Edgbaston House

The room was nice, and the location and parking were great, but there were several problems. At 1am our room started leaking, so we had to move to a smaller one, which was inconvenient. None of the sinks drained properly. The cleaning ladies were really nice, but the fire alarm went off at 10am for no apparent reason, and our TV switched itself on at 3am, which was a bit scary. There are things that need improvement.

I've stayed three times. The first visit was fantastic. On my second, a two-night birthday stay, the heating didn't work on the first day. Nobody came to look at it until day two, and it still wasn't fixed. The cleaner got the bathroom underfloor heating going, but the room itself stayed cold. I raised it with Ricky, but didn't feel he acknowledged that anything would be done, even with cold December nights. Other guests came back intoxicated and made a racket from 3-5am, and there was no support available to contact anyone about the noise. Three months later, in March, we booked the same room for another two nights, paying well over £250. The heating still wasn't working, just as it hadn't in December, and there seemed to be no intention of fixing it.

On New Year's Eve we arrived to find our room cancelled, with no prior contact. They had sent one email, but it went straight to spam, so it didn't seem like much effort had been made to reach us. We called while sitting in the car outside and got an unhelpful man who just said they were fully booked and asked what he could do. Other family members with bookings had payment problems and other issues too. Luckily, we found a room at the Highfeld across the road, which was cheaper and included breakfast.

The room was spacious, clean and nicely decorated, with a comfortable bed and a rain shower. The location is handy, about five minutes from Morrisons and Hagley Road for buses and trams. But the lack of on-site staff made a string of problems much harder to deal with. I missed the email with the entry code, which was my mistake, but that's not typical of a hotel. The number we called went to voicemail. Once inside, the check-in screen had crashed, and after I restarted it, it said our room wasn't ready and gave no key. Eventually someone answered and provided another code so we could get a room card. The first room's lock had a dead battery, and after we reached a second room, its safe didn't work. Calls about that went unanswered too. The locks also need a firm check or they can stay open. The rooms and location are good, but the broken cards and safe, plus the lack of response, were a deal-breaker for us. Remote staff might be workable if they answered the phone. We'll stay at the Marriott up the street, where staff are on site to handle issues.