Review: the Hilton Garden Inn hotel, Birmingham Airport

This is our review of the Hilton Garden Inn Birmingham Airport hotel.

As part of a recent review of airport lounges I found myself staying overnight at Birmingham Airport, without any time to explore the city.

We thought it would be a good idea to review one of the airport hotels and settled on the Hilton Garden Inn, a fairly new addition which opened in 2018.

The hotel building itself won’t win any prizes for its design. It was built in a modular fashion “on a very constrained site and with half the building coming from China” according to the developers.

The hotel website is here. Don’t get confused with the Hilton Garden Inn Birmingham, Alabama – we once used a photograph of that hotel in an article by mistake …..

Location

The Hilton Garden Inn Birmingham Airport is located directly opposite the passenger terminal – just across the road – which means you won’t have to bother with shuttle buses. It probably takes a minute or two to reach after leaving the terminal building.

Annoyingly the main entrance is on the side furthest from the terminal itself.

Inside the Hilton Garden Inn Birmingham Airport

Step inside and you are greeted by the hotel reception:

Check-in is very efficient and I was promptly given my room key on the top floor (which, if memory serves correctly, is the eighth).

Rooms

Rooms are just what you would expect from a Hilton Garden Inn: smart but fairly basic. It was, however, a very good size:

There’s the bedroom, with king size bed and decent desk:

As you can see there is no overhead light, although lots of lamps. I wasn’t able to get the standing lamp or left hand bedside lamp working, however.

The TV is a little dated – more 2008 than 2018, when the hotel opened, yet alone 2021:

Underneath is a mini fridge and safe:

No coffee machine but you do get a kettle and some instant coffee:

You also have a wardrobe with iron:

Plus a view of the airport:

The bathroom is behind the bedroom and is fairly standard. Nothing fancy here, just cream tiles:

A nice, spotlessly clean shower:

…. and the usual Crabtree & Evelyn toiletries:

Restaurant / breakfast

My whistlestop tour didn’t give me time to sample the food but I did have a peek before I left. It is served on the ground floor, behind the reception in quite a large space:

It was quite busy for dinner although not so much at 5am when I was up for my flight. Breakfast looks good with a decent hot selection – better than in the lounge, although as I was reviewing the lounge I couldn’t defect.

Room service is also available from 5pm-10pm.

Conclusion

Like most people my stay was brief, but I managed to get an overview of the hotel. All things considered it is fairly basic and isn’t breaking any frontiers when it comes to style. It is clean, comfortable and quiet which is more than enough for an airport hotel.

The Hilton Garden Inn Birmingham Airport starts at £80 or 36,000 Hilton Honors points for a weekday night in January. You can find out more, and book, on the hotel website here.

---

How to earn Hilton Honors points and status from UK credit cards (April 2024)

There are various ways of earning Hilton Honors points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses.

Do you know that holders of The Platinum Card from American Express receive FREE Hilton Honors Gold status for as long as they hold the card?  It also comes with Marriott Bonvoy Gold, Radisson Rewards Premium and MeliaRewards Gold status.  We reviewed American Express Platinum in detail here and you can apply here.

Did you know that the Virgin Atlantic credit cards are a great way of earning Hilton Honors points? Two Virgin Points can be converted into three Hilton Honors points. The Virgin Atlantic cards are the only Visa or Mastercard products in the UK which can indirectly earn Hilton Honors points. You can apply here.

You can also earn Hilton Honors points indirectly with:

• American Express Gold (20,000 bonus Amex points)
• American Express Rewards Credit Card (10,000 bonus Amex points)

and for small business owners:

• American Express Business Gold (20,000 bonus Amex points)
• American Express Business Platinum (40,000 bonus Amex points)

The conversion rate from American Express to Hilton points is 1:2.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which can be used to earn Hilton Honors points. 

(Want to earn more hotel points?  Click here to see our complete list of promotions from the major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.)