Honestly, I am calling out every single person who gave this place a "decent" review. I, myself,…read morehave never been to prison before, but boy will I be humbled enough to find it live-able if I ever go, since I've already experienced the worst. Let's put it this way- I work for a Homeless organization that places the homeless in housing and I wouldn't even give them shelter here if I could. I was going to the Bruno Mars concert in Birmingham and wouldn't make the last train back to London so decided to try to find a hotel. Bruno, your concert was awesome, but "F" you for making Hatters the ONLY available place to sleep that night.... (literally, every single place was booked). "Why are you going to this sh*thole?," said my taxi driver when I told him the address. "You are better off sleeping in a bush." That seems crazy! (I thought). But now, I realize that curling up in bush on a cold night using a branch as a pillow and a leaf as a blanket would be far more luxurious than my sleep at Hatters. When I got shown my room, (I mean, box) the only thing that came to mind was "50 shades of grey." And no, not the kinky film (obvs), but the drab color that covered the walls, carpet and beds. There was NO light, no window, no life. I politely asked to move into a different room since I believe I am a good human being and didn't feel like I did something wrong in life to be in this room. (Kudos to the other 2 people that stayed in that room, God bless you). The "nicer" room was fine ("fine" meaning it still felt like I was sleeping on the set of Orange is the New Black- minus the colorful outfits and fun bunk mates). Oh, speaking of bunk mates.... I was woken up at 3am by a SCREAMING older woman (oh, hey new roomie!) who literally almost climbed into bed with me she was so close to my face yelling at me in Chinese because "I stole her bed." P.S.- I was fast alseep in MY assigned bed so not sure what the deal was and let's be honest, no one stole "the master bedroom" here... The screaming went on for about an hour. All I wanted was a descent night sleep (under the circumstances) with my cardboard bed and pillow made of tissue. Gotta say, the staff was great- very accommodating, cool, helped calm down the screaming lady, etc... Can't say anything bad about them. But when your bare feet hit the bathroom floor and it feels like you may have gotten frostbite from the ice cold floor, something has to be said. So in conclusion, if you have self respect, standards or need a working back for something, don't stay here. If it's a money thing, starve yourself for a few meals and put that money towards somewhere else. If you like role playing (who doesn't like feeling like a character from Prison Break?!) then yes, stay here.

Is this the best hostel I've stayed at? No. Is this the…read moreworst hostel I've stayed at? Definitely not. I don't know if the Yelper who said this would be worse than jail has ever been to a hostel before. Hatters Birmingham is an all right hostel. I found a cheap flight from Dublin to Birmingham and booked myself a one night in a six bed female dorm (with an ensuite bathroom). It was £12. Pros - Location is about 15 minute walk from New Street station. If your coming from the airport it's 12 minutes on the train to the central station. - Free breakfast. Typical hostel fare cereal, toast, cold cuts, fruit (canned fruit salad), coffee and tea. It's not a 5 star breakfast,but it's something to start the day and it's nice it's included. - Free WiFi. I stayed in a room on the main floor (106) and the signal was full strength the whole time. Really nice cause I've been to some hostels where you can only get WiFi in the common areas. - Beds (while bunks) were pretty comfortable. - Ensuite bathroom means you're only sharing with the other people in your room, and not 50 people on the same floor. - Price was great. Granted I was here for one night midweek in December (before peak travel season) so it could be higher. - Front doors are locked after midnight, so you need a security code to get in. Good safety feature. There's lockers in the dorms (bring your own lock). - Free luggage storage if you check in early before your room is ready or have a late flight and want to explore the city after check out. - Assigned beds that are clearly marked. I like assigned beds because I can request a bottom bunk if it's available. - There is a kitchen if you want to make your own lunch or supper. I didn't use the kitchen. Cons - I stayed in room 106 and my keycard never worked even after the front desk reset it. They had to get a master key to let me in. None of the other girl who were in my room were able to get their keycards to work either. Luckily there was someone in the room to let us in if this happened, but clearly the lock on this door needs to be replaced. - The women's public toilets were in a bit of shambles. Only one of the two toilets worked, there was no soap when I used it (on two separate occasions). - Minimally staffed. The staff were fine, but there was only ever one person at the lobby. A few times the staff must have been out dealing with issues because I had to wait for someone to come by. - Breakfast was fine, but the coffee was horrible. Stick to the tea, it was okay. - I didn't use the shower and the rest of the bathroom was okay, but there is clearly black mold on the tile grout. - The luggage store room is open (no locked door) and it seemed like anyone from the hostel could walk in and take whatever if staff wasn't there. As mentioned earlier there was only ever one person on and if they had to leave to go up to a room for some reason that could happen. - While front door locks after midnight, during the day anyone could get in, and again if staff was away from the desk dealing with a room issue this could be a problem. I don't know if anything has happened, and there is a buzzer to ring it, but it never worked. I could just open the front door and head in. There hostel should look at fixing this to reduce any security risks and give guest some peace of mind. Meh - There isn't much of a social hostel atmosphere here. Maybe it was cause it wasn't too busy when I stayed. In the basement (where the kitchen breakfast area is a place where there would be a bar, but it wasn't working. There's a pool table, some tables and chairs and a couch at the front.desk, but I didn't get a lot socializing vibes here. If you like to meet people at hostels you.migjt have a hard time here. It might be different in the summer. - The front desk area of the hostel has a nice design. There's exposed brickwork and some art, but the rooms are a bit drab. Walls are white and grey with some white and grey artwork. Bunks are blue metal and there an olive green wood panel by the bunks with an assigned letter. Basically this hostel won't win any design awards, but unless your someone who really cares about this is won't matter. - The room In was in (106), was clearly an interior room so there were no windows. That didn't matter to me, but it might be a factor for some. - There are outlets in the rooms, but they're only on the bottom of the wall. If you're in a top bunk you'll have to climb in and out of the bed to charge your phone. So yeah there are some issues, but for the price and a night you get a pretty good deal. I don't know if I'd go out of my way to stay here again, but it was fine.

Worst hotel experience so far in international travel. We traveled to UK with another couple and…read moreprebook all our accommodations. Unfortunately, railroad strike, that affected trains to Birmingham, is called for May 12 which we have reservation in the hotel. Once we have determine the strike and no train will go from Edinburgh to Birmingham, we have tried to communicate with the IHG as well as the hotel. Chat with IHG end with phone number of 441212893636 which fail to get through in multiple calls. Chatbot of Staybridge is extremely dumb and cannot answer any questions. Email to gsa@birmingham.staybridge.com given in confirmation email receives no response. They basically provides no customer service at all. We finally get help from our front desk at Hilton and they are nice enough to find the proper phone number and get connected with Skybridge Birmingham. Staybridge told us that our reservation is not cancelable with refund no matter what happens. This is not a norm in the hotel business when transportation to the hotel is totally not available. Even though we did not stay in the hotel, but the experience of their horrible customer service as well as their policy on strike is very traveller unfriendly in addition to monetary loss. We would strongly recommend to avoid this hotel in all cost for travelers.

Lovely, clean, quiet and relaxing. These apartments are like a hotel room but with a kitchenette…read more I'd happily spend weeks here and make it my home. Reasonably priced at £70 a night. Has it all - including breakfast!

They need to be nationalised. I've gotten the Manchester…read morepiccadilly to Bournemouth line for over ten years and it has always been the absolute worst experience with a service I have ever received. Filthy trains that stink of urine, overcrowding to the point where you can not get in the aisle to get off the train. Usually unable to even board the train due to them running 3 carriages for a busy line and then overselling tickets. Usually delayed as well due to the horrendous overcrowding. If you can avoid a cross-country train then it is worth going 2 hours our of your way to do so they are that bad. I have no idea how this is considered a "service" the only people being serviced are the greedy bosses putting people in danger to save a few quid.

CrossCountry is pretty much the middle road train company in the UK, they're far from the best but…read morethey're equally far from the worst too, while they wouldn't be my first choice to travel with, I wouldn't go out of my way too much to avoid travelling with them however possible, even though I do prefer travelling with Avanti / East Midlands Railway and co along parts of their route. CrossCountry operates the UK's longest direct rail service, all the way from Aberdeen in the north-east of Scotland to Penzance in western Cornwall, over 13 hours! (I'd hate to be on that train!) They travel all around the country, but all of their routes call at Birmingham New Street, many either terminate there or at least take a short break and sometimes change drivers, especially if it's a long distance train. The First Class carriage seems to be much nicer than the standard class, which can be a bit of a mess at the best of times (luggage left everywhere, even in door-ways - they seem to put luggage everywhere but the designated luggage rack), with luggage left everywhere and the interior seems a little outdated, the First Class area seems much cosier and has real air-conditioning, I even remember sharing a joke with a passenger who was sat directly outside of First Class who complained about the temperature difference that they had air conditioning which isn't in the rest of the train. I also dislike the set-up of certain tables around the train which have blocks, which seems to take up most of the room, if you're unlucky enough to be stuck on one of them, you better hope you don't have to work or even eat on a train! They're in the worst possible reason and I'm not sure of their purpose. The on-board staff seem pretty friendly most of the time too, they normally run a food-cart selling basic (overpriced as expected) essentials such as drinks and snacks, this isn't always possible right now (due to the pandemic / social distancing etc) so do plan ahead if you have to travel. I have had some issues with delays, but delays aren't increasingly common as you'd find with other operators. 3* - A-OK, if you're travelling into Birmingham, chances are you'll be using CrossCountry and won't have much of a choice, nothing special but does the job.

Had a great experience catching a train from here to London. Quick drop off by my Uber at the drop…read moreoff and. A quick walk inside the station and they thought of the ones with suitcases and had a non step entrance! Yay! That's what they call it ! We grabbed a quick coffee and found our platform easily and thankfully they have escalators. The train had just pulled in and we were able to get on and get settled and took off right on time . Found a spot for our suitcases as soon as we get on close to our seats which we had reserved and were easy to find. Smooth ride and very efficient. Would go from here again if I need to. Nice central Birmingham location too.

This is a pretty massive station, though to be honest it can be pretty annoying to make your way…read morearound. Like, there are four zones, no doubt matching the platforms where the trains arrive. The thing is that you have to touch off and touch on to move between the zones. However, they happen to have quite a lot of shops here, and pubs, yeah, they have pubs as well, and a place to dump your bags as well, which is pretty cool.

This hotel is AMAZING, and we would stay there again in a heartbeat! It has a nice reception area…read moreand was decorated nicely for the holidays. The rooms are nice, the beds are comfortable and there's enough space for your suitcases. The bar is great, it has a great bar menu and good drinks. The bartender Dominic was really friendly and gave us pointers on things to do in the area. The breakfast buffet is OK, it was a bit overpriced but they had a good variety of food including breads, eggs, yogurt, chia, etc. The staff was very polite. We even met the manager, I think his name was Manny, and he was super friendly. He definitely wanted to ensure our stay was a pleasant one and he would acknowledge us every time he saw us. We will absolutely be back when we visit again.

We came here for afternoon tea, organised by Kim Y. My first time…read more The hotel bar space where they serve afternoon tea is a lovely area, we had a piano playing next to us, which was great to hear. The afternoon tea was lovely as you can choose from selection of teas and coffees, unlimited throughout. The sandwiches too could be topped up. They do cater for dietary requirements, serving those on separate plates. I asked for a congratulations plate which was served at the end of the tea, with couple of chocolates - a lovely touch. It is a great place to go to, hopefully I'll come back to sample the restaurant.

I stayed here on a long weekend trip to Birmingham and found it very pleasant.Quite basic but has…read moreeverything you need for a weekend stay and very clean and tidy.Only a five minute walk from the main street in Birmingham with all the nightlifebars and restaurants.The room has all your basic ammenities,kettle,tv,shower,hairdryer etc.Staff were very friendly and helpful.Has a big restaurant and bar right adjacent to the hotel so very handy for food if you don't want to leave the hotel.If I remember rightly I think this premier inn offers room service aswell.Overall a very pleasant stay.

We have stayed here most times we come to Birmingham because the Car parking is free and access…read morewith luggage is very convenient from the car. Breakfast is now served on site instead of at the Old Orleans Restaurant which is much more convenient. Other hotel charge up to £20 for the weekend for carparking. It is very convenient for Broad Street and the NIA

Stayed here in February 2011. Like in most Travelodges, I guess, the room was pretty basic but the…read moredouble bed was comfortable and sturdy. The place was clean and tidy. Tea making facilities were provided in the room as was a TV. It rather bugged me, but we arrived 50 minutes before the allotted check-in time and were told we could get in early but only on payment of £10 - that's 20p/minute. What was worse was there were no facilities to leave our luggage whilst waiting for the 50 minutes to pass. There is an NCP car park only a minute's walk away but it is expensive - £13+ for a day although there is on-road parking, free after 6pm. Breakfast was not included in the room price. Normally breakfast costs £7.65 but was on offer with a £1 discount. It was 'full' English, eat as much as you like, and though nothing fancy, was perfectly adequate. If you want cheap, cheerful and central, this may just be the place for you.

Went for a festival and came back to my room one day and all my merchandise was gone. Went to the…read morefront office area to let them know about this. They told me to make an insurance claim, not let me talk to housekeeping, let me do some investigating, let me call the police, make a claim. I paid over $300 a night to get that. Never again.

VIEW: 5/5 SERVICE: 5/5 (updated service to 5/5)…read moreAMENITIES: 5/5 TV CHANNELS: 2/5 INTERNET: 2/5 FYI #1: The hotel has a weight scale. I don't think this is common, so a big plus. FYI #2: They have the 10x mirror in the bathroom. FYI #3: They have a cover for the peep hole. I've never seen this before, but I really appreciate it! FYI #4: They have a trouser press. VIEW: Today is my 2nd night here. The hotel is beautiful. I am sitting here on the 21st floor, overlooking the canal. The view is SPECTACULAR (for me on this trip). SERVICE: I arrived yesterday. I came with 3 bags + purse. There were two concierge outside and they saw me approaching the hotel, but they did not offer to help me. They did not greet me. Nothing. Not cool. On the way in this afternoon (one concierge different from yesterday) was at the door and he opened the door for the man behind me because he had one small suitcase. He was holding the door open for the man (not me since I didn't have any luggage)... but if this was the type of service provided for one man with a small rolling suitcase, how could they not greet me? open the door for me? I had bags falling from my hands and had to drag myself through the rotating door. I kept getting stuck in the rotating door because I had so many bags. It was quite frustrating. I'm disappointed that the concierge didn't help out. However, maybe the concierge yesterday was no good. Today, maybe he was just better. It's tough with this type of ....service business.... I guess it's a 3/5 for the concierge. I gave the 4/5 rating because the housekeepers did a beautiful job of taking care of the room. They changed my bed sheets -- it's very obvious. I left my shoes next to the ottoman, but they placed my shoes closer to the door (with care). I also had my toothbrush and other supplies just laying around in the bathroom, but they tidied the bathroom for me. I really appreciated it. They did a fantastic job with the room. Very pleased. I believe my luggage/concierge is probably a one-off, so I can't bang this hotel too much for that one experience. Just thought I'd share ... but it's really no different from some other place. Sometimes, it's just a hit or miss. AMENITIES: Bathroom is nice. Not the most fancy, but definitely have no complaints. It's clean and well maintained. No complaints here. Nicer than the average bathroom. INTERNET: No free internet. For 1 hour, it's 5 GBP. For 24 hours, it's 15 GBP. I'm from the States and am used to having free wi-fi when I'm at a hotel, so it's not very ideal.... TV CHANNELS: Theres only 20 channels + 5 music channels (total of 25). Again, I'm not sure what the standard is here in the UK, but I'm from the States and am used to having many options (50 channels) with plenty of things to watch. Unfortunately, with the limited choices, there's not much to watch on tv. Sooo, if you're too cheap to pay for internet and can't find anything on TV, there's really nothing to do while here. All in all, nice hotel. I would come back again. I will have to deal with the tv channels and paying for the internet - unfortunately.