Bromsgrove Hotel & Spa

Do not book a suite We stayed for a family celebration. The most expensive room we booked was a suite - I’d like to say that it was not worth the extra money and the lights could not be dimmed. The persons staying in that room had health issues and did not want glaring lights. We mentioned it but were told all the suits were the same. We asked for a partial refund but no offers were made.

Overcrowded event Attended the Disco Diva's and the food was really nice and hot. However, the room was overcrowded to the point where the waiting staff struggled to serve food. Once you were sat down there was no space between you chair and the one behind you. We have been to these events every year for the past 4 years and it wasn't like this. We will not be attending next year. The room was so full it was a health and safety risk.

Filthy room! Our room 281 was filthy. Carpet hadn't been hoovered, there was toe nails, hair and just dirt on the floors. The surfaces were filthy and the sofa was broken and falling apart. Our bed sheets were stained and unclean with hair in them. There was lots of mould and pealing paint all around the windows. Alongside this our bathroom had not been cleaned there was dirt all in the bath with a mouldy shower head. We did complain and the man on reception desk was very lovley and did switch us to a nicer room, however it was disgusting that we were ever put in that room in the first place.

Avoid A very convenient location for the motorway with good parking but £5 per day to park. Swimming pool use is also extra. Reception is nicely presented creating expectations not met. Rooms not so. We rented a family room as a base for a week, whilst visiting family and friends. Room was clean but it was very dark and depressing - one wall painted almost black! Mattress on double bed was shot (no support in middle) so hubby suffered back pain. No replacement mattress available, so he ended up using the single bed. Sheets were pretty cheap and ill-fitting, with a smaller duvet as a mattress protector. Bathroom was dated and needed refurb. Breakfast was buffet with no healthy options. Worst thing was that the hot plates repeatedly had baked-on food debris, despite reporting the issue, so I took to sanitising each plate before use. Some staff were really helpful (cleaners and some reception staff) but canteen staff (felt like a canteen, not a dining room) were very unprofessional - clearly unskilled and untrained: no customer service skill; monosyllabic; stood around chatting to each other, leaning against the back wall whilst supplies dwindled. Appreciate it was sometimes a feeding frenzy as the Mystery Tour coach loads fed before loading onto their buses but even so... staff members actually got annoyed for being asked for more tea bags and butter etc! The male canteen attendant was completely surly and unhelpful and when asked about the unmanned Starbucks kiosk he just walked off. Such a pity as we used this hotel when it was a Hilton and it was so much better. Pot holes in the driveway should have warned us. Would have changed but we had paid upfront!

Awful. Avoid. Owned by Britannia, UK's worst hotel group. My wife and I booked the Bromsgrove Hotel and Spa, in Bromsgrove, thinking that it was still owned by the Hilton Group. However, it had changed hands, some years before, and was now part of the Britannia Hotel Chain. This hotel group had been voted “Britain’s Worst Hotel Chain” by ‘Which’ consumer magazine, for the tenth year in a row in 2022. Had we known, we would have steered well clear. So, here’s the review of a one, or perhaps 2-star hotel, based on a three-night stay: Outside: By the entrance there are four, dirty, flower boxes with no flowers, just discarded cigarette ends. Either side, overgrown flower beds, one housing a dead tree. Look up and you’ll spot a rusty speaker, and a dirty, boarded-up ceiling. Foyer and Check in area: These are the smartest parts of the hotel. They look newly redecorated. Strangely, there’s a coffee station at one end. Why? I guess there was no room in the bar, situated the other side of the wall. The coffee is supplied by Starbucks and is therefore heated to the temperature of the inside of the sun and tasteless. I ordered the smallest Americano and it arrived in a pint mug! Bar area: Looks good, superficially, until you check out the awful suspended ceiling, with tiles from at least a decade ago. The island in the middle of the bar area is a good idea – shame that the surface has been picked at by people with knives and no firing brain cells. One soul has even engraved a message on it! Rooms: A good size and that’s it. A TV screen that wouldn’t be out of place in a drive-in cinema; pillows that were so hard I got a stiff neck. (Mentioned these to reception and was told, “It’s because they’re new.” What? You can buy softer pillows, you know. In the evenings the room was dim – no ceiling lighting. The room had no aircon and was cold on arrival and I couldn’t operate the controls to the one, very old, radiator. I called reception and the guy came round and switched it on with an App on his phone! There was no door to the sink/washing area and there were black (mold) stains around the tile grouting. The boxed-in toilet cistern was operated by a handle that decided when it would work – as they did in the common toilet area. As a point of nostalgia, remember the days when shower curtains were plastic and stuck to you while taking a shower? Also, those rubber mats, with suckers underneath, that fitted inside the bath, so you could stand there while stuck to the curtain? Yes? Well, this hotel provides both! Very 70’s, very shabby. Room Service: Almost non-existent. If you hang a card on the room door handle, they will change toiletries, towels and empty bins. That’s it. No cleaning and certainly no making of beds. If you don’t do that, the room will be exactly as you left it when you come back later that day. Food. We had breakfast there two mornings and it was just about OK, if you exclude that fact that meats and eggs weren’t ready one morning. No cold meats, or a selection of cheeses were on display and no pastries, other than mini croissants – so we forget about the continental breakfast option, if there was one. Breakfast is until 09.30, which is probably the earliest I’ve encountered on my world-wide travels. At 09.31 the containers of tinned fruits were removed and work started on dismantling the hot foods. So much for second helpings. Sachets of sauces are supplied by ‘House’ a brand that makes brown sauce etc. for a third of the price of HP, with a taste profile to match the price. We had a light dinner one evening. My three-egg omelet was burnt and my wife’s ‘Stone-Baked’ Pizza was just awful. (the pizza base was one of those ready-made, supermarket flat pack affairs that refuse to rise) They replaced my omelet with one that was dry (is that possible?) and we forgot about changing the pizza. Why bother. Musak: The hotel playlist is just awful. It’s not the selection per se, it’s just that the sounds do not suit the setting. They’re inappropriate, repetitive and too audible. Hotel music should blend into the background and certainly not disturb like, “Ride on Time” by Black Box did at breakfast! Why not play chill out/ambient by, say, Morcheeba, Zero 7, Air, Kruder and Dorfmeister, or Naomi? Check out. We wanted to order a taxi to the airport. A sign advertised taxis for 33gbp, which we thought was fair. The number was called and we were advised that the taxi company no longer provided this deal (we were told by the driver that the contract was not renewed some years earlier when Britannia took ownership). We agreed on a fare of 46 GBP. Finally, any stars appearing on this review are for the personnel on reception and Chris and Shani in the bar. Thanks!