Contrary to popular belief, Germans have a sense of humour. How else could you explain Penta's first step of rebranding this former Ramada Encore hotel with such an obvious nod to Fawlty Towers ...
Actually, this whole branding issue is a mess: on Google maps you can still find the hotel as Ramada Encore, the name on the hotel itself simply reads Encore, and the leaftlets in the rooms ask you to join the Wyndham Group's loyalty programme - fat chance ...
I was in Birmingham for a conference and booked into the hotel as part of a large group. The sales team must have had a good old laugh at offering us a special conference rate at a time when the hotel should have been closed for refurbishment.
Instead we arrived at a building site. What was once the hotel lobby was now a walk-in skip filled with rubble, with the entrance moved to the fire exit - hastily marked with pieces of paper stuck to the door. No provisions were made to have a doorman installed and you were left waiting in the cold until someone could come and fetch you from reception - unless you were lucky to sneak in with the contractors who used the same entrance.
So much for first impressions ...
We timed our arrival badly as the demolition work had resulted in the hotel's computer system being down. As noone in their right mind would try and check into a building site without a prior reservation we were trusted to be legitimate guests and taken up to the seventh floor. The only way to find out which rooms were available was to open them and check. Luckily we didn't surprise anyone in flagrante ...
Luggage dropped off, we were asked to come back later for our keys.
The rooms themselves were nice enough, decent size and equipped with the regular essentials. Ironing board and steam iron were supplied on request. Both had seen better days and I wish I had checked the iron before use - rather than touching up my previously white blouse with black marks! Luckily my suggestion to clean the shirt free of charge was agreed to, but no apologies offered.
Unlike London where construction works are carefully planned to never overlap, in Birmingham these are well coordinated and as soon as the in-house builders left, the next group arrived to dig up the street outside. As the hotel is located on quite a busy road, this took place at night to not hold up traffic - loud enough to prevent a quiet night even on the 7th floor.
Trying to locate the breakfast room the next morning was the next challenge and involved an elevator journey to the second floor and a walk down to the first. And back to the second floor in order to catch the lift down to reception - not an easy escape!
Breakfast was nothing much to write home (or review) about. Self-service, so no Miguel-inspired moments ... unlike my priceless experience of room service the night before. A luke-warm pizza was delivered by a guy half way through a glass of wine which he didn't even bother putting down when handing me my tray - my first ever pizza served with sachets of brown sauce and mayonnaise!
An underwhelming experience throughout. The bad bits far outweigh the efforts of a couple of team members who tried their best to cope with an incredibly difficult situation - they, just like their guests, have been let down by Ramada, Encore, Penta, Wyndham or whatever name you choose. Re-branding shambles! read more