Hotel Review: CitySuites, Manchester

There are some decidedly unpleasant portmanteaus in the English language. ‘Infotainment’ is one. ‘Chillax’ is definitely another. ‘Athleisure’ deserves a mention. But one of the most inelegant of the lot must surely be ‘aparthotel’. We’d much rather stay in a hotment, no?

Still, the name is not holding aparthotels back. Indeed, they’re the fastest-growing segment of the UK’s hospitality accommodation market, and for anyone who has tried to squeeze more than one child into a typical family hotel room, it’s not hard to see why.

The 17-storey,  CitySuites bills itself as Manchester’s only luxury aparthotel, but technically is part of the regenerated Greengate area of Salford. There can be few better examples of the regeneration of the city centre: in only a few years, these 13 hectares of vacant and fairly grotty land have been transformed into a smart and unrecognisable urban quarter.

After a contactless check-in process designed specifically for Covid-19 times, we ascended to our 13th-floor one-bed apartment that had enough room for two adults, two children and a baby.

The glorious view over Manchester Cathedral and Exchange Square reinforced the impression that you are within touching distance of the shopping and entertainment heart of the city, and certainly on August Bank Holiday Sunday, when we visited, CitySuites had proved a draw for many twentysomething couples.

On a weeknight, these apartments – with Nespresso coffee machine, oven, washing machine and dishwasher all included in each kitchen – would work just as well for business workers seeking additional space. There’s a decent-sized pool and jacuzzi on the ground floor, too, as well as a newly-opened restaurant, Embankment Kitchen.

A further 147 apartments are already in the pipeline with a CitySuites 2 scheme elsewhere in Greengate. Aparthotels are evidently the future – let’s hope that cities are too.

CitySuites Aparthotel Manchester, 16 Chapel St, Manchester M3 7NH. More info: citysuites.com