My daughters now both live in London, England. They are in different parts of London, but London nevertheless. I do not. So a while ago we decided to have a girls weekend, just the 3 of us, somewhere different. The girls chose Manchester, England, UK. We wanted to have time to catch up properly, chat, gossip and relax so I suggested that, instead of booking into a hotel with separate rooms, we book accommodation in an apartment. This meant we had our own shared, private space as well as bedrooms. So I booked Blue Rainbow Aparthotel at Manchester Central. I 
had used apartments before in London, England and San Francisco, California, USA. However, I had not used these particular apartments before.
There are two sites of Blue Rainbow Aparthotel in Manchester, we stayed at the one in Commercial Street. It is not far from Manchester Piccadilly, Train Station and is quite central. It would provide a terrific base to relax between an afternoon sightseeing and a night on the town. We chose a two bedroomed Saver apartment. It was spotlessly clean and well appointed. It gave us a real feeling of luxury at a great value price. We were all very impressed.
The staff at the apartments were very helpful and courteous they go above and beyond the call of duty. We were pleased with the customer service levels and standards, which include 24 hour-staffed reception desks, resident gym facilities and laundries. The fully equipped kitchen included a washing machine, dish washer and fridge freezer. This Blue Rainbow choice was perfect for our needs. 
The accommodation gave us a small but fully equipped kitchen with good quality appliances. We also had a large, bright living dining room with 4 comfortable chairs, a comfy sofa and a large, flat-screen TV serviced by sky satellite. In addition to this we had 2 double bedrooms. One had an en-suite bathroom. There was also an additional bathroom with a lovely deep bath. The beds were comfortable, the sheets and towels were good quality and the furnishings were to a high standard. The serviced apartments are built around their own tranquil indoor Japanese Garden allowing guests to wind down in style. Set up for longer-term stays, but with no restrictions, Blue Rainbow ApartHotels accepts stays from one night to one year, or even longer if the need is there.
We decided to spend a lot of time in our apartment as it was so pleasant and the gathering was specifically to relax and spend time together, although we were at the hub of everything in Manchester, even though the nine-floor, 79-ApartHotel building is located in a quiet corner of town, just off Deansgate. Secure underground parking for guests that pre-book was available, but we did not need that facility. We were not far from the buzzing Locks area and Manchester Central conference and music venue.
With so many of Manchester’s central tourist attractions just a short walk or tram ride away, I would highly recommend Blue Rainbow Aparthotel. We felt we were staying somewhere extra special and would certainly stay there again.
Valerie Penny
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