What a shocker and a true dump! let down for birmingham! (Travelodge Birmingham Central)

Member Name: icklepickle

Product:	Travelodge Birmingham Central
Date:	12/04/09 (32 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: It had a roof...

Disadvantages: A complete dump, incompetent staff

Birmingham central

Date of stay: 12th February 2009
Number of nights: 1
Number of guests: 2
Cost: £29.50

Reason for stay:
A friends birthday in Birmingham we needed somewhere to crash for the night.

Prices/booking:
We paid £29.50 for the room only no breakfast, it was cheaper because we pre paid when booking a month before.
The booking system on the website was a bit of a nightmare when booking this one as it kept crashing! But once it was working it was fine and we recieved email confirmation straight away.

Location:
The hotel is situated on the main road in Birmingham for all of the night clubs and pubs, Broad Street. We know the road well but have never stayed at this hotel before. Its in a great location for walking to the main shops and has wetherspoons right next door for dinner and breakfast!

Parking:
Oh what a nightmare!! The parking is around the back of the hotel there is limited spaces available. There is some underground parking (it was full) and some up a small ramp! There was one space left luckily and it was so tight we could barely get out! My advice "arrive early"! We arrived at 7.30pm! We were so tired because we had been to a funeral that day we were hungry, ratty and wanted a drink! We had been told the parking was £6, usually you pay reception but instead there was a parking meter! It was £6 for 24 hours (bargain for shopping the next day) but we only had £5.60! It took coins only! No notes or cards (nightmare)! But you could pay by text message (hooray) nope that didn't work either! It replied saying the system was down! So i had to literally search the entire car for coins! we were still 10p short so i asked very nicely one of the work men that had just come back to his car and he gave it to me! (NIGHTMARE)!

Reception:
We were greeted by some friendly but flustered people, who took our details and then gave us our room key.
When we made it up to 1st floor our key card wouldn't work.
So my partner went all the way back down to what was now a very busy reception and left me stood outside the room with bags. They said they hadn't swiped it properly.
So he came back and luckily it worked.

The room:
Well what can i say! A bit of a dump really!
Bed had springs sticking out of it and only one pillow each which were rock hard.
One of the towels had blood on it so i went and had it changed.
No TV remote.
Huge hole in the bathroom door so you could see people doing their business in there.
Shower curtain was covered in crusty dirt and tiles were mouldy!
All in all it was awful!

Check out:
No one was even around, oh no forgetful me there was a receptionist around she was over nattering to her friends drinking coffee and told us to leave the key card on the reception desk! (charming)

My opinion:
If you want somewhere nice to stay in Birmingham try the Apollo hotel or the premier travel inn its worth the extra money! The hotel was awful and it seems they have a lot of youngsters in who wreck the hotel and then they don't bother getting things fixed!

A few days after our stay we emailed to complain about our room, we were given a full refund for the cost of our stay and also contacted by the manager and received a full apology.

This hasn't put us off staying at travelodge hotels because some are very nice! Just a shame one of the biggest city locations had to let the chain down!

Summary: A dump.. only stay there if desperate!