Holiday Inn Birmingham - Hoover by IHG

On 12/5/25 we came down for breakfast at 7:25, though it was supposed to start at 6:30. The dining room lights were off, and there was coffee but no food. We had somewhere to be and needed to eat and leave quickly. The lobby clerk apologized and said the cook was late and breakfast would take about 15 minutes. We’d already been charged for two breakfasts at 13.50 each, but they refunded us. Earlier, we’d heard profanity in the dining area and seen people drinking at a bar. At night we tried to sleep, but room 214 played loud music all night. We’ve always stayed with Holiday Inn and liked the rewards program, but it feels like the quality has dropped, and this no longer seems like a family-friendly option for our travels.

The location was great for our one-night stay in Birmingham. The front desk staff welcomed us warmly, our room was very clean, and breakfast was very good. The woman in charge of breakfast was especially nice.

We used to stay here and had a great time, but it’s gone downhill under the new ownership or management. The fitness room door was broken, there were hair clumps in the elevator, and the whole hotel smelled funky. We checked out right away and never got a refund. The manager said we would be refunded after contacting booking.com, but that never happened. The front desk, including the manager at check-in, was very unprofessional. Don’t waste your time or money here. I’m not one to leave bad reviews, but this one had to be said. I’d give zero stars if I could.

The food itself was good, and the hotel was clean, including the rooms, lobby, and hallways. CJ gave fantastic service at check-in, and the staff overall were top-notch. Still, I was disappointed with the restaurant choices, bar drinks, and breakfast staff. We booked through IHG mainly for the convenience of an in-house restaurant and bar. Recent mixed reviews hadn’t prepared us for this. The online menu bore little resemblance to what was available: Kem's Restaurant menu wasn’t an option, and the restaurant had only a handful of dishes. Apparently, four months hadn’t been enough to update the website. The bar had no brown liquor, and when I chose something else, staff had to wash the glass I’d just used to make another guest’s drink because it was the only one available. Breakfast staff could use some training in friendliness. I walked in and got an immediate “room number,” without a greeting or even a good morning. Maybe that’s due to an issue in the area, but it was still disappointing. There was an outdoor seating area behind the hotel, but it looked untouched for months. I stay in hotels around 150 days a year, and this was mediocre at best, a pure disappointment. It took two months to get a reply, and it read like a generic copy-paste. The least they could do was read the reviews and respond with some attention and care. I never mentioned the shower, but their reply did, which made it obvious they hadn’t written it with my feedback in mind. The giveaway was the line asking me to contact “[Hotel Manager’s Name]” at “[email/phone].” They hadn’t even edited the canned response. Customer service really is becoming a lost art.