In the last year or so I've become a bit of a convert to the IHG chain of hotels. A number of reasons really - but I find them to be good value and a bit more consistent than my previous chain of choice with Accor. Due to location of meetings though I stepped away from the usual Holiday Inn or Holiday Inn express and stayed in the Crowne Plaza in Basingstoke. The hotel is situated just off a main road quite close to the city centre. As always I arrived quite late in the evening - so didn't really have time to explore the neighbourhood around the hotel. Parking was ample for the car and was free (which makes a change from a few of my recent stays!) On…