The Gables Birmingham Airport

The staff were lovely and friendly, and at first the room seemed fine. Then at checkout we found someone else's rubbish in it. That was really unnerving and made me wonder whether the room had been cleaned before we arrived. A shame, since otherwise the hotel seemed okay.

It's quiet and peaceful here, with plenty of parking, and the rooms are spotless with coffee and other hot drink supplies. The staff are welcoming and do their best to arrange late checkouts when we need them. Another useful perk is being able to leave the car here while we go on holiday instead of paying for airport parking. We stay regularly and would definitely recommend it for a comfortable, hassle-free visit.

The room was small, with nowhere to put our things and just one socket across the room from the bed, so my partner and I had to take turns charging our phones. We were also woken repeatedly by the heavy downstairs door slamming through the night and morning, and other guests being loud, possibly drunk, around 2am. The heating came on by itself at a very high temperature during the night, waking us up. I ended up opening the window and ditching my pyjamas and sheets. The shower was tiny and hard to get into because one sliding door stuck. Changing the temperature made no difference to the water. There was only one towel for us both and one tea bag. The pillowcases had children's rocket ships on them. Our kettle was unsafe because the lid wouldn't close, so it had to boil open. The toilet seat was broken and slid around when you tried to sit down. There was half an empty bottle of shower gel on the toilet basin, but no shampoo or conditioner. A few small, inexpensive fixes could make people want to return, but this experience put me off.

The only positives for me were the airport being nearby and free parking. Everything else was in poor shape: dirty, cracked, water-stained and looking almost derelict. My room was filthy, with a stained ceiling sagging from a leaking roof. The windows were so misted with condensation I couldn't see out, and part of the shower-room ceiling had collapsed. The shower control was stuck on maximum heat, so I couldn't use it. One pillow smelled and looked as if it hadn't been changed. Reception arrangements were chaotic. The whole place reeked of Asian food, and I could still smell it on my clothes 24 hours later. The food can be enjoyed, but please use an extractor fan. They call this a four-star hotel; if there were a no-star rating, I'd give it that. It felt more like a run-down HMO for homeless people. If you want to pay £50 for a room like this with a stale curry-house smell, go ahead and book.