The Best Cheap Hotels to Book in Manchester

Despite its eminently affordable room rates, this cool Northern Quarter hotel treats guests to the kind of perks you’d expect from far pricier places. There are high-thread-count linens and goose down duvets on the Hypnos beds, while bathrooms are handsomely kitted out with fluffy towels, REN toiletries and bronze rainfall showers. The icing on the Cow Hollow cake? Every evening friendly staff lay on free prosecco and nibbles in the bar.

There’s a particularly sociable vibe to this warehouse conversion on the edge of the Gay Village. As well as offering good-value apartments with the design values of a boutique hotel (soothing colour palettes, natural woods and smart Smeg kitchenettes), it also has a handsome central space filled with old industrial features and lavish greenery, where you can find a co-working space, grab a coffee, enjoy a cocktail and check out what’s on the lively roster of events.

The Ainscow occupies a former brewery in a rapidly developing corner of Salford, 10 minutes’ walk from Manchester’s shiny new Spinningfields district, with its smart shops and bars. You get plenty of space and facilities for your money here: the high-ceilinged bedrooms are generously sized, and there’s a well-equipped fitness room, a spa offering cryotherapy treatments and (when the weather plays ball) a suntrap roof terrace.

Every Hotel Indigo has a different style that reflects its host city. Here, you get an old Victorian tea warehouse with quirky design details that reference Manchester’s heritage: cotton spools for coat hooks, or (in a nod to the city’s worker bee symbol) honeycomb-shaped shower tiles. Best of all, Indigo is all about offering affordable luxury, so you stay in high-spec comfort for less than you might expect.

Self-catering is always a good way to stretch your budget, and here all 19 smartly furnished apartments come complete with a fully equipped kitchen and dining area. It wins Brownie points on the location, too, sitting right on the doorstep of the Northern Quarter, a creative district filled with indie cafés, shops and bars, and also the city’s street art hub, with dozens of colourful murals everyone can enjoy for free.

You might not expect to find cheap rooms at the Malmaison, one of Manchester’s earliest boutique hotels, but there are bargain deals to be had, especially if you’re visiting over a weekend. The hotel offers smart, mostly monochrome rooms in a handily central location, just a few minutes’ walk from Piccadilly station. There’s a small spa and gym in the basement, creative cocktails in the bar and a restaurant serving brasserie classics such as smoked haddock fishcakes and steak frites.

This four-star, 10-storey hotel – part of the First Street development and yards from culture hub HOME – has the kind of slickly designed rooms that could easily command a higher price tag. They’re well-sized and clutter-free, and come with thoughtful little touches such as power sockets in the bedhead and a minibar with free soft drinks. The bar terrace is great for people watching and enjoying the free events that take place in the piazza, especially over summer.

Like its sibling in the Corn Exchange, Roomzzz Manchester City offers good-value self-catering apartments (complete with power showers, kitchenettes and free grab-and-go breakfasts) in a convenient central location. It’s right on the edge of Chinatown (good for cheap eats, if you don’t feel like cooking) and just a couple of minutes’ walk from the Canal Street nightlife and free-to-enter cultural attractions such as Manchester Art Gallery and the Central Library.