The Hilton Garden Inn hotel at Birmingham Airport is now open

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• Paul says:

  8 Oct8 October 06:47

  The problem with Birmingham airport hotels is that the NEC is right next door and easily accessible. Once the Hikton metropole and way over priced Crowne Plaza are discounted the Novotel and not Hilton garden will be next on Peopls list which will explain the £200 a night rates

• Nigel the Pensioner says:

  8 Oct8 October 07:16

  I agree with Paul above. The Hilton GI however has no bar and no restaurant and will therefore not be seeing me! The Hilton NEC has a shuttle bus to the airport – depending on which way the wind is blowing and also has a club lounge. The Crowne Plaza is newer and is a short stroll from the station where the “Maglev” takes you to BHX for free on an overhead track. Not sure if there is a club floor?? That leaves the Novotel (of non hostel accommodation) whose rooms are atrocious but the bar is nice and the restaurant food – breakfast and evening – is actually quite good. The Novotel is literally 25 yards across the roads from the main entrance to the old T1 at BHX. Looks like its a choice between CP and Novo…… still.

  • Peter K says:

    8 Oct8 October 07:24

    Stayed at the Crowne Plaza NEC earlier this year and never want to return. Staff who did not know what they were doing, every day the room cleaners list said we were checking out, the boiler stopped working one morning so no hot water (even an hour after we rang reception to tell them), reception saying they would do nothing when there was noise loud enough to wake up up at 4am that went on for ages.
    Never again.

    • RakishDriver says:

      8 Oct8 October 18:43

      Agree, stayed a night a few weeks ago; the only plus point was that the restaurants were in walking distance by the lake. Overpriced.

• Neil says:

  8 Oct8 October 07:29

  Rob …

  Just a point that the picture you have used is a picture of the Hilton Gardin Inn Hotel in Birmingham, ALABAMA!

  The one that has just opened at Birmingham Airport in the U.K. still is t an architectural gem but it’s a lot better than the one you’ve pictured.

  • Rob says:

    8 Oct8 October 09:18

    It can’t be, because that it the picture Hilton is using on its website for the hotel if you click through.

    • X says:

      8 Oct8 October 09:42

      I’ve seen it myself a couple of weeks ago. It’s definitely not the one on the picture on the Hilton website.

    • Chris L says:

      8 Oct8 October 11:08

      I am currently in sight of the hotel and can confirm it is as per the new image posted!! Actually not bad as airport hotels go. Apparently it was built in the space of 4 weeks – made up of container-sized modules shipped over from China.

      As an aside, I’m currently sat in the new Aspire (South) lounge. The recent reviews mentioned it was quite empty as of a few weeks ago, but there are a decent number of people in here today, to the point that the 2 members of staff are a bit over-stretched. It’s a decent lounge though. It’s definitely geared towards business travellers – the No1 is more suited to leisure travellers.

      • Crafty says:

        8 Oct8 October 14:17

        I’ll be there later today, not tried any of the 3, which would you recommend? Want some drinks and ideally decent food as I won’t get to my destination until late.

      • Chris L says:

        8 Oct8 October 18:16

        The No1 probably has the best food and drinks overall. Don’t know if you’ve been to one before but you get a small menu of hot items to order which you can only order from once and then there’s a buffet of cold items. The two Aspire lounges are both a hot buffet, but the quality isn’t as good. Aspire South only really makes sense if you’re flying with Flybe or Ryanair.

• Anna says:

  8 Oct8 October 07:40

  OT – today is the last day to order from Tesco Wines before it closes. There aren’t many decent bargains though – the best one I’ve spotted is 33% off their own Bordeaux Superieur. It’s a 2016 so presumably should last a few more years.

  • Anna says:

    8 Oct8 October 07:42

    There are also a couple of decent port offers if that’s your thing (I don’t know anyone under 65 who drinks it!)

    • Alex W says:

      8 Oct8 October 08:01

      I’ll get my coat ????

      • Shoestring says:

        8 Oct8 October 08:14

        Dry white port is an excellent drink and very much ‘in’ across Iberia and amongst those who know over here.

        Completely different to Granny’s sticky sweet red port people usually think of in the UK.

    • Matt says:

      8 Oct8 October 09:01

      I’m 26 and love a tawny port with nice cheeses. Riotous living!

      • Anna says:

        8 Oct8 October 09:33

        Have a look then, they’ve got Graham’s 10 year old Tawny at 32% off!

      • Genghis says:

        8 Oct8 October 15:38

        We went to Graham’s in Porto over the summer and some of the ports were fantastic. We brought back a couple of bottles of good stuff.

• Andrew says:

  8 Oct8 October 08:29

  Is “Garden Court” a separately owned brand name?

  There used to be a Holiday Inn Garden Court in Aylesbury – which was always handy for a mattress run for Accelerate offers (stay in 2 or more Holiday Inn Brands). It’s now a Best Western Garden Court.

  • Save East Coast Rewards says:

    8 Oct8 October 15:33

    The Hilton ones are Garden Inn not Garden Court. I’d only stayed in a Holiday Inn Garden Court once (in Ostend) and it was dreadful, it was definitely below the level of a normal Holiday Inn.

    As for Hilton Garden Inn, all the HGI hotels I’ve stayed in have offered self service laundry so perhaps that’s a brand standard that makes them differ from a regular Hilton. They’ve also had a shop where you can buy drinks and snacks.

• Louie says:

  8 Oct8 October 08:37

  OT: probably a bit niche, but has anyone transferred Heathrow Rewards points to Krisflyer? If so, how long did it take?

• Adam says:

  8 Oct8 October 10:09

  OT: So i had been paying my Amex bill with Curve debit linked through to my Lloyds Avios card. Has anyone done exactly this since the recent curve changes? I’ve got a £3k bill due but don’t overly want to risk £90 of cash advance costs on the Lloyds card if they are now treating it that way. Is it still safe?
  Thanks

  • Crafty says:

    8 Oct8 October 10:31

    No longer seems to go through.

    • soloflyer1977 says:

      8 Oct8 October 10:58

      I did £100 amex transaction on Friday (Curve to Lloyds). It is still in the pending transaction. Will let you know if it attracts a charge. Fingers crossed

      • Adam says:

        8 Oct8 October 11:15

        I did one for £5 last week, and it has went through as only £5, but what i can’t remember is when the cash advance fees get added on. Is it when it posts fully to the account (in which case it appears fine), or is it at statement time?

  • Anna says:

    8 Oct8 October 13:07

    I did 2 similar transactions on Thursday which have gone through and no charges have appeared as yet. Everything I’ve done from Friday onwards is stuck in the pending basket.

• Crafty says:

  8 Oct8 October 10:32

  OT: Tesco Christmas saver. Does my online account need to be set to this (rather than “Vouchers”) or can I just go to store and pay in £360?

  • Shoestring says:

    8 Oct8 October 10:42

    You need to set it ahead of buying the top up (otherwise you can’t buy top ups). Once it’s been added, you can switch away from Xmas Saver, you’ll still get the vouchers last week of October

    • jtz says:

      8 Oct8 October 11:14

      Kind of late to the party but would love some help…..what’s the deal with xmas saver? T&Cs say ‘Christmas savers top-up vouchers cannot be used on Clubcard partners or converted into Airmiles/BA miles.’
      Thanks

    • BJ says:

      8 Oct8 October 11:45

      Harry, do Christmas Saver vouchers come through the post or are they print at home? I think my vouchers set to online only as I’ve not had any by snail mail for years. Thanks.

      • Genghis says:

        8 Oct8 October 15:36

        Whatever you’ve set your prefs to. We just get online and print at home, though code also included for online use.

      • BJ says:

        8 Oct8 October 16:18

        Thanks Genghis, will leave settings as they are then as it takes a risk out of it.

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