I was invited on a hen night which was to take place on a saturday night. when i arrived, check in was speedy and the girl on reception was nice and polite. the place was full of young people all checking in for a night on the town. the hotel is within walking distance of arcadian which is a part of town full of restaurants and bars.

we got back to the hotel at about 3:00 am and the security on the door was excellent.

the room was very very clean and i was very happy with the room. the bed was very comfortable.

the only negative was the noise from outside - some idiot thought it a fun idea to play their car stereo really loudly at 5:30 am to wake all the hotels residents. that is not the fault of the hotel but it marred my stay.

the breakfast was basic but good value for £3 - you can take as much as you want so i filled up with 2 croissants, toast, cereal and about 6 cups of tea!!! (needless to say i did not eat until late that night!)

The reception area was very clean and the breakfast room spotless and fresh.
i would not hesitate to go back to this Etap. It is a bargain!

The first thing I should say here is that cheap and cheerful is not my usual hotel choice, I like my hotel room to be at least as nice as my bedroom at home that I’m missing out on…a home away from home if you like…which means it has to be a good size, with a very comfortable king bed, fresh bedding, good sized TV and dressing table with ensuite showeroom at the very least,. Deep comfy carpets and plenty of natural light is a must but with curtains that effectively block out the light at night. The Marriott brand offers this but sometimes at a very high cost, Raddisson and Hilton to a lesser extent but again at sometimes high cost, Holiday Inn is frequently more reasonable but usually fails to hit the mark in all areas…independents vary considerably, occasionally I take the chance but mostly I stick to Marriott. Forte surpasses all others but is more expensive still, even at its cheapest rate. Etap however goes for the cheap and cheerful market. The Hotel is very well located, only a few yards from the RadissonSAS. Etap is £38 night, Radisson is another £100 more per night so you might think of snorting with laughter at the foolishness of the Radisson guests… but beware, you do get what you pay for. The Etap rooms are VERY SMALL with an iron low-slunk double bed with a bunk for kids across the top, if you’ve got no kids it feels horribly claustrophobic, proably more so with kids as it is teeny tiny small. The mattress is foam only and the walls are simply rendered, no doubt easy to clean. The TV is tiny and the window teeny, the sink is in the room and the shower is a self contained unit dropped in the corner next to the sink. I’ve seen more attractive prison cells (And here I do know what I’m talking about!). The carpet is linoleum with a rough felt top….luxury this place ‘aint…but…well it is air conditioned and it works, the toilet is ensuite on its own so no waiting for someone to shower whilst you’re desperate for the loo. Its well soundproofed and whilst there’s no curtains at the teeny window there is a very effective blackout blind so you’ll not be disturbed by excessive heat, cold, light or noise. Make no mistake you’ll not want to spend any waking hours in that room but as a place in Birmingham to put your head down, excellently located, it makes out a good case…if you can sleep on the terrible bed…and I couldn’t…so for me its pointless. But I would say to anyone who just needs a place to sleep in Birmingham for a night or 2 (or perhaps visits Birmingham regularly for a few nights) to give it a go…if you can sleep on the bed you really will be snorting with laughter at the price paid by your neighbours at the Radisson!

As you’ll have seen from other reviews on Trip Advisor, this is a hotel that you’ll either love or hate. If cost is your main criteria then you’ll love this place – it’s £38 per night for a room sleeping up to 3 people; plus the buffet breakfast costs only £2.95 per person. But with low cost comes compromises and, as a result, I won’t be going back. The main things that I didn’t like were:

- Location – it might be convenient for the city centre, but it’s not a nice area. There were groups of lads hanging around cars blaring loud music just outside the hotel entrance and the receptionist said that it was not advisable to leave your car on the street. It is also next to a very busy dual carriageway.
- Car park – this is far too small for the hotel and was full by 4pm on the day I arrived (costs £3 per night). You can park your car at the Ibis on the next street for £3 – worth it given the location.
- Rooms – very small, with no soundproofing so you can hear anything that’s going on in the corridor. The vertical bunkbed ladder is downright dangerous for adults. The opaque shower door gives no privacy and the toilet cubicle is also tiny. You will struggle for space with 2 people in there, let alone 3. I was also given the key to someone else’s room when I first arrived, which made me nervous about room security.

On the positive side, the buffet breakfast was good value for money and it was nice to be able to buy late night drinks and snacks from reception but I’ll definitely pay more to stay somewhere better on my next visit to Birmingham.

I'm staying here for business, and the only advantage is that it is around the corner from where I'm working.

I'm actually typing this from my room now, and frankly, it's disgusting. It's like a prison cell, there's only one plug, no remote for the tv, and no kettle so I can't even make a drink. There are filthy black marks all over the wall, and it's the most depressing place I've ever stayed.

Seriously....I know it's cheap, but they should be paying me to stay here. Thank goodness it's only for one night and I can leave in the morning.