Ibis Bordesley Circus Hotel

I stayed in Ibis Bordesley as it was close to the company I was visiting and I was pleasantly surprised. The staff are very nice and the rooms really worth the £49 I paid. Their new hot breakfast is a bargain and of good quality. I'll definitely stay there again.

I spend most of my year in hotels so I know a bad one when I see it. I always feel ashamed when criticising people who cant speak English as I can only speak the one language, however its a british hotel so when most of the staff can't communicate with me I get frustrated. The rooms and corridors stank of smoke. Mattress was a wafer thin and not clean. Towels were tiny and rough! I was working night shifts so the late riser breakfast was a big deal to me - advertised as a continental buffet until midday. I went down at 10.15 only to have a rude member of staff informing me that the options were muffins......not what I would call continental or a buffet. The shower would always scold me every time anyone anywhere flushed a toilet or ran a tap. Housekeeping did not understand the meaning of the do not disturb sign and on my penultimate day they rudely told me I was supposed to check out by 12. I informed them I was due to check out tomorrow, and had to call reception to prove it - the woman on the phone suggested putting the do not disturb sign on the door. The window didn't seal properly and the traffic noise was far too much. The icing on the cake was the constantly overbearing smell of urine in the plastic toilet room. I will never waste my money with the Ibis chain ever again even though many of their larger hotels are absolutely fine.

I was warned about Ibis Hotels as they are not the greatest but due to all hotels being fully booked...this was my only choice. I paid the extra £9.99 so i could use the internet with my laptop. When trying to connect my laptop, the internet was not connecting, after getting no response from calling down to reception. i went down myself to explain i wasnt getting any connection. A lady came to the room to try sort it but couldnt, She then tried to even call the reception herself....no one answered. So she went down and 20 minutes later, her collegue turned up. he tried everything and still could not manage to get it working, he apologised and explained i could get a refund in the morning when checking out. Due to a family problem i had to travel home at 3am and checked out. As i did this. I asked the receptionist if i could have my refund. he told me it wasnt his problem. and walked off. (This man was called Khan) the other receptionist who told me he and Khan were both the manager, that he would not refund me as the guy (David) who tried to fix the connection had left a message saying all connections are working no refunds nessacary. The only person that helped me was the Sercurity guard who told me that these guys were just night staff and the best thing to do was to ring up monday morning. The room was dirty and the sheets looked as if they had not been changed. i really would not reccomend this hotel.

I was supposed to stay at the Ibis Hotel Holloway Circus in Birmingham but due to my room being flooded I was moved to the Ibis in Bordesley. By all accounts this was an upgrade as I have since read reviews on the Ibis Holloway Circus - and that is saying something!! At first they tried to charge me extra to stay in an available room, and the guy at reception said it was not his problem that my room was not available in their sister hotel! Eventaully I got a room at the same price I paid for and I must say it was awful. The widow didn't close properly so I was freezing all night. The room itself stunk of smoke - as did the bedding! The bathroom was not clean with no soap in any of the dispensers. The hotel was noisy and I could hear people all night coming in. Lastly I have never stayed in a hotel where there is a security guard checking people, and their hotel room as they come in! I knew not to expect much as it was only £55 to stay a night - however the night before I stayed in a Travelodge for £43 a night, and although it was basic - it was clean, quiet and in a great location.

After our experience in this hotel i truely cannot believe that anyone would want to stay here at all. The rooms were basic and unclean. The bed sheets were supposed to be white and were off colour, and the undersheet was undescribable. Then we found a knife and a pot of Philadelphia strategically placed on the window sill left from another visit (or maybe the chamber maid was peckish) It took 4 attempts to book in because the staff were mostly students who could not understand a word of English. Then when we complained the customer service was disgusting. We had a complaint form thrown at us. I do not recommend this hotel at all. Stay somewhere else. Even if you want to go and watch Birmingham city stay in the city centre and get a bus!!!

Stayed at this hotel for 2 nights. The service and staff were very pleasant and helpful. The room were very clean and to the standard you would expect for this kind of hotels. It was very close to the venue we were attending the meeting, making it very practical and easy for all parties.

Outline Stayed mid week for 4 nights with business colleagues Arrival Most the reception team are foreign and speak little English, so if you have no problems checking in/out this shouldn’t be an issue, but if you have a problem it can be difficult to get the staff to understand your needs. Room The room was lovely, modern and clean with a Philips flat screen TV installed during my stay. There is wireless and wired internet connections that are available, but not free. The beds were nice and comfortable Food The food is served in the bar area, the menu is small and food generally takes a long time to arrive, but is cooked quite nice. Location The hotel is about 20mins walk away from the main shopping centre and is easily accessible by car too. Overall experience I stayed there for 4 nights and probably wouldn’t stay there again if I was in the area, mainly because it was small and basic but if you’re looking for cheap then it would disappoint too much.

The other reviews were spot on. What it's not :- It's not convenient for a wide array of restaurants, exiting nightlife, Birmingham centre. What it is :- Close to a MacDonalds, clean, efficient, peopled by friendly staff, close to a busy road (A45) but you cannot really hear any noise, close to Birmingham City Football ground. I stay all the time on business, I recommend it. Don't have breakfast though it's a) rubbish, b) expensive for what it is.

This was week two of an eight week stay in Birmingham (commuting up from London Monday morning, returning to London Friday evening). I don't like the UK motel type scene - Ibis, Travelodge, Premier Travel Inn - and only ever go for the 'better' hotels, so was really dissappointed to find that all my usual hotels were either booked or rediculously overpriced for this week (lots of conferences, and Lionel Richie live). So ended up at the Ibis in Bordesley Circus. Despite the pic on the Ibis website, which makes the place look really quite nice, it is a typical busy road side motel type hotel on a busy ring road 5-10 minute drive / 20 minute walk from the city centre. Not near anything at all - apart from McDonalds - so if, like me, you are communting by train and so don't have a car, you know that you will be eating and drinking in the hotel. Walked through the door straight into the restaurant/bar area which doubles up as the reception. I say 'restaurant' but really it's more like a nicely done cafe. My immediate reaction was "oh no". Staff were excellent, if not 100% great English speakers, and I checked in with no problem. I'd asked for a non-smoking room when I booked on their website, so was not happy when I left the lift on the third floor and was greeted by a very strong smell of cigarette smoke. Walked into my room, and the smell of tobacco was even greater. The room was overlooking the ring road, so when I opened the window to get some air in, I had pollution and noise instead. Went to reception and told them that I asked for a non-smoking room, and was given another room - on the non-smoking 1st floor - straight away. Room was clean and comfortable, but worth £55 a night, so don't expect too much. Smelt nice. Was at the back of the hotel, so overlooked some greenery and was very quiet. Shower is excellent, and could almost be called a wet room (you enter the shower through double glass doors). I'm not fussy when it comes to beds, but some may not like it. The mattress was kind of slatted, with rows of foam from top to bottom, very strange. But, I slept like a log all four nights. As for the restaurant/cafe, don't expect to be kind to your waist as the menu is burgers, pizzas, pies, that type of thing, *but* I really enjoyed every meal. They offer a few specials each day, and these were quite good (I had a nice salmon pasta one night, a shepherds pie another, a chicken and ham pie another, and went for fish and chips from the normal menu on another). Don't get me wrong, they're not going to earn a Michelin star or anything, but the food was hot, filling, tasty, quick and very, very reasonable. All the staff were excellent, polite, quick and helpful. So, all in all, I really enjoyed my stay and must stop being a hotel snob. If the hotel was closer to the centre, I would definitly consider cancelling the reservations I have made for the next 6 weeks - the City Inn, Copthorne, Jury's - stay here, and save a fortune. Don't expect too much, remember that it's £55 a night, get a room at the back of the hotel, on the 1st floor (if you're not a smoker) and you will be very pleasantly surprised. By the way, WiFi is available, but not complimentary. Ten euros for two hours. Process for getting connected was appaling, and they don't email you your account details despite saying they do, so make sure you note down your username and password as soon as your transaction goes through. I didn't and so had to pay for another two hours. Terrible, but Orange's fault, not the hotel's.

I regularly stay in this hotel whenever I visit Birmingham. It is at a great location with safe parking facility, less than a mile out of city centre and brilliant staff; they are all very helpful and make me feel at home. Nothing is too much trouble for any of them. I don't have one of their loyalty cards, but it makes no difference, unlike some hotels. They even remembered my birthday this year! Rooms are simple and clean with everything you need; if you want to practice your French like I do, there is even French TV! Saying that, you can practice many languages there as most staff speaks at least 2 languages. I mostly eat in the hotel restaurant; it is good value for the money. Whenever I stay there, I see many familiar faces; there are many business travellers like me who stay there regularly and we got to know each other. I even manage to speak in French to some of them. If you want a clean place with friendly staff, I strongly recommend this hotel to anybody.