On the left, a new Manchester hotel in Ducie Street. On the right, the kind of view promised from the window of a luxury hotel on Peter Street.

Or maybe not. The hoax Peter Street hotel on the right shared the postcode of one of the city's oldest and most respected hotels, The Midland, and according to its website occupied a nonexistent address which fell roughly in the public square in front of the Great Northern Warehouse, farther down Peter Street.

The Grand Pearl Hotel website, which is now being investigated by Trading Standards Officers, offered a range of luxury facilities, including rooms with views of palm trees. The elaborate hoax, including a website with fake customer recommendations, was discovered by the Manchester Evening News.

Traces of the Grand Pearls sophisticated website can be found here. The hoax was potentially intended to con travellers that did not know the city into booking a room.

The 235-room hotel attracted suspicion due to the views of tropical beaches shown outside the windows of luxurious suites. Manchester, where the temperature exceeds 20 degree centrigrade for just 20 days a year, has relatively few tropical beaches.

However, the luxury hotel on the left really does exist. The Dakota — Manchester’s newest luxury hotel development.

The Ducie Street development, completed this week by GMI Construction, includes 137 guest rooms and 27 suites, including one with a rooftop terrace, a steam shower, a fire and a whirlpool bath — constituting the largest hotel suite in Manchester.

At the heart of the hotel there is also a signature Bar & Grill, a 104-cover brasserie as well as a chic cocktail lounge featuring a trademark Champagne Room.