Birmingham NEC/Airport hotel

Parking was easy but we picked our spot under the lights as it was obvious from the amount of broken car window glass lying around that there is a massive problem with car theft. Parking is £15 for 24 hours but NEC is 15 minute walk away if you don’t mind crossing busy roundabouts. Booked a meal deal and family room using Premier Inn app 7 months ago. Booked in at 7.30 pm after a 3 hour journey in rush hour Friday evening traffic tired and hungry and was looking forward to our 2 course dinner that I had paid for months ago. Only to be told there was no table available for our evening meal. At no point during or since was I told or prompted that I would have to book a table. And what was the point of selling me the meal deal if you can’t provide me and my family with a table? The first receptionist seemed to think I had deliberately not booked a table and I had to point out to her that I had booked the meal deal for a hassle free evening. Second receptionist said it was my fault as I received an email asking me to book and then argued with me when I said I didn’t receive any email. The room was ok but bathroom floor was sticky. There was A/C which worked. Breakfast was great and the staff were helpful and welcoming (the lady smiled in greeting which was more than the evening staff did). Unfortunately before going down to breakfast I made the error of drawing the curtains only to see a very old but nevertheless used condom on the path outside of our window. Perhaps management should check paths regularly? We had been looking forward to this trip for months but letting us down with the evening meal ruined our visit.

We stayed in this hotel prior to our flight for our holiday, arrived at around 8pm, checked in using the screen, staff gestured towards the restaurant and when asked for a table told it was full. In the lift up to the room another couple told us they only provide one towel, when arriving in our room, there was only one towel, small pieces of rubbish around the edging of the room. We tried to sleep but it was very warm (before any form of heat wave) the air con did not work properly and made a very loud noise so did not manage to sleep before our early flight. When we returned to the car park downstairs at 4am we found our truck had been stolen. Went in to staff to be told “aw the phone for the taxi is over there”. No empathy or support at all. Upon investigation after staying, there are a considerable amount of thefts happening in this car park and nothing being done about it. Police have now NFA’d the case due to not being able to access the cctv. Completely ruined our holiday and created so much stress. Would never return and premier inn were not interested in hearing our issue only that it would be “reported back”. Sharing so that others are aware as we do look at reviews before we stay.

Stayed here for a night after visiting the NEC and had mixed feelings tbh. We got there just after 9am and asked reception was it ok to park and they said no issue just pay the £17! for the night. Arrived back from NEC and had a drink in the bar, I asked if I could try a certain drink (as I’ve never heard of it) only to be told quite abruptly “no we don’t do that”, which was never a problem anywhere before when I’ve asked. Room was ok, a little tired but ok for the night but the air con was not the best but we had bought our fan so luckily we slept alright. 99% of the staff are so welcoming and really nice and the breakfast was decent too. I asked the question where we would have to pay another £17 for parking after 24 hours and she said we would have to so we couldn’t have another breakfast and we had to leave. I believe they wavered the additional £17 but didn’t want to take the chance.

We just watered to stay a night and leave our car for an early flight with a good nights sleep . We were so very disappointed. The check in was a screen with no staff to welcome you . We had room 176 which was a very long walk through the very tired corridors. We wanted extra pillows as we were only given one each as we were so far away from reception and had no phone in the room I found the phone number online and started to ring but nobody answered even leaving it to ring five minutes at a time made no difference which I find unacceptable not having a phone in the room and nobody available .I could have been without my mobile and needed medical assistance. I gave up and walked to try and find someone I found two members off staff happily chatting at reception oblivious to the phone ringing next to them . They stated they don’t answer the phone when they are busy. I was fuming. The Wi-Fi in the room was hopeless unless you pay extra money for normal, good Wi-Fi This is not acceptable. The biggest issue was the room was extremely hot and impossible to sleep in . When you switch the air conditioning on it sounded like an old diesel lorry so again impossible to sleep and constantly we felt exhausted for our flight . We would never ever stay here again and especially when we read other reviews stating that the £15 a night car parking was not secure and apparently have had cars damaged,stolen and the hotel apparently doesn’t give a dam as not their car park .

We stayed here overnight for Gardener's World Live the next day. The room was clean and comfortable. Unfortunately, the restaurant was very busy and we hadn't booked in advance. Duty manager Jen was exceptional in organising a take away pizza to be delivered and helped us order it. She also offered cutlery and plates. She turned a potentially difficult situation into a positive one.