The Hotel That Time Forgot (Britannia Hotel Birmingham)

Member Name: cezaweza

Product:	Britannia Hotel Birmingham
Date:	25/03/09 (210 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap, great location

Disadvantages: Thin walls, decor has seen better days

I have stayed in hotels from time to time after a night out as it often works out as cheaper than getting a taxi home for me! This is what first brought me to stay at the Britannia, and I have stayed there a total of 4 times so far.

Features Provided in the Hotel

The Britannia Birmingham is a large hotel in the city centre of Birmingham, and part of a chain of Britannia hotels across the country.

The Britannia boasts:
195 rooms
General Restaurant
Bar
24-Hour Front Desk
Non-Smoking Rooms
Business Centre with free of charge internet
The 9th floor of the hotel is devoted to conferences and banquets
Room Service

Check-In from 14:00 hours
Check-Out until 11:00 hours

Price

I usually book my stays at the Britannia through lastminute.com as I find it is often cheaper than just turning up on the day. The cost of a room is usually £47 for a double room and £42 for a single, although this can go up and down depending if it is a peak week or not. The cheapest I've ever managed to get a room here for is £20 and that was through booking it in advance with lastminute.com.

If you wish to cancel your room up to 1 day before the date of arrival, no fee will be charged.

All children under 11 years can stay free of charge when using existing bedding. All children under 3 years can stay free of charge with use of cots. Pets may be allowed to stay upon request but must be approved prior to arrival and you may incur a small charge.

Location

The hotel is bang in the centre of Birmingham on it's busy high street, New Street. It is a five minute walk from Birmingham's biggest train station, also called New Street and about a ten minute walk from it's second biggest station Snow Hill. There are plenty of bus stops dotted around which can take you to and from various places in the Midlands. Birmingham's main shopping centre, The Bullring is five minutes round the corner, there are also many shops along the surrounding roads, including a Primark next door, H&M, HMV, BHS and House of Fraser. There is an Odeon cinema opposite and across the road. It's not the best location if you plan to drive and park up, parking is expensive in Birmingham and there is no parking at The Britannia.

Decor

The hotel doesn't look all that awe inspiring from the outside, there are a couple of blue flags flying outside with the Britannia logo on them and the building itself is pretty unnoticeable. A lot of my friends don't even know where the Britannia is despite walking past it every day! This may partly be because the entrance is down a side road called Union Passage, which is between the Britannia and Primark. There is a revolving door at the front (plus wheelchair access door) which takes you into the main reception area. The decor is quite brown and a little bit dingy. There is a staircase to the
left with tatty old carpet and there is old fashioned wallpaper all over the walls. In fact, the whole hotel has an old fashioned feel about the place, almost as if the decor hasn't been updated since the 70s, but it's not retro in a good way. The staff are nice enough, you never have to wait at reception despite the fact there are only two desks. Check-in is really fast if you have already booked, you simply give your name and then fill out a form with your address and phone number and then a plastic key card will be given to you (I was half expecting a rusty old key so at least that's something they've updated).

My Personal Experience

Everytime I have stayed here the rooms have always been completely different to each other in the way they are laid out and furnished. The first time I stayed I had a single room in the middle of the building with no windows! The was a small, very old looking tv in the middle of the room with lino on the floor and a very small, basic bed. The decor was dreary and there wasn't really a colour scheme to the room and nothing really matched. The bathroom was better and was at least moden which was a relief. There was complimentary shampoo and soap. The other times I went, the decor was different but equally dreary and the bathroom was the only modern bit of the room again.

With the hotel being so centralised to the city you would probably expect to hear a lot of noise from outside at night preventing you from sleeping, but this wasn't really the case. In fact, even when I had a room right opposite the Odeon I didn't really hear a peep from people outside the hotel in the evening, maybe because all the main bars and clubs are much further up the road and well away from the hotel. The daytime was a different matter however and there was a huge amount of noise, so if you are planning to be in your hotel room a lot during the day be sure to ask for a room on the other side of the hotel! The walls seemed to be really thin and we could hear people next door quite clearly. Unfortunately, one time we stayed we had a problem with noisy neighbours keeping us awake all night! We did tell the guy on reception about it twice and he in turn sent security up twice, but the most that happened was they got a telling off and a 'this is your last warning before we kick you out' kind of conversation which unfortunately did no good at all.

I have never used the bar or restaurant but the restaurant is an open-plan kitchen which allows you to view the chef as he prepares your meal. There are separate fixed price and vegetarian menus. There is also a buffet breakfast available.

Overall Impression

The hotel is a nice hotel which does it's purpose, though without the frills so to speak. The best thing about the hotel is definitely it's location as you are right in the city centre. I would recommend this hotel if you are looking for a centralised hotel in Birmingham and are on a budget.

Summary: Good if you need somewhere central and are on a budget