Collection Hotel Birmingham

The place stinks, the food was trash, and the toilets were filthy. There are rats, too. I'm never staying here again.

We booked two rooms for four people for one night. Both rooms were dirty and a bit dated, with mould in the shower and bathrooms that looked unclean. The damp smell throughout the rooms kept our group from sleeping. One person asked for a clean coffee cup, but staff arrogantly said there were two cups per room and to use the ones already there, which were dirty from the previous guests. For the price of two rooms, I expected better service and much cleaner rooms. This is no way a four-star hotel. The staff need to learn some people skills. If I could give fewer stars, I would. I understand now why rooms were available at short notice. Avoid this place unless you like arrogant staff and damp rooms. I think the next visitors should be environmental health. Worst experience.

When I finally got into my room, it was tidy and smelled lovely, and the cleaning staff were great throughout my stay. That changed my first impression. I arrived on Sunday, but the room was delayed, so I had to sit waiting in the lobby and was disappointed and frustrated. The hotel does need repairs, but the reception team deserves five stars. They were under pressure and did their best, and were very nice to guests. The hotel needs improvement, though everything else was as fine as you could expect.

The reception area looked quite nice when we first came in, which is the only reason I can give this one star. We waited a few minutes for a key card, then found used chewing gum on a pillow in our room. It looked like it had been there a while. Bits of confetti from the previous guests' decorations were still stuck to the walls. The bed was badly worn and so uncomfortable to sit on that we could feel the wooden frame through the mattress. The bath was chipped and the bathroom smelled strongly of chemicals. The mugs were tiny, enough for about two mouthfuls of tea. There were stains on the walls and patches on the ceiling that looked freshly painted over to hide damp. We didn't stay the night at The Collection Hotel. There's a lovely Premier Inn not far away, if you're considering staying here.