Holiday Inn - Birmingham New Street

 

I took a quick trip to Birmingham mainly to spend a few days away from London during the half term. As I am an IHG member I tend to use their hotels quite a bit.

I booked a king suite room as this, at the time, was only £10 a night more than a standard room. For 4 nights I paid £499 but as I booked via a cashback website I got £20 back.

The hotel is a very short walk from Birmingham New Street station.

 

 Arrival and Check in

The lobby area is large and clean with several staff members checking people in. This process was, when you got to the desk, quick and efficient. The person who checked me in was friendly and polite. I did need to ask him to repeat a couple of things as there was a group quite close by talking very loudly, despite being within 4 inches of each other, so could not hear him over them.

Still check in done off to the room.

The lifts were small but fast.

 

Room and Shower room

The room was a king suite and it was large with a large bathroom.

The seating area had a couch and table which was well lit there was a TV on the wall here which had a range of channels. The bedroom area had a king-sized bed a desk and a table both with desk chairs. The window was large and let in some natural light although the view was rather industrial but I could hardly expect Sydney opera house, the hanging gardens of Babylon or herds of wildebeest sweeping majestically…. (OK I’ve watched Fawlty towers too often). However, the window could not be opened so fresh air could not get in. A second TV was situated across from the bed. I do wonder if two TVs is a little over kill but that may just be me.

The room was clean and tidy and there were plenty of power points available. The wardrobe was large enough to hold the clothes I brought with me. The wardrobe also contained an iron with ironing board. A hairdryer was also provided and there was a room safe as well. The carpet was clean but a little threadbare in places es ponder the bedroom desk. In addition to the standard tea and coffee facilities there was also a Tassimo machine and some coffee pods. Whilst this is a big step up from instant coffee, I do feel this looses a few points on the sustainability front due to the pods not being easy to recycle. There was also a small fridge in one of the cupboards with bottles of water and cans of diet coke. Sadly, due to an intolerance to artificial sweeteners I could not consume these so a can of diet and one of regular would have been better.

The bed had, as you would expect, clean linen and it was comfortable even if the mattress was a little soft for me, but this is a personal thing. The option of soft and firm pillows was available which is also a nice touch, Guests can also request a natural feather one from reception if desired.

The shower room was large and well laid out. The shower had both a standard shower head and a ‘rain’ type head which were operated by pressing the appropriate buttons. This appeared to mean you could not control the ‘power’ of the shower, but the pressure was fine and the temperature could be adjusted. The glass shower screen, which I do prefer over a curtain, could have extended a little further along the shower tray as I found that when the rain type head was used water went beyond in and onto the floor. The towels provided were the standard hotel towels but I do prefer bath sheet size towels rather than the bath towels provided.

 

Now like most hotels no individual small bottles of shower gel etc are provided but there are the larger pump action bottles attached to the walls. Now I do tend to take my own shower gels etc as I find the quality of these to be quite variable and some provided do not smell all that good. The one here did not exactly smell bad but it was just not for me.

 

As is now standard with IHG hotels if you are a member you can opt for a ‘greener stay’ by hanging the greener stay sign on the door. This means that your room won’t be serviced that day and you will be given 500 bonus IHG points for it. I tend to use this every other day I am staying as I don’t see the need for the room to be serviced daily.

 

Sleep quality

As with most stays I did not sleep brilliantly the first night as I find that if it isn’t my own bed it takes a night or two to get used to it. After this I slept well as I was on a quiet floor and there was not too much noise from outside.

The hotel provided earplugs so if you need it to be quieter these can be used. I hate having these things in my ears so I did not use them.

 

Food

Dinner:

I did have dinner here twice during my stay, ordering was easy enough and the dining area was well lit and well laid out. The servers were polite and efficient. My only complaint is how long it took to get the food out.

First time

This time I opted for the chicken tika. This was served with plain boiled rice, a mini naan, a piece of popadom and some mango chutney. It was well presented although I feel the piece of popadom was a little mean and a full one could have been provided. The chicken tika was well flavoured but I did detect the slight synthetic taste of a bottled sauce.

For dessert I went for the St Clements cheesecake. This was disappointing the orange gel was over sweet and the berries were still a little frozen something I would not order again.

Second time

The second time I went for the shepherd’s pie served with green beans. The shepherds pie was under seasoned and rather greasy for my taste.  The potato was more sliced than mashed which gave a different texture but not, for me, a traditional shepherds pie. The green beans were lightly cooked just as they should be so they still had a little bite to them

 

Breakfast:

This had the standard buffet breakfast which did have a good range, although I didn’t like how the black pudding was presented which was as odd shaped lumps but, as I can’t stand the stuff, this wasn’t a major issue. The quality of what was provided was good but I did find the bacon a little overly salty. The bean to cup coffee machine did provide a good quality of coffee and it wasn’t too weak.

There was also a good selection for the continental breakfast with pastries, croissants and cereals. There was a selection of juices available.

 

Checking out

This was quick and efficient and again the staff members were polite and I was provided with a printed receipt on request.

 

Score and summary:

Checking in/out:  5/5

Room and shower room: 4/5

Food: 3.5/5

Sleep quality: 4/5

Room facilities: 4/5

Total: 20/25

Would I stay here again? in short yes. If I were in Birmingham again then i would certainly concider this hotel again.