Coventry Hill Hotel, Coventry

Yesterday was destination Coventry for a conference at the Science Park near Warwick University.

Having lived in the city for a number of years, I know most of its nooks and crannies, and since I moved away, I have managed to familiarise myself with a number of its hotels, including two in the Britannia Chain, one of which is the Royal Court, with its plush leisure suite and expensive restaurant, it doesn’t typically fall into the ...
...I know, what about the Coventry Hill Hotel? Part of the Britannia chain, they might have some bargains on offer, and I was right.

LOCATION
Formerly the Coventry Posthouse, this outlet is not suitable if you like to be in the thick of things, being situated adjacent to the A45, the main Coventry to Birmingham road, on the edge of an upmarket village known as Allesley. You have to leave the dual carriageway immediately after seeing ... more

Yesterday was destination Coventry for a conference at the Science Park near Warwick University.

Having lived in the city for a number of years, I know most of its nooks and crannies, and since I moved away, I have managed to familiarise myself with a number of its hotels, including two in the Britannia Chain, one of which is the Royal Court, with its plush leisure suite and expensive restaurant, it doesn’t typically fall into the budget chain, and the Britannia Hotel, dead in the centre of town, convenient, nice big rooms, low rates but sadly no parking, and travelling alone in sub zero temperatures, I really didn’t fancy trailing across the city streets with suitcase and laptop in tow. Plus, the following morning I needed to be at the Science Park and didn’t fancy battling the rush hour ring road (anyone who knows this city will be familiar with this extremely convenient, yet highly hazardous road).

There is a conference suite at the University, but it is a little isolated and expensive, the Comfort Inn was Definitely NOT an option after Glasgow.

I know, what about the Coventry Hill Hotel? Part of the Britannia chain, they might have some bargains on offer, and I was right.

LOCATION
Formerly the Coventry Posthouse, this outlet is not suitable if you like to be in the thick of things, being situated adjacent to the A45, the main Coventry to Birmingham road, on the edge of an upmarket village known as Allesley. You have to leave the dual carriageway immediately after seeing the hotel and drive up a steep hill for around 1/2 mile, the hotel is on your left.

The Coventry Hill is wonderfully convenient for Birmingham Airport, the NEC, Warwick University, and the M42, and there are a number taxis and restaurants within a short taxi ride, or for the more energetic amongst you, a ½ hour walk. The website claims it is only 2 miles away from the city-centre, without actually measuring this, but from personal experience, and also from experiences with other hotels, you could safely double this figure.

You would be forgiven upon arrival, for believing that you had been transported back in time 30 years to the days of high rise council flats suspended on both sides; my sense of dread was escalating by the second. The hotel has 9 floors in total, I should imagine from the top, the views would be fantastic.

The car-park (200 spaces) is not immediately evident, offering a small number of spaces adjacent to reception, the remainder of spaces are in a large area a little farther on.

CHECK-IN
This was prompt; the receptionist was friendly, took a pre-authorisation swipe of my credit card and sent me on my way with a key and a card that I could show to charge additions to my room. 10 minutes in my room, overlooking the A45 established that I was unable to connect to the internet; needless to say I was not a happy bunny.

The first room was extremely spacious, although looked like it could do with a little refurbishment, the décor being somewhat old fashioned, and the furniture was so low it made me feel like a giant, this is something that doesn’t happen that often when you are 5ft 1”. The receptionist immediately moved me to a room on the 7th floor that provided internet access.

My primary gripe, is, that when I booked, I was offered the choice of an economy or standard double room, the latter, which I selected, being £10 more expensive, my understanding of the difference being in the décor. The 2nd room I was given was evidently a standard, making my first allocation an economy – not impressed. In addition, had the hotel been busy, they would have been unable to move me.

SCORE: 10/10 – Efficient and friendly.

THE ROOM
When I finally got there!!!! – not as large as the first room, however, it did have a more upmarket aura about it, providing a large desk area for working, masses of storage space, a double bed, trouser press, tea and coffee making facilities (no biscuits and unbranded freeze dried coffee that tasted like mud), 2 overhead and 4 wall lights and remote controlled colour TV with teletext, thermostatically controlled radiator and double secondary glazing. There were additional blankets, pillows and towels in abundance, and enough clothes hangers to accommodate someone staying for a week, let alone one night.

As would be expected, the room was en-suite, and provided definite proof that the room was refurbished, offering a bath, fixed to the wall power shower, hot towel racks, sink and toilet. A bar of soap and some other freebies of shower and hair gel in the form of sachets (my god talk about skimping) and lots and lots of towels, although unlike those provided in the Hanover International, these wouldn’t have covered my daughter, let alone my ‘delicate’ body.

Towards the end of my brief stay, I began to feel as though I had my room number stamped to my head, as a request at reception for an iron to be brought to my room didn’t even require a number and it was delivered within about 5 minutes.

There was nothing in the room to indicate the price of telephone calls, and making 3 quite lengthy calls I was a little worried at the cost, but reception had no record of any calls, so I got them for free. This has now happened to me 3 times in 3 different hotels (1 outside the UK), totally bizarre.

SCORE: 9/10 – Once I got a room with internet access I was happy, and my only real gripe would be the number of free electrical sockets, the bed was very comfortable, and the views over the city from the 7th floor were awe inspiring.

FOOD
Wanting to go and visit an old friend, I decided to opt for room service, which provided quite a broad range, if limited amount of products including sandwiches, burgers, steak, chicken, pasta dishes (including veggie options), snacks such as garlic bread and mushrooms all for under a tenner.

Being in something of a hurry, I telephoned reception who advised me that a meal should take around 20 minutes, but they would put me through to the kitchen to enquire about what would be served the quickest. Needless to say this should have been a sign, I ordered a Green Thai chicken curry (apparently green is mild and red hot) with rice and Naan Bread together with half a lager. The food arrived, after 2 irate phone calls, about 45 minutes later, making me late, and the curry was, as specified, green, but not a pleasant shade, but something that looked like putrid regurgitated vomit – there was a strong smell of coconut and I anticipated it would be quite mild, no chance, spicy was the name of the game here – goodness knows what the hot would have been like. The rice was evidently good quality and there was lots of it, and one full size naan broken into two. The meal and drink set me back £10.10, not bad after the exorbitant prices of the Hanover International earlier this week.

BREAKFAST
As I didn’t start until 10am today, and due to the fact that I managed to consumer several bottles of Stella whilst reminiscing with my friend, I didn’t arrive in the restaurant until around 8.45am. Staff were noticeable by their absence and didn’t bother taking my room number, hence if I hadn’t have paid for brekkie up front, I probably could have saved myself £10.50. The entire process was buffet apart from coffee, and consisted of:

• Cereals
• Fresh fruit and juices
• Toast and jam
• Bacon
• Sausage
• Beans
• Scrambled and fried egg
• Baked beans
• Mushrooms
• Hash browns
• Tomatoes

Despite being January, the 192 room hotel wasn’t that quiet, yet I felt that much of the food had been sitting around for quite some time. The sausages and hash browns were palatable, but the bacon had congealed fat on it, and was not good, shame really as it could have been quite nice. Out of the three Britannia outlets I have used in Coventry, the one in the centre offers the best breakfast without a shadow of a doubt.

SCORE: 5/10 – the prices were reasonable compared to many places I have stayed, but I wouldn’t go overboard about the food.

OTHER FACILITIES
In short, there wasn’t any. There is a restaurant open to 9pm every night, and a bar providing Sky football, you will not find any fancy leisure suites here, and even if you did, you may be shocked to discover that Britannia CHARGE guests for their use, bizarre.

The hotel does offer 8 meeting rooms that can accommodate up to 100 people, although I would say that although I haven’t used these facilities, if you are having a conference in this area, I could highly recommend Britannia’s Royal Court outlet, a little more expensive, but a much more attractive setting, with lovely facilities.

The carpets in some of the public areas were a little threadbare, but there were a few workmen around which suggests to me that there is some level of refurbishment ongoing, as I know their conference rooms have recently been done out.

PRICES
Rack rates here are amazingly reasonable; a single room was £75, a double £85. I booked the room and breakfast on their internet site (www.britanniahotels.com) for £45 room only, and £10.50 for breakfast. The entire stay cost me £65.60, not bad for bed, breakfast and evening meal, midweek, I have had had worse and better.

SCORE: 7/10

SERVICE
The staff were very pleasant, changed my room without any hassle, delivered my iron and ordered my taxi in record time, and when I returned in the evening slightly the worse for wear, I was given a litre bottle of still mineral water free of charge, I even got my early morning call – although I was amused to note a disclaimer saying that if customers didn’t receive their call, and didn’t have an alternative means of waking up, it was not the hotels fault.

PARK and DRIVE
The hotel, being situated a few miles away from Birmingham airport, offers park and ride facilities from £65 for a family, the bus runs back and for to the airport ½ hourly throughout the day and night, although recalling the tragic accident in Manchester of a bus en-route to the airport from a Britannia hotel, I would think twice about this, particularly as parking at Birmingham is less than £7 per day. They are also thinking about providing a similar service to coincide with the launch of Thomsonfly’s (www.thomsonfly.com) new scheduled budget service from Coventry airport in April 2004. (where I got three return flights to Valencia for £138 during the summer break)

SUMMARY

A question that often arises is suitability for the disabled – the hotel claims ease of access, but I suspect this is more to do with its location. The front doors are automatic, although I did not see any entry ramps. There are no steps inside the hotel, and it has 3 lifts, however the bedroom doors were narrow and there is no information on the website indicating that any of these have been converted.

Would I stay there again? The food was mediocre, but the service, which can make all the difference and the room, was spacious and comfortable. The facilities were clean; there was plenty of parking, 3 lifts which arrived almost instantaneously.

In this life you get what you pay for, and I am quite happy that I got exactly that from the Coventry Hill Hotel, so in summary, yes I would.

For more details:

COVENTRY HILL HOTEL – COVENTRY
Rye Hill, Birmingham Road, Allesley, Coventry CV5 9PH
Tel : 02476 402151 Fax : 02476 402235
Email : res708@britanniahotels.com

www.britanniahotels.com

(As for the title, I was talking about the hill) 

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