We had a second night in Birmingham and wanted to try something new
after staying at the Hyatt Regency Birmingham (Please see review.) in
October 2015 for our 4th time.
The hotel's location is very good on Broad Street. A Sainsbury Express and all the nightlife is just a few steps away.
We booked an Executive Room, the highest category available.
After our lunch at Purnell's Restaurant (Please see review.) we picked up our luggage from the Hyatt Regency and checked in at the Novotel.
The building made the impression it was purpose built.
The modern interior was inviting and colorful. On the right was the reception to the left Elements Restaurant and the bar.
Check in was quick and friendly.
Our room was on the 3rd floor.
It was large with arched double windows and views over the neighboring buildings. They were double glazed and didn't let in any noise.
The room wasn't luxurious, but had interesting design features, like the blue writing desk chair. It looked uncomfortable, but using it proved the whole opposite.
The curtains had colorful circles printed on them. The sofa and carpet were grey, while the rest of the furniture was light brown.
The bed was queen-sized and Japanese sliding doors led to the bathroom.
The flat screen TV offered a wide range of channels including BBC World. Essentially it had the same line up as the Hyatt Regency.
There was also modern artwork and a Bose IPod docking station.
The minibar was free and contained Highland Spring Water.
A Nespresso coffee machine and tea making facilities with Twinning’s Tea were also available.
The bathroom was small with a shower, separate bathtub and sink. The toilet was in a separate room near the entrance - no sink there, but it had a hand disinfectant.
The bathroom amenities were own branded. The interesting thing about them was that they were Fair Trade and came from exotic locals like Mauritius and Kenya. We liked the soap with avocado oil and the sugar cane toiletries. There was also an exfoliant gel scrub and a body milk.
We didn't spend much time on our room or at the Novotel. For example we went to Wagamama on New Street for dinner, because the food at Elements was a bit too outdated for our taste and didn't sound good.
The room was comfortable and the bed allowed a good night’s rest. Overall, it was a good mid-scale room.
The next morning we went for breakfast at the hotel. It was a pleasant surprise and very good value for the quality. It cost 13.95 GBP (ca. 17.45 Euro or ca. 19.85 USD) per person. There was a wide choice of mueslis and cereals, Mueller products including yogurts and drinks, bread, fresh fruits and fruit salad, cold cuts, cheese, products by Tim's Dairy, eggs, bacon and much more. We had a pot of Twinning’s green tea each and got two and a half cups, so that was very generous. To our surprise there was even organic Soya milk.
Afterwards we had a bit time to explore the bar area and were fascinated by the cocktails on display. My fiancé believed they were not real and plastic samples like you see when going out eating in Japan. The bar tender, who was also working as a waiter at the breakfast service, explained they were real and all made by him.
Checking out the other public spaces we found a coffee corner beside the reception and near the entrance to the meeting facilities.
We had a sneak peek at the conferencing facilities. An event was taking place at the time.
Lying on an unoccupied table were printouts of the day's agenda and attendee's names. The meetings had already started. We were concerned about privacy and security as the info was there to take away, if we would have been so inclined.
Soon afterwards it was time to check out. It was done quickly and correctly.
Would we stay here again? Probably not. It's a very good mid-scale hotel with friendly and helpful staff, but we are more interested in upscale to luxury properties, beside this our favorite Novotel so far is their Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport property which feels different than most Novotels we've experienced so far.
Would we recommend this hotel to a friend? Maybe, this depends on purpose of visit and budget.
Would we want to stay again at this hotel when visiting Birmingham in our future? Probably not, as we prefer the Hyatt Regency which was newly renovated recently and feels fresh and innovative.
The hotel's location is very good on Broad Street. A Sainsbury Express and all the nightlife is just a few steps away.
We booked an Executive Room, the highest category available.
After our lunch at Purnell's Restaurant (Please see review.) we picked up our luggage from the Hyatt Regency and checked in at the Novotel.
The building made the impression it was purpose built.
The modern interior was inviting and colorful. On the right was the reception to the left Elements Restaurant and the bar.
Check in was quick and friendly.
Our room was on the 3rd floor.
It was large with arched double windows and views over the neighboring buildings. They were double glazed and didn't let in any noise.
The room wasn't luxurious, but had interesting design features, like the blue writing desk chair. It looked uncomfortable, but using it proved the whole opposite.
The curtains had colorful circles printed on them. The sofa and carpet were grey, while the rest of the furniture was light brown.
The bed was queen-sized and Japanese sliding doors led to the bathroom.
The flat screen TV offered a wide range of channels including BBC World. Essentially it had the same line up as the Hyatt Regency.
There was also modern artwork and a Bose IPod docking station.
The minibar was free and contained Highland Spring Water.
A Nespresso coffee machine and tea making facilities with Twinning’s Tea were also available.
The bathroom was small with a shower, separate bathtub and sink. The toilet was in a separate room near the entrance - no sink there, but it had a hand disinfectant.
The bathroom amenities were own branded. The interesting thing about them was that they were Fair Trade and came from exotic locals like Mauritius and Kenya. We liked the soap with avocado oil and the sugar cane toiletries. There was also an exfoliant gel scrub and a body milk.
We didn't spend much time on our room or at the Novotel. For example we went to Wagamama on New Street for dinner, because the food at Elements was a bit too outdated for our taste and didn't sound good.
The room was comfortable and the bed allowed a good night’s rest. Overall, it was a good mid-scale room.
The next morning we went for breakfast at the hotel. It was a pleasant surprise and very good value for the quality. It cost 13.95 GBP (ca. 17.45 Euro or ca. 19.85 USD) per person. There was a wide choice of mueslis and cereals, Mueller products including yogurts and drinks, bread, fresh fruits and fruit salad, cold cuts, cheese, products by Tim's Dairy, eggs, bacon and much more. We had a pot of Twinning’s green tea each and got two and a half cups, so that was very generous. To our surprise there was even organic Soya milk.
Afterwards we had a bit time to explore the bar area and were fascinated by the cocktails on display. My fiancé believed they were not real and plastic samples like you see when going out eating in Japan. The bar tender, who was also working as a waiter at the breakfast service, explained they were real and all made by him.
Checking out the other public spaces we found a coffee corner beside the reception and near the entrance to the meeting facilities.
We had a sneak peek at the conferencing facilities. An event was taking place at the time.
Lying on an unoccupied table were printouts of the day's agenda and attendee's names. The meetings had already started. We were concerned about privacy and security as the info was there to take away, if we would have been so inclined.
Soon afterwards it was time to check out. It was done quickly and correctly.
Would we stay here again? Probably not. It's a very good mid-scale hotel with friendly and helpful staff, but we are more interested in upscale to luxury properties, beside this our favorite Novotel so far is their Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport property which feels different than most Novotels we've experienced so far.
Would we recommend this hotel to a friend? Maybe, this depends on purpose of visit and budget.
Would we want to stay again at this hotel when visiting Birmingham in our future? Probably not, as we prefer the Hyatt Regency which was newly renovated recently and feels fresh and innovative.
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