Bromsgrove Hotel & Spa — Hotel in Bromsgrove

My wife and I booked the Bromsgrove Hotel and Spa, in Bromsgrove, thinking that it was still owned by the Hilton Group. However, it had changed hands, some years before, and was now part of the Britannia Hotel Chain. This hotel group had been voted “Britain’s Worst Hotel Chain” by ‘Which’ consumer magazine, for the tenth year in a row in 2022. Had we known, we would have steered well clear. So, here’s the review of a one, or perhaps 2-star hotel, based on a three-night stay:|Outside: By the entrance there are four, dirty, flower boxes with no flowers, just discarded cigarette ends. Either side, overgrown flower beds, one housing a dead tree. Look up and you’ll spot a rusty speaker, and a dirty, boarded-up ceiling.|Foyer and Check in area: These are the smartest parts of the hotel. They look newly redecorated. Strangely, there’s a coffee station at one end. Why? I guess there was no room in the bar, situated the other side of the wall. The coffee is supplied by Starbucks and is therefore heated to the temperature of the inside of the sun and tasteless. I ordered the smallest Americano and it arrived in a pint mug!|Bar area: Looks good, superficially, until you check out the awful suspended ceiling, with tiles from at least a decade ago. The island in the middle of the bar area is a good idea – shame that the surface has been picked at by people with knives and no firing brain cells. One soul has even engraved a message on it!|Rooms: A good size and that’s it. A TV screen that wouldn’t be out of place in a drive-in cinema; pillows that were so hard I got a stiff neck. (Mentioned these to reception and was told, “It’s because they’re new.” What? You can buy softer pillows, you know. In the evenings the room was dim – no ceiling lighting. The room had no aircon and was cold on arrival and I couldn’t operate the controls to the one, very old, radiator. I called reception and the guy came round and switched it on with an App on his phone! There was no door to the sink/washing area and there were black (mold) stains around the tile grouting. The boxed-in toilet cistern was operated by a handle that decided when it would work – as they did in the common toilet area. As a point of nostalgia, remember the days when shower curtains were plastic and stuck to you while taking a shower? Also, those rubber mats, with suckers underneath, that fitted inside the bath, so you could stand there while stuck to the curtain? Yes? Well, this hotel provides both! Very 70’s, very shabby. |Room Service: Almost non-existent. If you hang a card on the room door handle, they will change toiletries, towels and empty bins. That’s it. No cleaning and certainly no making of beds. If you don’t do that, the room will be exactly as you left it when you come back later that day.|Food. We had breakfast there two mornings and it was just about OK, if you exclude that fact that meats and eggs weren’t ready one morning. No cold meats, or a selection of cheeses were on display and no pastries, other than mini croissants – so we forget about the continental breakfast option, if there was one. Breakfast is until 09.30, which is probably the earliest I’ve encountered on my world-wide travels. At 09.31 the containers of tinned fruits were removed and work started on dismantling the hot foods. So much for second helpings. Sachets of sauces are supplied by ‘House’ a brand that makes brown sauce etc. for a third of the price of HP, with a taste profile to match the price. We had a light dinner one evening. My three-egg omelet was burnt and my wife’s ‘Stone-Baked’ Pizza was just awful. (the pizza base was one of those ready-made, supermarket flat pack affairs that refuse to rise) They replaced my omelet with one that was dry (is that possible?) and we forgot about changing the pizza. Why bother.|Musak: The hotel playlist is just awful. It’s not the selection per se, it’s just that the sounds do not suit the setting. They’re inappropriate, repetitive and too audible. Hotel music should blend into the background and certainly not disturb like, “Ride on Time” by Black Box did at breakfast! Why not play chill out/ambient by, say, Morcheeba, Zero 7, Air, Kruder and Dorfmeister, or Naomi?|Check out. We wanted to order a taxi to the airport. A sign advertised taxis for 33gbp, which we thought was fair. The number was called and we were advised that the taxi company no longer provided this deal (we were told by the driver that the contract was not renewed some years earlier when Britannia took ownership). We agreed on a fare of 46 GBP. |Finally, any stars appearing on this review are for the personnel on reception and Chris and Shani in the...

Top line (in case you don't want to read all the details): Overpriced, outdated, diabolical customer service - stay at this hotel as a last resort, Travelodge/Premier Inn is much better!

I’m aware it was publicised on the website, but having to pay £5 for parking for a night is not on, especially seeing as I already paid about £170 for a night’s stay. The room itself was very comfortable and clean, the beds were lovely although it could all do with a freshen up.

The customer service is the main reason as to why I feel I have been completely ripped off.

At the pool, I had to ask twice for towels - not ideal but I could see past it. However, it turned out to be the trigger point when combining that with the experience in the bar.

There was no steak, no rosé and ran out of Disaronno. I was visibly displeased, and when I asked for a San Miguel, the barman thought for a minute, then proceeded to pour me a different beer while I was on the phone (getting my wife to change her order) thinking I wouldn’t notice. I did notice, and when I questioned him, he looked very nervous and explained he’d poured me a different drink and that they were out of San Miguel. He lied.

After being lied to and attempted to be shafted for another drink I didn’t want, I thought dinner might be better.

The waiter was lovely and great with the kids. However, my daughter asked him for cheese - he made a great joke with her about going to get it for her. He then came and told us twice that he was sorting it… then never came! I joked with him in passing that I guessed cheese wasn’t coming and his response was ‘oh sorry, I’ll get it now!’ By which point we had all finished dinner. It also took him a few times of being asked for salt and pepper for it to be brought over, by which point we were nearly done with dinner.

Cutlery was dirty, glasses were left out on the bar - it all felt very messy and dirty.

At breakfast I had to go through about 20 bowls before I got to a clean one. My food at dinner was cold, luke warm at best, breakfast was cold - the beans appeared to have just come out of the tin, the coffee was awful the waiting staff were unprofessional - preparing breakfast in their hoodies. We came down 5 minutes early to be first in as we needed to go. The waiter (in his hoodie) shouted across reception that breakfast wasn't open yet. Again, with the price I paid in mind, I expect a certain level of professionalism.

I wasn’t asked how my stay was when I checked out, maybe it’s for the best. For £170 for the night, I feel completely ripped off with the service...

Hotel Cold, Dated & charged £60 more! Stayed here in October for one night business stop over. Hotel was quiet but a lot of cars in the car park. I think the reason was it was a lot of contractors some ordering their own Pizzas to the lobby but the place was cold. The feel of the place is very 80s that has had the dark wood white glossed over to mask the look. Didn’t think anything of the hotel just that I wouldn’t stay there again until 5 days later when I got a parking fine for £35.00 in the post with two weeks to pay from the date of the parking. I of course challenged the fine. It was an automatic fine. The receptionist asked me to put it in but didn’t say anything else. I must have pressed a wrong letter when doing so. I arrived late at night from the South tired and bleary eyed. At the time of my registration the receptionist said nothing about fines. Firstly, I contacted the hotel and the receptionist said “Its not us who is in charge of our car park, you’ll have to contact them.” Fair enough, so thinking that common sense would prevail I sent a copy of the receipt from the hotel of my night’s stay to the company under their dispute process. Another 5 or 6 days later a letter came basically saying they rejected the appeal as it was my responsibility to get it right. I bet you though they would have seen almost correct registration on their computer in theory still parked in their car park until today! I thought this was really unjust and still hoping common sense would be come right I rang the hotel again saying simply, “I don’t feel this is just” . The receptionist was very sympathetic and agreed but said the new manager might ring the Car Park company “in some instances” and gave me his direct email. I wrote to the manager with all the details and urged urgent attention as we were approaching 14 days when the fine went to £60. I sent another the next day asking for a reply. I did get a reply email on the Saturday after 3 days saying he could do nothing. That day my fine went to £60. In short, for using the car park I was charged £60. ...