Novotel Birmingham Airport, Birmingham

Author's product rating:   

Advantages:	Very modern and clean, excellent food and staff
Disadvantages:	None that spring to mind

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

We stayed here for one night in December 2007 before flying to Mexico from Birmingham international airport for christmas, we have started doing this recently as it adds another night to your holiday really. We live in blackpool and normally fly from Manchester but this was the only flight we could get on as we booked last minute and annoyingly we had to take of from Birmingham and land in Manchester to refuel as the runway at Birmingham is not long enough for a long haul flight to take off fully laiden with fuel!!! Anyway this is my review of the Novotel situated on Birmingham International Airport, opposite the main terminal building.

Facilities And Services

Some of the facilities at this Novotel include: Restaurant, Bar, 24-Hour Front Desk, Newspapers, Non-Smoking Rooms, Rooms / Facilities for Disabled Guests, Elevator, Express Check-In / Check-Out, Safety Deposit Box, Soundproofed Rooms, Luggage Storage.

And the services provided include: Room Service, Meeting / Banquet Facilities, Business Centre, Dry Cleaning, Breakfast in the Room, Currency Exchange, Shoe Shine, Packed Lunches, Fax / Photocopying.

Booking And Cost

We booked through an independant website that deals with airport parking and airport hotels and paid an amazing £79 for fifteen nights parking coach from the car park to the hotel and back to the car park again and one nights accomodation for two. This we felt was an amazing deal especially as we would be away for christmas and new year, we had stayed in a Novotel before and thought we knew what to expect but this low price worried us slightly I think.

Check In

We parked at the car park just off the motorway and were transfered to the Novotel by coach. On arrival we realised just how close we actually were to the terminal building, we would literally just have to cross the street in the morning. We walked up the steps to the main entrance (there is a slope also) and were very relieved to find a nice modern and very clean and well kept entrance, we entered the modern lobby and found the check - in desk and bar / resturaunt. We were checked in very quickly and effitiantly and directed up to our room.

The Room

We entered the room and found exactly what we expected from a Novotel, having stayed in them before, the room was modern with a double bed LCD tv a chair and plenty of wardrobe and drawer space if you needed it we were getting up at about 4 am for our flight so did not bother unpacking. The bathroom was also very modern and had a bath with shower over, sink and seperate w/c. There was also internet access, sky tv, movie channels etc at extra cost and even an Ipod connection, we were very pleased with the room even though we would only be spending a short time in it, it is still nice to have a nice room I feel. The bed was also extremely comfortable and the room like the rest of the hotel was very clean and well kept, the furniture was either quite new or very well looked after. There was also tea and coffee making facilities.

The Bar And Restaurant

Having dumped our stuff in the room we decided a drink and something to eat was in order, there was also a football match we wanted to watch, so we went back down to the bar / restaurant and took a seat next to one of the plasma screens, we asked if the match could be put on and it was and then we ordered some drinks from the very polite waiter.

We then had a look at the menu and were excited to see that it was a very good one with lots of choice, there were some ordinary dishes that you would expect to see on any menu and then there were a selection of mouth watering dishes, each of which could be ordered in three different sizes. A starter size, snack size or main meal size, allowing you to pick one or a selection of two or three different ones. This looked good to us and we ordered a selection of about five different dishes in various sizes.

The food and drink was all waiter service, the bar offered a brilliant selection of non and alcoholic drinks and when the food came it was really good, probably the best we have eaten in a restaurant of this type from the choice on the menu to presentation right down to taste.

The Staff

As I have already mentioned all of the staff we came into contact with were extremely polite and very helpful, it was almost as if they had been brought from a better hotel, this is not to say that there is anything wrong with this hotel but it is an overnight stay hotel on the airport really and everything, including the staff, is so much better than you would expect.

The Nights Sleep

Having eaten and drunk enough and watched our football match, we decided to retire to bed fairly early as we had to be up early for our flight. We went up to the room set the alarm and snuggled up in the comfy double bed, there was no noise at all, considering we were on a busy airport and we slept like logs until rudely awoken by the early alarm.

Checking Out And Conclusion

As we left our room with our luggage we discovered that the lift was out of order and we were on the third floor, this was a bit of a pain as we had all the luggage and we struggled a bit down the stairs but this was not really the fault of the hotel these things happen sometimes and the girl on the desk said they would have sent someone up for the luggage had we asked and we noticed that they had done for someone else, so even this wasn't a problem either.

Checking out was as easy and politely done as checking in and on leaving the front door of the hotel we had about a thirty second walk to the Terminal building - what a good way to start your holiday!!

To conclude I would say that I would definately recomend this hotel to anyone flying from Birmingham International Airport, in fact I would say don't even look anywhere else. Also try to find the site we used for some really good deals including parking if you need it, I'm afraid I can't remember the name of the site for the life of me and can't find anything like a reciept anywhere either. And if asked would I stay here again the answer is YES it is almost worth driving past Manchester to fly from Birmingham airport for!!

Thanks for reading.........John May 2008