Name: Holiday Inn Lancaster by IHG
Address: Waterside Park, Caton Road, Lancaster, England, United Kingdom, Lancaster, Lancashire, GB
Price range: US$78–US$235 per night
Rating: 7.7

What guests think

Across reviews of Holiday Inn Lancaster by IHG, travellers praise the convenient location near the M6 and river walks, generally friendly staff, and family friendly touches, while noting mixed experiences with dated areas, maintenance niggles, and variable dining and leisure operations.

Rooms are often described as clean and spacious, but some are small or tired, with inconsistent air conditioning or heating and occasional noise from events or the road. The pool and spa are popular when open, yet closures, a broken jacuzzi, and worn or wet changing areas are mentioned repeatedly. Breakfast is frequently enjoyed, though replenishment and coffee machines can lag at busy times, and dinner quality and prices divide opinion. Expect a convenient stopover with practical rooms and variable facilities.

Facilities

Cleanliness

Rooms

Service

Location

Dining

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AI-generated summary based on recent guest reviews

Facilities

Leisure facilities are popular with families, but reviews often report closures (especially the jacuzzi or entire pool), worn or wet changing areas, and occasional towel shortages. Free on site parking and children's play areas are noted positives; lift outages also occurred.

Related guest reviews

2

Chirag

3 Jun 2025

·

Stayed 2 nights

We were not able to use the indoor pool as they introduced a rule of booking the pool for 30 minutes at "Health Centre Desk". There was no staff available to take the bookings and when became available there was no booking left for the pool through out the 3 days of our stay. Breakfast time was horrible, long queues, waiting for ages and miss management. The manager was quite dismissive of everything and was confrontational when complained. Terrible experience. Never again!

8

Fiona

9 Nov 2025

·

Stayed 2 nights

Clean and nicely decorated room. Unexpected mini fridge with nice goodies in it - drinks, kitkats, crips, biscuits. Massive and comfy bed. Great shower. Breakfast was good & plentiful. Only think that lets this hotel down is the poor state of repair in leisure facilities- noisy plant, grubby looking, pool lining ridged, changing facilities a little dirty and needing work. Money needs spent on an overhaul to this area of the hotel. Otherwise we thoroughly enjoyed all aspects of our stay.

10

james

25 Aug 2024

·

Stayed 1 night

A nice hotel, with good facilities, gym and pool are a great addition. The food is very average for an inflated price.

6

Mark

30 Jun 2025

·

Stayed 1 night

The leisure facilities were dated and shabby. There was an open day so it was very busy but no staff to keep on top of the cleaning of the leisure facilities. There seemed to be a party going on on one of the rooms until 2am that was extremely annoying.

8

Pat

19 Jul 2025

·

Stayed 1 night

Lovely pool with sauna and steamroom. Towels provided. Hot tub, but was closed at the time.

10

Emma Dien

5 Jul 2025

·

Stayed 1 night

We were really impressed by the food and good menu with lots of choices. The staff were very friendly and helpful. The pool and spa was great although slightly run down. Overall we were very happy with our stay and would absolutely come back

10

Paul

18 Sept 2025

·

Stayed 1 night

Clean hotel. Pool was great, unfortunately we called the day we booked to enquire about using the pool, we were told by bookings that yes it was open. Arrived a few hrs later to find it closed until the next day. So check before if you are using the pool. Reception staff where fantastic and allowed a slightly later checkout (happy kids!) Would stay again. Breakfast was lovely!

10

Faraz

14 Sept 2025

·

Stayed 2 nights

Our stay was wonderful, good location for travelling to Lake District and kids loved the pool and play area

6

michael

25 Aug 2025

·

Stayed 2 nights

There was a shortage of towels and toilet rolls throughout the hotel. The pool changing rooms were soaking wet and dirty and very tired looking with plaster coming off the walls and no body wash in any of the showers.

6

Naropa

4 Oct 2025

·

Stayed 1 night

The gym/pool was very disappointing. Only 1 towel between 2 of us. The pool was occupied by a children's swimming lesson even though it wasn't on the timetable and the Jacuzzi was closed!

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Cleanliness

Cleanliness feedback is mixed: many find rooms and public areas clean, yet others note mould in bathrooms, dusty or stained furnishings, grubby leisure changing rooms, and corridor dishes left uncleared.

Related guest reviews

6

Kuttappan

3 Dec 2022

·

Stayed 4 nights

The cleaning supervisor was certainly not doing their job . I stayed there 4 nights and put “do not disturb “ on my door for 2. On the 3rd day I left “ please clean my room “ outside . It wasn’t cleaned and the sign was on the floor ( to look like no one has seen it ) . There were 2 plastic hangers and food waste on the carpet in the corridor for 2 days and no one bothered to clean it at least until I left . I don’t think there is any supervision of the cleaners and they are obviously cutting corners. I mentioned it to the lady at the reception on my check out .

4

Tina

19 Nov 2023

·

Stayed 1 night

Great location off M6 and check in was good, but it’s basic at best. The food in restaurant is dreadful and almost inedible. Bed was comfortable, shower good but overall cleanliness poor. Armchairs horribly stained in bedroom. The breakfast was ok and plenty there. Won’t be rushing back.

8

Aaron

19 Jun 2025

·

Stayed 2 nights

Rooms a little dated, bath/shower had mould buildup not the cleanest environment! Facilities were great, breakfast was great too! I would stay here again but would request a the bathrooms to be thoroughly cleaned!

10

Linda

23 Oct 2025

·

Stayed 1 night

The room was spotless, bed and pillows were very comfy. Would stay again.

4

Paul

31 Jul 2023

·

Stayed 1 night

The stay was OK, check in was timely, the main issues were the cleanliness of the rooms, spiders webs everywhere, the other issue was the breakfast, not only running out & plates not available but was luke warm at best so disapointed with the food

6

Peter

22 Jan 2025

·

Stayed 2 nights

Great facilities and very friendly staff at the hotel. Lovely breakfast , a great selection! Main issue was with the cleanliness. When I arrived and checked in, the bathroom smelt awful and I quickly found that it was because the toilet had been left unflushed, I assume from the previous person. To the side of the bed and behind the bed was also super dusty. Other than that though , nice hotel.

10

Balwinder

31 Mar 2024

·

Stayed 2 nights

Nice and clean

6

Jackie

5 Aug 2023

·

Stayed 1 night

Carpets need cleaning

2

Agnieszka

22 May 2023

·

Stayed 1 night

Dirty bathroom and bedroom

4

Tina

13 Oct 2025

·

Stayed 1 night

Rooms are old, carpets are dirty. There was no phone in the room so I had to go downstairs to order room service. Shower curtain was filthy and stained!

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Rooms

Rooms are generally spacious and comfortable, but some feel dated with small or uncomfortable beds, inconsistent heating or air conditioning, and noise from events or the road. Occasional maintenance issues include faulty windows or electrics.

Related guest reviews

8

Vic

22 Sept 2025

·

Stayed 1 night

Nice clean room.. guttering dripped all night from the rain… breakfast was nice worth The £13… drinks expensive

8

Michael

6 Jul 2025

·

Stayed 2 nights

Mostly quite good rooms are looking a little jaded the electric went out for 7 hours weather it was the hotels fault or not it was quite disturbing being in a pitch dark hotel including corridors etc.

10

Patrick

16 Feb 2023

·

Stayed 2 nights

Breakfast very good. Doors slamming early morning was quite disturbing.

8

Rayan

31 Aug 2025

·

Stayed 3 nights

Overall is ok , but rooms furniture is old and some broken and needs changing

10

Philip

30 Aug 2025

·

Stayed 2 nights

We had a Premium Room this time which was excellent in most respects. The bed had an undersized mattress on it for some reason, which made it a bit too narrow for two people (may be different in other rooms). Other than that it was very comfortable.

8

Philip

3 Aug 2025

·

Stayed 2 nights

Everything in our room worked OK, but the quality level was not as I remember Holiday Inn: used to be a frequent customer before retirement. The stand-out feature for me was the excellent service we got from the hotel staff, in particular the restaurant staff. Far better than most hotels. Nice big car park.

8

Matt

22 Jun 2025

·

Stayed 1 night

Hotel was good but the air conditioning is non existent, it did not cool the room on a hot night despite being in full. It was blowing cold air out, just not enough to cool a hot room. Bed was also very soft.

10

David

16 Aug 2024

·

Stayed 1 night

Good location just off the M6 Good hotel spacious rooms Clean, good size bathroom. A little dated with decor in the rooms. Try and get a room at the back as the front rooms are noisy from the road opposite.

6

Christopher

4 Dec 2022

·

Stayed 2 nights

My room had a window that wouldn\'t close and industrial machinery outside that would have been impossible to block out. The staff moved me with no problems. My colleague was spoken to in a completely unacceptable manner on the second day regarding breakfast. The staff seemed unaware that we had paid for breakfast - he told them this - and the lady told him that she\'d be "Checking that" in an accusatory tone. Not really good enough. Also the coffee machine wasn\'t working on the second day of our stay. When we alerted the staff they seemed to do little about it.

6

Mark

19 Jul 2025

·

Stayed 1 night

The hotel seemed very tired and worn. The room smelt of TCP, the bed was a very small double and it was extremely hard. Breakfast was poor quality food. Overall at £180 is was very expensive for what we had, would not stay here again

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Service

Staff are frequently described as friendly and helpful across reception, restaurant and leisure teams. However, several guests experienced slow responses, booking or room allocation errors, phones going unanswered, and understaffing at busy times.

Related guest reviews

4

Colin

11 Apr 2025

·

Stayed 1 night

Lots of issues throughout the trip. Allocated a room directly above the Function room. You could hear every song, every word, everything. Until 12.30am. Then had to be up at 6am the next morning. Several phone calls made to front desk. Told it would finish at 11.30 - it was 12.30. Assured there was no function the next night - there was. Told they had no more rooms available and they were fully booked. However, I could go in their website and it showed availability. They reluctantly moved us the next day to a room away from the function room, which solved the problem of noise. Our biggest problem throughout the week, was the lift constantly being out of order. I’m registered disabled. I struggle with stairs. Not a problem when there’s a lift - a big problem when there’s not. Biggest problem was checking out this morning - from the 3rd floor, with a week’s worth of kit (including a lot of outdoor walking / kayaking kit from my husband!) No lift, and a lot of bags to carry down 2 flights of stairs. Then me to help down. We tried to get help from the front desk - no one answered the phone. No one was at the front desk for the whole half an hour it took to load the car up. A manager eventually turned up at 6.50am to enable us to check out. Not once did we manage to get a Disabled space out the front of the hotel due to the spaces being parked in by non badge holders. Sadly our special anniversary trip away, was tainted by the hotel.

10

James

15 Aug 2025

·

Stayed 1 night

Paul on reception was terrific - couldn't have been more helpful. A real asset!

8

Eddie

22 Apr 2025

·

Stayed 1 night

The hotel was, generally, clean and tidy with plenty of parking. The restaurant was actually better than expected. However the staff were even better. When I informed them that I had lost my phone somewhere in the hotel, they went above and beyond all my expectations in helping me to try and find it. I would have no hesitation in recommending or staying again.

2

Gianni

12 Apr 2025

·

Stayed 1 night

Was all okay until the radiator in the room switched on full and wouldn’t turn off. Call reception and they said they would send someone to have a look but the person never turned up. Called again and they never picked up. Went to reception and asked for a new room and was told that wasn’t possible and someone would come to the room to have a look and will bring a fan. Again no one turned up. Went back to reception and again asked for a new room. They agreed and the room was fine with no issues. Unfortunately not a great night sleep for a long following drive.

10

Hilary

25 Sept 2023

·

Stayed 1 night

Your staff are WONDERFUL. So good to see people smiling and happy.

2

Scott

21 Apr 2025

·

Stayed 1 night

I booked with myself My wife and 7 month old son They gave us a room on the 3rd floor with no elevator Explained to them that it wasn’t ideal and they refused to change our room And then they sent a travel cot to our room and the boy from reception that brought the cot to the room Explained to me the cot was broken and wouldn’t go up properly but if I jammed it agains the wall it would be fine Also the mattress inside didn’t fit Wen I refused to use it I was informed it was the last one they had Which was clearly a lie Then he turns up with a smaller one that was filthy With no covers etc Luckily enough I had brought some We also paid for dinner and breakfast Took them over 2 hours to send out food We waited another 30 mins for our desserts to be boxed to take to room as it was now 90 mins after my sons bedtime We waited n waited and ended up walking out As the guy came to our table 3 times Saying it’s just getting boxed up These people couldn’t run a bath Never mind run a restaurant Avoid this place

10

Kerry

18 May 2025

·

Stayed 2 nights

The staff were very friendly and helpful. Breakfast was tasty with lots of choice. Will definately stay there again

10

Julia

22 Jun 2025

·

Stayed 2 nights

Had a lovely 2 night stay here and we're made welcome by the staff from the minute we arrived. The friendly and helpful service in all areas from reception to the restaurant and bar was fantastic and they should all be given praise for making our stay so good. We will definitely be back. 🙂

8

Shirley

1 Aug 2025

·

Stayed 1 night

Hotel great , room excellent , staff lovely Breakfast not so good food dried up and hard and not replenished . Had to ask for bread and butter, berries for the yougurt, and eggs . Waited around for ages for this to be done . I booked thru Expedia and had to wait 45 mins at reception for the Expedia confirmation to come thru to the hotel before we could check in That needs to be speeded up in my opinion Very pleased with our room 119 slept well .

8

Jason

22 Jul 2023

·

Stayed 2 nights

Check in fast and efficient, room service non existent unless you go to the bar to chase them up (kind of defeats the whole purpose of room service) Phone In reception never answered and generally seemed under staffed at breakfast time, well until around 6 employees all appeared at once. Perhaps some bright spark decided to call a meeting at the busiest time? All in all hotel serviced it’s purpose.

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Location

Convenient just off the M6 with easy access to Lancaster, Lake District routes, and riverside or canal walks. Not central, and front facing rooms can pick up road noise.

Related guest reviews

10

Ian

17 Sept 2025

·

Stayed 1 night

Accommodation well located, staff very helpful.

8

Tony

10 Feb 2025

·

Stayed 2 nights

Large Hotel situated in a great location with convenient access to all national park attractions. Ample car parking and public transport available within easy reach. Accommodation situated on the ground floor is somewhat tired although no complaints regarding cleanliness was offered. Good selection of food and beverages are provided. 2 good nights sleep was had.

10

DOUGLAS

27 Oct 2024

·

Stayed 3 nights

Near motorway, good rooms and breakfasts.Staff helpful, easy parking, lovely river walk to Lancaster Castle took us around 30 mins , not a car in sight.

8

Tom

30 Jun 2025

·

Stayed 1 night

Booked last minute for a quick stay. Loads of free parking spaces. Easy check in. Staff really helpful. Rooms clean and bright. We didn’t use the gym, swimming pool or restaurant so can’t comment. Bar had good selection and great staff. 5 mins in taxi to town centre. Overall a very good experience would stay again.

8

Dolly

8 Jun 2025

·

Stayed 1 night

easy access to hotel from M6 northbound

10

David

16 Aug 2024

·

Stayed 1 night

Good location just off the M6 Good hotel spacious rooms Clean, good size bathroom. A little dated with decor in the rooms. Try and get a room at the back as the front rooms are noisy from the road opposite.

10

Neil

10 May 2025

·

Stayed 1 night

Easy to get to from the motorway and lovely walk into Lancaster good for dogs

10

Faraz

14 Sept 2025

·

Stayed 2 nights

Our stay was wonderful, good location for travelling to Lake District and kids loved the pool and play area

8

Vincent

26 Jul 2024

·

Stayed 2 nights

Not close to city centre

8

chris

25 Aug 2024

·

Stayed 1 night

Easy parking off the motorway so very convenient

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Dining

Breakfast is often praised for choice, but at busy times items and coffee machines are not replenished promptly. Dinner and bar experiences are inconsistent, with some tasty meals but also limited menus, service hiccups, and prices seen as high.

Related guest reviews

8

Elizabeth

2 Oct 2023

·

Stayed 1 night

Very convenient location on M6. Pool was great, real pity the jacuzzi wasnt working. We ate in the restaurant...evening meal, the pie was great but the burger was really dry. Breakfast, there was not enough staff really and some foods ran out half an hour before the end if service.

6

Brian

2 Aug 2025

·

Stayed 1 night

Chosen because of closeness to M6 motorway and convenience. Expensive food/drinks. Souless dining area. No lounge. Some aspects of the rooms looking tired and dated for a supposed 4 star hotel. Sadly it is not. Staff seemed disinterested in some cases and better training/knowledge/experience required. Incorrect meal time information given on front desk to several customers. For August the radiator did not need to be on full in our room. Little or no dress code. Definitely needed for some staff.

4

Mark

29 Dec 2024

·

Stayed 1 night

Food was terrible

8

Antony

25 Aug 2023

·

Stayed 2 nights

Check in was easy and friendly. Nice touch with the childrens activity books and wrist bands. Room was decent. A few cobwebs around the place which bothered the children. Went for an evening light bite once we checked in, were directed to take a seat at any table by waiting staff. No explanation as to how to place order but noticed a table tablet and figured out that was how to order food and drinks. Not too difficult but i felt this removes any oppprtunity for positive interaction with the staff. Not easy to get staffs attention to order food with any specific requirements. The Fish Goujon sandwhich arrived smothered in tartar sauce, would have preferred it in a seperate container. I may want in on the sandwich but prefer that to be my choice, there was no option to talior the order on the sandwich and no staff avavilable to ask. The bill was to be settled using the tablet with an already added 10% gratuity. I find this a bit cheeky and presumptious, especially given that i basicslly placed the order myself and all the waiting staff had to do was deliver to the table. Again, i may wish to 'tip' good service but i don't expect it to be added as a matter of course and then be forced into an embarrassing conversation to have it removed. Basically, i don't feel the staff do anything to earn the gratuity because it's already added. Breakfast on both mornings was quite mediocre, too busy with the chef unable to keep up with demand and the wait staff 'too busy' to clear and reset

4

Lorraine

1 Oct 2023

·

Stayed 1 night

I wouldn't stay at this hotel again. I'd ordered the special main meal of 5 bean chilli and no sour cream. I instead got a meat chilli with sour cream and nachos. I asked the staff if it was the meat one as I'd ordered the 5 bean one. She confirmed it was.She apologised and said they would change this. They then brought out the 5 bean chilli with more sour cream and no nachos. The meal itself was lovely and piping hot. I decided to order some drinks in my room via the QR code that was in there. I ordered a vodka with rhubarb and ginger ale and also a gin with strawberry and hibiscus. Staff called the room to say they didn’t have any vodka with rhubarb left and did I want anything else so I said I'll have 2 gins instead. They said they also didn't have any ginger ale or ginger beer so I said I'd have a tonic water instead then. Staff called a few minutes later to say again they dont any vodka with rhubarb left and I said that someone had already rang me up and told me the same thing already. The order came with 3 tonics instead of 2. At breakfast my husband said there was no espresso or Americano in either of the 2 machines so he had to have a coffee when we went back to the room. I get it was busy at breakfast but at dinner time it wasn't so there was no reason to get the order wrong. The room was clean though and the staff on reception at check out (Paul) is a credit to the hotel and he rang us a taxi when my husband asked for a local taxi number.

8

Catherine

27 Jul 2025

·

Stayed 1 night

One night stay. Just what was needed however for a double bed this was extremely small for 2 people. Also only 1 cup in room for tea/coffee, when room was booked for 2 people. Food ok. Breakfast buffet was half empty. Could have been kept on top of.

8

Jonathan

11 Jul 2025

·

Stayed 1 night

There were several boiled sweets on the floor of the bathroom and under our bed, and there were a few physical issues with the bathroom which worried me a bit. Our room looked out over a rather ugly flat roof, which wasn't ideal, but not too important. My family were really enthusiastic for the pool, but I found it rather cold (and the jacuzzi also), and the changing facilities were not in a brilliant state. The food and service in the restaurant were on the whole very good, but I did feel we paid quite a lot for that, and breakfast was slightly chaotic. When I wanted a coffee with my breakfast, for example, both coffee machines were out of order at the same time. The toaster seemed to slightly burn most of the toast. I felt like the staff were reacting to complaints rather than preemptively fixing problems and shortages before things ran out. Overall, not a bad stay, but a few details stopped it being truly memorable.

10

Michael

23 Jul 2025

·

Stayed 1 night

Overall exceeded expectations of what you would expect from a Holiday Inn. The restaurant has room for improvement but other than that great place for a quick overnight rest when traveling.

6

Kevin

27 Mar 2023

·

Stayed 1 night

Breakfast was shocking Ordered 2 poached eggs as the fried eggs looked so bad. Asked again after 20 mins then waited for them to arrive. As we where leaving they brought them out.

8

Shirley

1 Aug 2025

·

Stayed 1 night

Hotel great , room excellent , staff lovely Breakfast not so good food dried up and hard and not replenished . Had to ask for bread and butter, berries for the yougurt, and eggs . Waited around for ages for this to be done . I booked thru Expedia and had to wait 45 mins at reception for the Expedia confirmation to come thru to the hotel before we could check in That needs to be speeded up in my opinion Very pleased with our room 119 slept well .

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AI-generated summary based on recent guest reviews

Month	Average price
January	US$95
February	US$103
March	US$109
April	US$111
May	US$120
June	US$128
July	US$149
August	US$124
September	US$137
October	US$132
November	US$113
December	US$85

Su	Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr	Sa
		1	2	3	4 $130	5 $154
6 $126	7 $183	8	9 $193	10 $132	11 $198	12 $139
13 $154	14 $235	15	16	17 $161	18 $115	19 $152
20 $93	21 $160	22	23	24 $137	25 $148	26
27 $118	28 $193	29	30

Su	Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr	Sa
				1 $133	2 $105	3 $160
4 $108	5 $171	6	7	8 $162	9 $100	10 $177
11 $82	12 $175	13	14	15 $124	16 $112	17 $180
18 $78	19 $151	20	21	22 $115	23 $153	24 $153
25 $88	26 $187	27	28	29 $116	30 $109	31 $168

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Monthly average prices

About this property

Location

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What guests think

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