Ramada by Wyndham Birmingham Solihull — Hotel in Metropolitan Borough of Solihull

Having spent last Saturday at a wedding at this hotel I can honestly say it was the most disorganised ever. If you are thinking of booking this hotel for your wedding reception my advice would be to have it any where but here. If you have already booked it you may be able to cancel and book elsewhere. Not only is it a tired hotel but most of the staff, with only a few exceptions, seemed uninterested and unhelpful. The wedding ceremony and reception had been booked about 18 months previously but the hotel told the bride the day beforehand that the ceremony room had been double booked. The bride and groom had arranged for the hotel’s wedding planner to look after them. Not only were they not informed that there had been a change of wedding planner but the new wedding planner told them she was leaving them after the photographs had been taken. She left them in the hands of an 18 year old lad. He did well in the circumstances but he couldn’t do it all on his own. As far as the wedding room was concerned the hotel had put down a red carpet. Unfortunately as guests walked on it it ruffled up leaving mounds. People were tripping on it and guests were trying to straighten it out but unsuccessfully. After the ceremony there was no one on hand to open the door for the happy couple and no one to direct them where they should go. In fact we went to an area where drinks were laid out but because there weren’t any staff on hand the bride and groom had to hand them out themselves. Photographs were taken at the back of a bowling green. To get there we had to walk along a path where the paving slabs were uneven and there was restriction caused by vegetation which should have been cut back. If I insured this hotel I would be most concerned. In my view given the forgoing re the carpet and path, and the fact that one of the main carpets leading to the restaurant was also ruffled, it is an accident waiting to happen. The couple had booked afternoon tea for the guests and had arranged for one plate of food for each couple. Initially this did not happen. The bride understandably was upset particularly when she was told that the agreed amount of food had not been put out because they were understaffed. She and guests had to constantly ask staff for the right amount of food to be brought out. Then we were asked to vacate the room so it could be prepared for the evening event. This meant that my mother-in-law had to finish her scone and jam much quicker than she had intended. We then had to wait around whilst the room was prepared with the bride still in her wedding dress. We had to wait around for an hour in a crowded area which became more crowded as the evening guests arrived. We eventually got into the room about an hour late. What a shambles! The bar service was a joke. In fact a guest, who did not attend our wedding, was heard to complain at reception that he had waited half an hour to be served in the hotel’s main bar and had given up. I went to buy drinks in that bar and it was abundantly clear the person behind the bar had difficulty operating the till. Something that was repeated when he served behind the bar in the function room later. There was insufficient bar staff in the function room initially which led to large queues at the bar. Oh and the evening buffet was served at 9.40 which was late and guests were understandably starving by the time they ate. The only good thing was that the food was reasonable. To cap it all the next morning at breakfast we had to put up with a cleaner using a vacuum cleaner at the entrance to the restaurant. This meant we had to step over the vacuum cleaner cable. Solihull deserves a better hotel than this. The staff shortages were disgraceful and spoilt the day for the bride. I...

Oh dear. Good that we could take things with a sense of humour and therefore enjoyed our stay at Ramada Towers. Room (Duplex Suite): Very nice. No problems there. Telephone did not work but fortunately we were able to reach reception using our cellphone. We were able to cope with the small number of towels - I guess rationing continues in this part of the world. It was also nice that the management were able to operate behind the scenes, leaving most areas (reception, restaurant, bar etc) manned by teenagers (No need to treat guests with respect of course). It was also nice of staff to feel able to discuss their own shift problems and issues amongst themselves so that guests within earshot were able to gather appropriate information about the trials and tribulations of working in such a splendid establishment. Room service is only available in the evening (hotel therefore not meeting requirements for 3* status) so we had to go to the bar to get beverages to take drinks back to our room. This was a ca 200 yard route march through a labyrinth of corridors though a number of room sections. We were convinced that an alarm was going off in one of the sections we passed. Two days later the "alarm" or whatever it was continued to be heard in that section. I guessed in the end it was a high-volume GPS device to enable staff walking pass to confirm their location in the maze. We proceeded to purchase beverages at the bar. As we wanted to stock up we purchased one "unopened" bottle. We asked the bartender if there was a bottle opener in our room - he said probably not. However after seeing that we had a Duplex suite he revised his opinion and informed us that this "upgraded" room would indeed include a bottle opener as a premium feature. Unfortunately - and despite extensive searches, we were unable to locate this very special item. We were then advised that we could bring the bottle back down to the bar for an "opening ceremony" (we declined) or that if we wanted they would search the conference rooms for us to locate such an opening device. Fortunately we were in the end able to open the bottle with our teeth :-) The first day we chose full english breakfast in our room - which arrived promptly and efficiently. Unfortunately we were not allocated any cutlery part from teaspoons - guess it was the rationing again - but that did not stop us from enjoying the lukewarm food. We felt it also a nice touch that we were able to share one tea cup for two people. This made breakfast more intimate. Another day we decided to enjoy breakfast in the restaurant. On arrival we were advised in very broken English "There is no breakfast!" - although we could see everyone else enjoying it. Mmmm. maybe it was a mirage. Then we found out the enchanting lady meant to say "There is no breakfast for you as you have not paid for it" "No Problem" we replied and asked the breakfast (unexpectedly) to be added to our room. The lady now knew my name and decided she could address me by my first name. I was at a disadvantage here but never mind. No problems at all at the reception - oh except that she got our bill wrong and did not want payment for the breakfasts of the bar drinks until we insisted. I guess this was a "mystery recptionist" checking out the honesty of the guests. Was also nice that no help was offered with luggage so that we could enhance our muscle strength. Thanks a lot Ramada - we had an amazing time Look forward very much to our next trip to Solihull and an alternative hotel - maybe a...

The hotel itself is clean, nice rooms and what you would expect from a 4* hotel. The service and room service however is shocking!! Firstly when we arrived, we were not informed that we could not put room service on our tab/room - we realised once we ordered room service that we had to pay cash every time we wanted something which was a bit of a pain as we had to make sure we had cash readily available. We had run out of loo roll one day and I had to call three times before someone brought some to the room - finally they brought one toilet roll after THREE hours! We also ordered room service one evening and asked for four bottles of water; we received one which for three of us wasn't going to go very far. A second evening we ordered two sandwiches on room service, which took about an hour to come. I wouldn't even expect that from hot food let alone two sandwiches! Even Dominos delivers faster than that. On the second day, there were not enough towels in the room for the three of us to have a shower so I called down to ask housekeeping to bring one for me as I was in my pyjamas. An hour later, the towel still hadn't arrived so I had to run down the corridor and steal one for myself from the housekeeping trolley. In the end, no towels were ever brought to the room! It is not acceptable when you are in your nightwear and have to be expected to get dressed and go out and find your own towel because not enough were provided but also no-one brought one despite requesting. We also went to the hotel bar on the last day. When we got there, there was no one around so we had to go and look around for someone to serve us. Given that there was no-one else in the bar and all we had ordered was a coke, glass of wine, and tea, it took about 10-15 minutes for our drinks to come, which were then put on the table next to us rather than given to us in front of where we were sitting! The staff are polite and friendly but unfortunately their service levels are just shocking. I've stayed in hotels with less stars that have better service, and the speed of everything just needs to get better and more responsive. The service seemed very slack with no sense of providing a good standard of service or any sense of urgency. I think given how everything took so long and was just a very poor service, I would probably never stay here again as for the price, I would expect a much...