Holiday Inn Hotel Birmingham Airport

We stayed in the hotel our our last night in England. The hotel itself could use an update. Of all of the hotels we stayed in this was by far the most run down. The rooms are dated, the air conditioner was so loud you could barely hear the television, and I seriously question if my bed had been changed. It wasn’t clean. Only saving grace here is the great staff at the front desk and the shuttle service to the airport!

Being three guests (not only I and the wifey, but also the son), we checked in to a suite with a double bed and a beddable couch. The room was quite nice and the equipment worked well, except that one of the two TVs completely refused to act like anything but a brick. That was taken care of while we had dinner in the hotel’s restaurant, which made us quite happy with tasty food (I had the salmon) and a surprisingly interesting wine list (I had a Viognier, the wifey a Merlot).
Checking in and out was swift, parking was under ten pounds (it’s an airport hotel, so you can see why they end up charging for it), the staff was nice, and the cost of accommodation was reasonable. If you need to stay at BHX, this is a good choice if you are willing to pay a bit more than minimum.

I honestly think when you hear the words «airport hotel» you have to temper your expectations so I wasn’t expecting much of this hotel and that is pretty much what I got. There was no wifi in my room which in 2013 I don’t find acceptable; I travel with an iPad and you can’t plug that in to an ethernet cable. It turns out there was free wifi in the lobby but I wasn’t told that at check-​in and there was no information about it in my room. I would have gladly sat and done some work in the lobby if I’d known. I was there on business and in my business I NEED internet.
The check-​in staff were friendly enough but the wait staff in the restaurant I don’t think have ever heard the phrase «the customer is always right.» Again it’s an airport hotel – I tempered my expectations of the extremely over-​priced food. My colleagues had a few simple complaints and each time they were met with wait staff that challenged them instead of just correcting the mistake. The food was okay but not near worth what was charged.
The room itself was fine but the hallways were musty and smelly. The TV in the room did not get any of the terrestrial channels clearly – the picture was fuzzy, would come in and out of colour and pop and crackle. Considering I had no wifi to stream tv as I normally would this was less than ideal.
The shower temperature did not regulate. It intermittently would go from scalding to freezing with no warning. While low water pressure is something I might expect in a hotel ever changing water temperature is not.
My room was very noisy with the obvious boom of aircraft taking off punctuating the night and morning but also it seemed I was below a conference room perhaps as I was also woken up by the noise of furniture being rearranged above me with banging and scraping.
I don’t like writing bad reviews. The free shuttle to/​from the NEC/​Aiport/​Station was nice and it was great to be able to have breakfast in bed included in my room cost but again the coffee that came with my breakfast was awful. No amount of sugar or milk could make it drinkable. It’s an airport hotel – don’t plan on eating on site, bring ear plugs and be prepared for limited internet access in room (if you do have a cable you’ll need to pay £15 to access it!) and it would be a good place if you have an early flight I guess.

I stayed here quite recently for a couple of nights. When arriving at the car park I turned right to drive in but was stopped by a chap on the gate. I was told it was closed for re-​surfacing. I never worked out why they allowed you to turn into the entrance but then stopped everyone at right angles to the oncoming traffic. As a consequence the car then blocked the main road whilst I discussed the day’s events with the guy on the gate. Predictably other cars then tailgated me, thereby preventing me from reversing back out. In summary not a good start. To be fair they had free parking down the road, so it was a short walk to the airport multi-​storey. First visit was to carry the case, then a return visit to pick up shirt and suit.
The hotel itself was very busy but check in was quick.
Room rates were reasonable at £65
The restaurant was ok but the meals were over priced and not tremendously good value. I had a steak and to be honest it was a bit chewy and for £17 I expected a bit better. My recommendation would be to take a short drive down the road and go to one of the Indian restaurants.
The rooms were ok although they were a little tired. There was no need for an alarm call as the noise from the airport ensured that I awoke in a timely manner.
Overall it is not a bad place (certainly a lot better than some places) but could be better.