Overall, it's a decent place, Positives with problems which are not easy to forgive...
Lovely location a short walk from the city centre, Utilita Arena, Grand Canal, stations and parks. St Paul's House had great decor, an impressive bar area with immaculate toilets, and a smart presentable entrance giving an upmarket vibe. Staff were friendly and happy to store our luggage early before our official check-in time. Any requests and questions were handled well. All drinks in room fridge were complimentary, good flavoursome cocktails. Room cleanliness was of a high standard.
We chose not to drive and use the parking, but if you choose to, parking is available. Despite recent known issues of car vandalism in the central Birmingham area, all of the cars within the hotel premises were secure, and there were no signs of damage and/or theft.
My favourite features for this hotel were the impressive separation of the rooms to the hotel bar area. Excellent security provision for assurance. The hallway to the 1st and 2nd floors was impressively designed. Slick decor and design of the reception and bar area. And we had a good night's sleep despite it being Saturday night in Birmingham.
Downsides with the room:
Pillows were too cheap and soft.
-mattress very low down and not of great quality.
- ventilation from their AC was poor, so I had to open the window.
The TV position is too high in comparison to the height of the bed.
- automatic sensor light in front of open wardrobe kept going on and off sporadically all night even when somebody rolled over or moved a leg whilst sleeping, odd since the bed was quite far away from the location of the wardrobe in question.
- Fridge was luke warm.
Breakfast
We opted to go for breakfast in the morning. The food itself was lovely, but we waited 55 mins for our cooked breakfast. I should be honest and share that one of the causes for this timely delay was that we asked for a customised cooked breakfast. The waitor was attentive and honest in saying he would need to seek the chef's approval. Ultimately, we would need to pay 42 instead of 30 to accommodate, but we decided instead we should just order one of the other options provided on their menu to stick to 30 each. The 30 pp covers unlimited continental food and drinks and a hot meal. Sadly, our amended order coincided with a rush of other tables at 9am, so our order was down the pecking order, and consequently, we lost time to prepare for a timely 11am check out.
I'm sure there are valid reasons from management as to why the cooked breakfast options are rigid. But having experienced other hotels at higher and lower costs for breakfast, generally you can customise a cooked order providing items are all valid options from the existing breakfast menu for a 'Full English'. It just didn't feel flexible that this incurred extra costs when requesting removal of items and asking for reasonable additional items. Perhaps the food stock is ordered in, and deviation from the menu causes stock issues? However, you can pay half the price for a flexible option cooked breakfast at a Premier Inn, for example.