fitting in the room.
My final highlight to mention about the room is that it actually had a really fantastic view of Glasgow from the window! Despite the often grey weather that the city enjoys, it’s still lovely to be able to wake up and see across the city.
ibis Styles Glasgow Centre George Square breakfast
As you might expect from a chain like ibis Styles, the format of breakfast was the familiar buffet with hot and cold items to choose from.
In keeping with the hotel’s own personality, the buffet surrounds some bright and quirky traffic cones, and even a ‘wee’ plastic cow sits on top of the milk! It’s definitely fun to look at and will make you smile first thing in the morning.
The food itself was all plentiful and good quality. I particularly enjoyed the breakfast rolls which were served warm and perfect for building your own breakfast butty on! The only thing I couldn’t find at breakfast was a bit of marmite (I’m in the ‘love it’ camp), but there were plenty of other spreads on offer instead.
Things to do in Glasgow near the ibis Styles George Square
The ibis Styles Glasgow Centre George Square is a great base for exploring Glasgow city centre. If the hotel’s architecture and interior have piqued your interest I would definitely recommend that you go and visit the Duke of Wellington statue outside the Gallery of Modern Art. It’s only a three minute walk from the hotel, and the Gallery itself is well worth a visit too.
Like many of Glasgow’s museums and galleries, the GoMA is free to enter and is home to some fairly high profile artworks, such as Andy Warhol’s soup prints.
Glasgow is a great city for shopping too. You could spend several hours (and £s) meandering around the corners of the city’s impressive Victorian and Art Nouveau buildings and hopping into the shops inside. Definitely a good option for a rainy day with a few coffee shop stops in between.
My top recommendation for things to do in Glasgow would definitely be a visit to the Kelvingrove museum and Art Gallery. It’s a little further out from the ibis Styles George Square (get directions here), but you can catch a bus there that will only take about 20 minutes.
The museum itself is wonderfully grand inside, almost like stepping foot into a palace! The exhibitions really steal the show though. With everything from Ancient Egyptian artifacts to a spitfire suspended from the ceiling, Kelvingrove’s 22 galleries have something to entertain and inspire the minds of all ages.
There are also live organ performances in the atrium at certain times which are worth sticking around for to enjoy, especially if you can get a seat in the coffee shop before it begins. See up to date performance times here.
Final thoughts – would I recommend staying at ibis Styles Glasgow Centre George Square?
The short answer is, yes absolutely. I really enjoyed my stay at the ibis Styles Glasgow Centre George Square.
I think the hotel lends itself particularly well to remote working or business related trips as the lounge area offers a quieter setting to concentrate on work. The hotel also feels informal and comfortable enough to be able to kick back and unwind once work time is over.
I think if you were visiting the city for a more lively break, the ibis Styles Glasgow Central, on the other side of the city centre may be a better fit, just because the lounge feels more like somewhere you could begin a big night out from.
That’s the beauty of the ibis Styles concept though, you can choose a hotel with a personality to match your travel plans!
Booking a room at ibis Styles Glasgow Centre George Square
It’s easy to book a room at the ibis Styles Glasgow Centre George Square directly online via the Accor Group website here. You can also join the Club Accor rewards programme – ALL – Accor Live Limitless – and earn points when you stay.
Booking directly is usually twhere you’ll find the best rates, but if you prefer to use Booking.com simply pop your dates into the search tool below!
