The Regency Hotel Solihull

The room looked clean and brand new at first, and the bed was soft, but it was so bouncy and unstable that every small movement from my partner woke me. I hardly slept, so the Regency failed at the main thing I needed from a hotel. There were signs about the bar dress code, no tracksuits or caps, which made us think they cared about how the hotel looked. We walked through reception wearing both. Reception was a cramped alcove with a small Formica office table, a low chair, and papers and wires everywhere. The receptionist was nice and gave us a key. Getting to the room meant crossing a hallway that was being renovated, though I didn’t realise that at first. It looked haunted, and the alternative was wandering around trying to find another route. The carpet was badly stained and the air smelled of turpentine. Beyond it, the next hallway was much nicer, with new carpets and freshly painted walls. The smart TV apps kept showing errors and took ages to load, sometimes without working at all, even for regular TV. We couldn’t find any Wi-Fi, and there was no signal either. While staring at the wall, we noticed the wallpaper bubbling away and the double-glazed window was fogged up inside, blocking the view of the bins. The more we looked, the more the refurbishment seemed poorly done. The tap was loose and badly fitted, and the runners for the sliding bathroom door extended past the wall. We had just one towel to share, and it had small yellow stains. At 11pm I was still awake reading when bottles from the bar were loudly emptied outside the window. I could have put up with that, but sleeping on that wobbly bed was the last straw.

The room looked nicely decorated, though it was really cold, and there was no heating in the hallway leading to it. The staff were friendly, fun and welcoming, but the food was completely unacceptable. I was here for a wedding recently. I’d come back for a drink at the bar, but unfortunately nothing beyond that. They need to overhaul things and get the chef more training.

The hotel looks pleasant enough, and I enjoyed both dinner and breakfast in the restaurant. It’s also a reasonable price for somewhere just 15 minutes from the NEC. The rooms, though, are very run down: the bathroom extractor was coming off the wall, as was a light above the bed. I was surprised there wasn’t a phone in the room. The shower was hot and powerful, but the bath sides are high and could be hard for some people to step over. Charging the car was a frustrating mix of problems. There are three posts for six spaces, but only one worked, and that one required an app. Paying by card at the post didn’t work. I called technical support; they remotely activated another charger, but could see it wasn’t taking payment either. Another customer was trying at the same time and said they’d been unreliable for ages. You can’t charge more than £30 at once, so I had to go out and restart it to finish charging. Useful to have chargers and a decent restaurant, but the chargers and tired rooms let the place down.

The accommodation is disgusting. The carpet was visibly dirty, the walls had mould, and the whole place smelled awful. The glass doors to the outside didn’t shut properly either. I wouldn’t tell anyone to sleep here even for free, never mind pay. The pub inside the hotel seemed fine, perhaps it’s been renovated recently, and the staff were okay, but none of that makes up for the state of the rooms.