INNSiDE by Melia Newcastle

OK, we confess. We love our job. I mean, who wouldn’t want to have a sneak preview of a brand new hotel? And not just any old hotel…this was an INNSiDE hotel!

Situated directly on the quayside of the River Tyne, Newcastle’s newest hotel, the brand new £26m INNSiDE by Melia Newcastle, which only opened the doors to it’s first guests in May 2021, gave a wonderful first impression. And once inside we were even more blown away. It’s not just the architecture and location of this fabulous lifestyle hotel that catches the attention, it’s the glorious design touches, inventive style, the build quality and the sheer playfulness of the place that really knocks it out of the park.

First of all, the facts. The hotel is situated 10 mins walk from Newcastle train station, 8 miles from the airport and is very easily accessible from all the major roads into the city. It has 161 bedrooms, 5 of which are townhouses (more of that later) and 35 studios, some of each category even feature with balconies. In terms of meeting spaces, the hotel has 5 in total - the largest of which splits into three separate rooms. There’s a fantastic gym & studio, the fabulous Gino D’Acampo’s Quayside restaurant overlooking the river, a super cool bar and links to many local suppliers giving access to a multitude of leisure activities.

Starting with the lobby, which sets the scene for the rest of the property, you are greeted by extremely warm and welcoming staff in this lovely & bright area which has been designed with nods to the local architecture & culture – including locally sourced original artwork everywhere throughout the hotel. One fantastic and novel touch is that guests are encouraged to walk behind the reception desk to check out the merchandise and local products that on sale – we loved this!!! Something else we loved was the selection of snacks and drinks that were available to purchase from the front desk, saving you that all too often dash out to the nearest shop.

Once you venture past the lobby you are greeted by the fabulous bar and the super bright lounge area with its fantastic ceiling height. Here there are plenty of tables to grab a coffee and do a bit of work in the daytime or relax with a cocktail or two later in the day – you can even sit outside too. The views of the river and the High Level & Tyne bridges are amazing too, and all add up to a very nice place to spend some time.

Just past the lobby, is the wonderful Gino D’Acampo’s Quayside restaurant with its open kitchen and authentically Italian inspired menu. With 120 covers inside & 150 outside, you can choose to dine inside or on the terrace overlooking the river. We were lucky enough to have a go at making a pizza whilst we were there, which as you would expect was much harder than it looks. The pizza chef, Wayne, delivered a perfectly circular and large & pizza, whilst ours resembled more of a 50p piece in size and shape! Still, it tasted delicious! Our dinner, later that day, prepared by the chef’s this time, was as wonderful as you would expect.

Breakfast & lunch is also taken here and trust me, once again the views of the riverside have been maximised with floor to ceiling windows everywhere. Another funky thing on offer here is a DJ playing chillout tunes at breakfast a couple of mornings each week. How fantastic and another example of INNSiDE’s way of putting their own exclusive stamp on their hotels.

Another super cool feature of the ground floor is the feature staircase that takes you up to the first floor where all the meeting rooms are situated. Speaking of which, we need to give you some more detail about the meeting spaces on offer here as they really are excellent for a hotel of this size.

Starting with the Keelman Suite, fully open - this could fit 170 people for a dinner, 124 in cabaret style and 245 theatre. But its party trick is that it can split into 3 separate rooms with their own doors or event a 2:1 configuration giving lots of flexibility and options. The technology within the hotel is worth pointing out too. With built in screens, projectors and sound systems, you don’t need much in the way of kit as the meeting rooms have most of it already. Air conditioning as standard throughout too. Really thoughtful planning – love it!

As well as the large room, there is a Hawks room, which has more of a traditional boardroom / breakout room, feel to it. Once again, benefitting from lots of natural light – this room is situated just off the first floor lobby where coffee breaks & registration can be taken.

Now onto our favourite room in the hotel - the ‘Big Ideas Space’. With the sole purpose of creating a relaxed and fun environment, this room has a capacity of around 20 people and is the perfect place to do some creative thinking or brainstorming. I love this type of room as its modern approach offers an engaging place for people to meet & be creative. It comes with tons of things to do and look at such as a dartboard, Rubiks cubes, stocked fridge, coffee machine, mini-basketball hoop, comfy sofas, huge LCD screen, writeable walls, and an interactive flipchart which is beyond brilliant, giving you the opportunity to share things from the screens to laptops or phones and lots more besides. We also took our lunch in this room and the playful approach continues with funky servings and excellent food. I wish every meeting room was a cool as this one – all round it’s a winner and I would urge you to check it out as the space as it just puts a smile on your face and is VERY memorable.

If it’s leisure and fitness you’re looking after the hotel really excels here too – the fantastic 24 hour gym and studio is very impressive. As well as all the latest gym equipment, there is also a Wexer virtual machine in it’s own studio where up to 4 people can cycle against each other on a virtual route all displayed on the big screen. Excellent for team building and more.

Speaking of which, the hotel has excellent connections with many local activity suppliers, such as Cycle Hub – where you can hire a bike to cycle alongside the river or in the city and even benefit from a discounted rate too. As well as this the hotel can also organise trips to local landmarks – Angel of the North, Newcastle Castle, Newcastle Utd, etc

To round off our experience at the hotel, we’ll finish with the bedrooms, which are spread across six floors and to put it quite simply, they are all very cool, stylish & practical. With floor to ceiling windows in every room, offering river or city views – it was a pleasure to stay there. Super comfy beds, large TVs, super funky bathroom layout with excellent showers.

DW was lucky enough to have one of the townhouse rooms which boasted a separate living room which offers river views on two aspects – wow! I have to be honest, it’s one of the best rooms we’ve ever stayed in - we can’t pay it a higher compliment than that. The hotel even left a nice message written on one of the mirrors to welcome DW – this can be done for your clients on request too.

To summarise, we absolutely adored the place! Beautifully fitted out to an extremely high standard, no corners have been cut anywhere by INNSiDE – from the lobby, meeting rooms and gym, right through to the bar & Ginos restaurant, the hotel exudes coolness, style & an authentic playfulness that is perfect for today’s needs.

One thing that is hard to measure but easy to feel here is the relaxed & warm vibe, coupled with excellent service and super friendliness from the staff - which is what we really loved. A modern hotel for a modern world – your clients will love it here as it ticks all the boxes for business and pleasure. Grab yourself a site visit now. We promise you’ll fall in love with the place.

Team DW, June 2021