Holiday Inn Express & Suites Birmingham South - Pelham by IHG — Hotel in Pelham

We were traveling through to our vacation in Florida and decided we would stay somewhere on the way down to help break-up the trip for our 3 children. The hotel was ok. We chose this hotel because it was close to the interstate for our drive down to Florida. While making the reservation, I spent a great deal of time conversing with local hotel staff to request 2 cribs be set-up prior to our arrival so I could bring our twin babies into the room and lay them down (due to expected late arrival). I was assured they would be in place, and I even called 2 days prior to confirm. When I showed up, the night desk person (who was actually very nice) told me they should already be set-up in the room by the day staff. Unfortunately, when I got to the room, no cribs to be found and took an hour to get fixed. For those of you with children, you know what this hour delay caused in terms of babies waking up, etc. Not fun at all. The night desk person was great, apologized and took $10 off our 2 rooms.

When we arrived in our rooms and finally got the cribs settled, I went to the air conditioner units in each room to turn them on and both units had a disgusting white gunk inside them. It honestly looked like mold. Lastly, a ceiling fan in one of our rooms was wobbling so badly that we had to turn it off for fear it would fall down. Though these were not as crucial as the cribs, they were also a part of my first impression, so needless to say have stuck with me. And for $100 per room a night, I felt the value just wasn't there.

The breakfast for our next morning was excellent, with a great variety of cold and hot items. The only disappointment here was that the breakfast room was extremely dark unless you sat in the one table by the window, which was already occupied when we came down. Again, this might not seem like a big deal to most, but with 3 children, it was somewhat frustrating. I asked the front desk gentleman (felt like I had to interrupt his internet or whatever he was doing on the computer) if he could please turn on more lights or make it brighter in the room, and without even looking up from his computer, coldly replied, "no, that's just the way it is". Even if that were the case, terrible customer service in my mind....

I travel about 50% of the time for my work, so I have extensive travel experience in the US and abroad. I decided not to recommend this place because I left my contact information with the night desk attendant because I expected a call from the hotel manager upon their return Monday. I did not receive a call, which again shows an overall lack of customer awareness and concern at...

I was greeted by a friendly smile from Rossi after a day on the road. She was more than helpful during my 9 PM check in; explaining the complimentary hot breakfast in the morning, our concern with parking our rental truck/trailed car, amongst other things. I normally take pics of our room but was just too tired. Our king bed room (214) appeared to have been recently updated. The bed was comfortable, however there was only a thin blanket for warmth. I like to sleep with the fan or A/C on so I found this slightly disappointing but I guess it really is insignificant in the long run. The room had a decent size fridge, microwave, small workstation and plenty of electrical sockets/charging ports. The bathroom was clean (thank goodness! ) and had Bath & Body Works toiletries. The shower had pretty good water pressure. The blackout shade did exactly what it was supposed to do. The TV had cable network channels and I was able to catch up on The Walking Dead.

There is an indoor pool and fitness center, but we did not have time to enjoy either.

There is a Whataburger across-ish the street. Also plenty of other fast food and sit down restaurants within walking distance.

My view faced the roadway, but that is insignificant as we just needed to rest our heads and we weren't in the Bahamas. I didn't hear much roadway noise though.

The hot breakfast in the morning wasn't terrible. There were healthy options such as Chobani yogurt, fruit and oatmeal. Also included was a pancake station, bacon, sausage, pre made egg/cheese omelettes, coffee bar, juice and breadstuffs.

Overall, it was a good night's stay. I've made some poor hotel stay decisions when I've been exhausted so this one was...

This property has what is needed for a good night's sleep (thanks to their great beds and multiple pillows), but there were some minor problems that I encountered.

I used the fitness center, which was a small room that barely fit a bike, two treadmills, and a TV. The first treadmill I tried did not go above 3.0 mph, even as I adjusted the speed up to 6.0. The second treadmill worked properly although it appeared to be an older model. The machines were facing a small window looking into the pool and the TV was located in the left corner of the room. However due to the position of my treadmill, I was looking at the wall because the window to the pool did not reach the width of the workout room. To be able to see the TV while running on the treadmill, my head would have to be 90 degrees to the left. Rearranging the machines and/or TV would have provided a better experience. Also, I turned on the A/C and it worked for a few minutes and then stopped on its own. Finally, the swimming pool's heater was broken, so I didn't even attempt to go into the cold pool.

The fixtures in the room were dated, but worked properly. The room itself was great and I had a good night's sleep. Breakfast was good, too.

This property is not the best nor the worst at which I've stayed. The customer service was good as well. It was about 15 minutes from UAB, but cost significantly less than the other Holiday Inn Expresses closer to...