Review: Holiday Inn Express Brisbane Central

Location

We were surprised when we tried to check-in early to our room at the Holiday Inn Express Brisbane Central and found that it was both ready and available.

Situated equidistant from the CBD and Fortitude Valley, the hotel straddles the slight hill between the suburbs which affords it a good view out across the rooftops of the city fringe in one direction, and back towards the skyscrapers of the CBD in the other.

We’d managed to get a room on the tenth floor so headed up to see how good the view was.

The Room

The room wasn’t enormous but had managed to cleverly include everything you’d need. The bed was a good size and the decor was subdued with a splash of colour to liven things up.

The motif of the Brisbane River was repeated through out the design with the pattern of the river featuring on the frosted glass of the bathroom walls.

The room had sufficient workspaces to get some work done, though the chair beside the window lent itself more to staring out over the view – good for relaxing if not the most productive!

One thing that stood out for me were the power plugs. The Holiday Inn had followed designs we’d seen in higher end hotels where each power point was accompanied by one or more USB ports. Handy if you didn’t have an adapter and needed to recharge your phone.

The Bathroom

The bathroom mirror had that cool edging made of light that apparently helps you see better when you’re putting on makeup, and the toiletries were Urban Skincare Co.

The shower had the rainforest head I’ve come to love and it was switchable with a massage setting. This forced the water through fewer outlets which strengthened the flow making for a delightful pummelling on shoulders and neck. It was quite the struggle of willpower to get out! One thing that struck us about the bathroom though was the glass walls – when one of us visited the facilities late at night, there was no protection from the bathroom light for the other person in the bed. Less than ideal.

The Breakfast

The funky cafe on the ground floor converted into a very well-stocked breakfast in the morning. It had all the standard fare, your bacon and yoghurt and toast etc., but two things stood out for me.

One was they had these cute little omelettes that were all uniform in size – obviously some sort of cookie cutter arrangement while cooking, but they tickled me.

The other was the attitude that they had towards the breakfast. From check-in when the staff member had said “just head down and help yourself, you don’t have to find anyone to tick you off the list” all the way to the plastic containers and sign which said “Take me with you: grab and go here”, the relaxed attitude to the food was in stark contrast to other places we’ve stayed.

The ability to grab a decent breakfast, while still being able to make your early morning meetings, would surely be appreciated by the executive on the go!