Birmingham City - Aston hotel

On arrival I was welcomed and treated very well. I had a room on the second floor, on entry it was a slightly chilly but realised window open. I went to turn on air conditioning according to very good instructions, but on approach I noticed that the screen on display was damaged I took picture the unit did turn on but could not see what it was doing…..but it wasn’t heating it just blew out very cod air. I returned to reception showed picture to one of the 3 staff on that night who was Tia who took note and picture was taken off my phone. I was also offered another room but didn’t want to cause problem. And said I’m sure will be fine, but was a bit chilly during night. Unfortunately the maintenance personnel did not manage to fix. So the next night I asked for portable heater as I realised the room was colder. This I received from Tia and I believe Amira straight away. I can not fault the staffs effort to make my stay the best they could. For a small team they are doing a lot so fair play to them. The food was very very good well presented. Nothing was too much trouble for Tia, Amira, Mehrnaz, they all seemed passionate about their work at the hotel. Inoperable they do get recognized for all their efforts.

Tia was amazing and under stressful circumstances as the check in machine wasn’t working dealt with us very professionally and friendly.

Thank you for making my stay at Birmingham feel welcoming. The staff her are fantastic, can't do enough for you, Charlaine, Tia and Fern where always happy to help and have a bit of banter whilst also being very professional about their duties.... Cheers guys!!! All the best ! Until next time 👌👍

This is a shocking hotel I would not stay here again. The hotel was lacking in leadership there was no customer service all the colleagues wanted to do was congregate around the serving hatch. The food was absolutely disgusting and wasnt even warm. Very overpriced hotel and food never again!!!

Initially this was going to be an awful review but Charlaine has really spun this stay around for me. Throughout what seemed extremely disorganised and chaotic, she still managed to wizz around the hotel and make sure everyone was happy. Food was extremely slow coming out and she managed to keep everyone smiling making sure that nobody felt unheard or forgotten. She was seating people when it was packed, jumping from bar to reception, taking orders and never forgetting anything even when doing multiple jobs at the same time. I even saw her in the kitchen at one point when I went for a bathroom break. She was very intricate in asking about my allergy that is unheard of (I am severely allergic to legumes) making sure that I was pleased and safe. She even polished my cutlery fresh, opened new napkins for me, sprayed my table top to bottom and the chairs with a fresh cloth AND swept underneath my table for me as she had explained that a lot of dishes come with various peas and legumes so it’s likely that there was traces all over the place. She said and i quote “those little buggers get everywhere, especially when the kids get them” and it made me chuckle. I am also neurodivergent which I did not make known but she could sense that I was intimidated by a loud group of lads next to me and had kindly moved me away from them despite having other things to do. To notice somebody else’s discomfort when they have not said a word about it takes real attention to detail to spot and an even bigger heart to take action on it. I cannot thank Charlaine enough for her efforts. Towards the end of the night we had a conversation about her aspirations and goals in life, in which I found out that she is a qualified accountant. I had asked why she worked in hospitality with such qualifications behind her and she had said she likes the social aspect of it and what a wise choice she has made. I have truly never met anyone so open, funny, accommodating and caring even if I only knew her for 2 evenings. You can truly see everyone’s faces light up from guests to staff when she walks in the room. I even witnessed one of the other lodgers at the bar singing her praises and a fellow colleague hugging her and saying “Thank God you’re in!” when starting her shift. I later joined the guest at the bar and we talked for hours about how wonderful Charlaine is. She had kept an infectious smile on her face throughout her entire shift and did not fall short of making all the guests laugh regardless of how busy it was. She made time for everyone and could not do enough despite being told multiple times to take a break by co-workers and even guests. I have never known anyone to be so passionate and witty at the same time and can truly say that she is an absolute gem. I would come back just to see her again whilst praying in the back of my mind that she has moved onto bigger and better things because she truly deserves the best for the massive heart that she has.