We have just got back from a two night, buy one get one free, break. Hotel was fine, Father & Son used pool, said it was small but great. Room was a bit tired (229) but OK, it all just lacked a little something but OK if it was just a base. We were in fact celebrating my ?0 birthday, all booked last minute, didn't want a fuss but thought it would be nice to go away as a family. My goodness, the biggest shock was when we paid for the one breakfast we took at the hotel, it costs £14.95 per person (kids free). Apparently as we checked in the receptionist told us we should have been offered the chance to purchase a voucher @ £9.50 when we asked if it could be adjusted it was too late. Maybe it was because we were on reduced rate. You have been warned. There is a BP station next door with M&S food, plus it does coffee/breakfast baps etc.... Don't think we will be back.

This Holiday Inn is by the motorway, and the restaurant is good.

Sadly, I have now run out of the positives for it.

The public areas are tired and need refurbishment, wall decor scraped and carpets needing cleaned.

Our room was small though well appointed. However, we could hear every single word said next door when the woman there was on the phone, so were well aware that we too were overheard.

One to avoid, sadly.

I stay in alot of hotels nationwide on business so when my office booked me into the Holiday inn Hemel Hempstead I thought another plain boring hotel, how wrong could I be from the minute I wallked through the door I was greeted by clean fresh modern decor the staff are happy to be there so nothing was a problem. The rooms are spacious all the ammeneties you would want, the rooms are a very high standard hygiene levels are perfect. The bar was clean again excellent staff who wanted to serve you. The food in the restaurant was cooked with care and attention to detail. The breakfast was freshly cooked buffett style. Checkout was simple and quick, again attention to detail was evident to see. Overall I could not find a single fault. I would strongly reccommend the hotel for business travellers and leisure people

I stayed at the Holiday Inn Hemel Hempstead M1 J8 midweek recently on business. I was told that Holiday Inns are nice and looked forward to my stay. I have to say I was incredibly disappointed in my room (229).

The bathroom was ancient - the sink counter was stained and all the metal fittings discoloured. I wouldn't have minded this all that much for the night if the fittings actually worked. After a long journey and late finish at work I was looking forward to a soak in the bath, with the bubble bath provided. Sadly, when I came to try and run one, the most the hot tap could manage was a tiny trickle of water. I opted not to spend 4 hours filling the bath with luke-warm water and settled for a shower, but noticed the shower head is set very low and it can't be manipulated into any other position. Luckily I'm short, but as a word of warning if you're much over 5 foot 6 you may be crouching beneath it!

The room was very cold. I turned up the heat to what was meant to be 24 degrees but it didn't do anything and just made the heater overhead much noisier! Needless to say I had a poor nights sleep. At 6.30am I was shuddered awake by a wake-up call I hadn't asked for - I had set my own alarm for 8am and never requested anything else!

I couldn't find the tariff card for the mini bar, even though the sign on the mini bar promised it was located nearby, so I took a can of soft drink out and assumed it wouldn't be too expensive. Upon checking my bill on the television facility they have, I discovered my drink had cost me £2.50, but what was more alarming was that apparently I had bought a £28 internet and TV package! I'd done nothing of the sort! I had paid £5 on my debit card for an hours use of the internet and then been cut off - I certainly hadn't paid for an internet and tv bundle on the companies account (this was distressing for me as I had been put up in the hotel by a company who were interviewing me for a job!). I told the woman at the desk and I can only hope she took this off for me.

All in all, a really uncomfortable, stressful stay. I normally stay in Premier Inns on business and will definitely stick with them in the future as I've found every Premier Inn I've ever stayed in to be extremely clean and modern, with no scary hidden charges and actually much much cheaper!