For a course at work I found myself going to the Arden Hotel and finding it a very nice hotel in a fantastic location for me to get to and I found everything to go smoothly for the whole weekend which for me is a fantastic achievement. I hate staying at hotels usually as I have a bad sleep and I find not everything is up to my standard but here I really had a good time and I think it was a hotel with a good atmosphere with a bit of life about it and here is why.
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Location:
The address is as follows;
Coventry Road,
Bickenhill,
Solihull,
West Midlands,
B92 0EH.
The Hotel is in an amazing location not for views but how you get there and for commuters it must be a dream. The Hotel is in walking distance from Birmingham airport, a railway station and the N.E.C. I dread getting to places in Birmingham as it is busy and I get confused easily but this Hotel really does make it good for you. If you don't fancy walking then a taxi is about £3 which is nothing.
Driving it is not far from the M42 motorway so easy peasy.
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Parking:
The car park is huge and for the amount of rooms there I do not think you will have any problems ever finding a space. We were there when a wedding was on and there were still places even though the Hotel was quite full.
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Appearance:
From outside to be honest the hotel does not really look like anything special with plain brick walls but everywhere looks clean and the reception walk way is lovely. As you walk inside you will see reception to your right and staff are there looking friendly and they are very helpful indeed. Also as you walk in there are these great big vase sculptures which look amazing.
In front of you is a bar area which has the most comfortable seats and they have a very good array of drinks available to you. It is not open all of the time so you may have to ask when you get there as as I was on a course I couldn't really work it out too well.
To the left of you when you walk in is the dining area which is where we ate which is very pleasant and has a good feel about it. As you walk through the bar you can also find the restaurant which looks lovely but as there was a wedding on that weekend we didn't get a chance to eat in there.
The whole hotel is quite easy to navigate around and all rooms are sign posted throughout well so you can't really get lost at all which is good.
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Bedrooms:
The rooms are standard but they look nice and have a very clean feel around them. They do get cleaned every day so you don't have to worry about anything being dirty which is what I always worry about with hotels. The bed is very comfortable and I had a double to myself which was lovely. They give you enough bedding so you don't have to worry about that at all. The bathroom is quite big and the shower is very powerful which I loved as I don't have a proper shower at home.
I know people who did have the room service and they said it was very prompt and not too expensive but I didn't give it a go.
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Conference Rooms:
The conference rooms in this place are huge and well equipped and more equipment is available if needed. We had mints, drinks, paper and pens on the table which was nice and made you feel more relaxed. I get the feeling they really look after their conference suites well as all of the furniture was nice and new looking. I think they have quite a good range of suites as well. We used two of them while we were there and one room was massive and the next pretty small and they were both lovely.
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Leisure Facilities:
This Hotel has an amazing pool so if you stay do remember to take your costume as it is lovely. The gym I didn't go to but had a sneak peek and they look like they had a good range of things but it was very busy when I looked. There is also a room that shows sports on a big screen which as predicted was filled with people on the Sunday as there was a big match on.
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Food:
The food here is lovely. I only ate dinner and one day I had a full buffet with curry and then followed by the best chocolate fudge cake I have ever tastes that I had three slices which was very greedy of me. The prices are reasonable at around £3-5 for a sandwich with crisps and salad and main meals are £6 13 and they do have a good selection such as mussels to start followed by salmon. I didn't eat there in the evening but my friend did and she said the meals were lovely and very filling.
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Prices:
For a room last minute it was £55 but the rates are more than that usually. I think for the service you get from the Hotel and the standard of everything provided and also the facilities that are on offer I do not think this is a bad price at all.
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Verdict:
This hotel is lovely and I will recommend it to everybody. It is in a great spot, has everything you could need and at a very reasonable price so what more could you be after? I think it is one of those places that commuters dream of as it is just read more