Premier Inn Birmingham North (Sutton Coldfield) hotel — Hotel in Birmingham

Recently stayed here with family for 2 nights, the staff were mostly polite and courteous, however not all was good. The first morning we came down breakfast stepping over a trodden in crisp on the staircase on the way, one the catering staff was quick to point out that we had not paid for our 13 year old daughter to eat breakfast and when we reminded him kids eat free he said not 13 year olds, after being seated my eldest daughter got the premier inn website up and showed me that he was incorrect, what annoyed me was first he was rude and secondly incorrect. I went to get a coffee but was told they had run out but more was on the way so I got a orange juice instead, 5 minutes later my daughter came back with a coffee mug, ah they have coffee now I said, no she said they have run out a glasses I’m drinking juice, we went to toast some bread and there seamed to be some amusement around the toaster, it transpired that one side of the toaster took a ridiculous time to toast the bread but when using the other it blew a fuse in the wall socket, yes you read it correctly. After some of the other guests had also managed to see the funny side, a few minutes later out came the full English breakfast, COLD, well apart from the mushrooms. The next morning we still had to step over the crisp as no one had cleaned it up, the guy on breakfast duty must have done his homework as there was no mention of paying for my youngest breakfast, but the rest was the same. Having stayed in numerous PM’s over the years I can say this one is way off the excellent standards that we have come to expect, I’m told the catering is a separate company to PM, maybe PM needs to be checking standards as well as costs. So unfortunately this ones not getting my thumbs up and definitely not my...

Apart from a 'temporary' issue with their systems, by which they couldn't give us more than one key, most of the non-temporary elements of this stay were also very poor. The hotel was not easy to find, as the only access by car seems to be behind a petrol station, and into a car park of a pub, which was in itself very poorly maintained (think potholes, skips, dirt, narrow parking spaces). Access to the reception from the car park has some distance (which is a pain if you are carrying bags). The reception was not in a great state (some plastics on the floor indicating that there is heavy machinery being pushed about). There is no food, other than a vending machine with a short selection of bad junkfood - given the attached pub do their own thing with opening hours (and their own thing is not designed for the convenience of any guest). There is no mobile signal (not their fault I guess) so the only options for communication with the outside world is internet. That has two versions. The free version, that clocked a vanishingly small 0.14MBs at best (you will not be able to use your phone with that) and a paid for version that amounts to about 10% of the stay bill! Breakfast is pre-paid at the hotel, but you can only have it until 8:45 latest, no matter what day of the week it is. Note that my wife was made to look very uncomfortable for eating until 9 am - so you better eat it fast too! In the room, the ventilation/heating makes a racket, so forget about sleeping well. Room facilities at the minimum compared with all other Premier Inns at which I have stayed. All in all, one of the worst stays I have ever had. Cannot...

This is our company hotel of choice when we are using the NEC for exhibitions; the rooms are very well priced, you get friendly staff, and the on-site restaurant is excellent. A room for the night ended up costing us about £70 including breakfast which was a fraction of the £250 a night at the NEC, and all it involves is a half hour drive and you are there. The rooms are quite small compared to other Premier Inns, but follow the same colour scheme, and styling. Having been recently refreshed over the last year they look and feel quite new again. The bathroom has a walk in shower, and not a bath due to the space limitations, but it is adequate enough for the night.

The bed was extremely comfortable, and the room a good temperature; although this did rise throughout the night, and the windows need to be closed to keep the outside noise of the road or car park out. The fan in the room did keep the air circulating though. No air con here! The other thing to note is that this is an older hotel, with wooden floor boards, which means that when the guest above you is walking about you can sometimes hear them squeaking!

The paired restaurant is a Flaming Grill Pub, which we have found does amazing quality steaks for a very reasonable price! The evening meal we had was excellent, and breakfast was hot food cooked to order and the choice was good too.

Would I stay again? Yes - Every time! Paired with a amazing restaurant which does the best steaks around, we book this hotel for every...