HotelJurys Inn Birmingham

[sue51, 28.11.2006] For anyone not aware of the Jurys Doyle chain, they are an Irish chain with over 30 properties in the UK, Ireland and the States and claim to be one of the fastest growing hotel chains in Europe. They have three levels of offering, the budget Jurys Inn range, the Jurys Hotel, and 3-5 star luxury bands, the Berkeley Court, the Towers, and the Westbury outlets.

Being relatively easy access from my home, Birmingham is not somewhere I tend to stay over that often, but on this occasion, attending a two day event in the city, I had little option, and as the tab was being picked up by a third party I also had no choice on the hotel.

BOOKING
Jurys Inn Birmingham is what I would class as one of their budget outlets.

One night was booked on my behalf, and the did myself. This meant contacting the hotel after booking to tie the two reservations together ensuring I wasn't checking in and out of my room with a full day meeting ahead. This went smoothly eventually but did take some work.

Because of the need to match the two reservations, I did try booking on the phone, but the best rate I could get was £79 room only, whereas on their website the same was on offer for £63. Naturally, on a limited budget I opted for the on-line reservation, available at www.jurysdoyle.com.

The quoted rack rate in the hotel is £140 (210 Euros) per room per night and does not include breakfast. This is not what I would typically put into a budget category, although we paid £63 for the first night through their website, and £107 for the second on a group rate!

LOCATION
Jurys Inn, Birmingham is in a superb position. It is a short walk from the famous Repertory Theatre and International Convention Centre. The New Street shopping area and train startion are both within easy walking distance. The hotel is in good company with a myriad of other hotel outlets including the Novotel, Travel Lodge, Hyatt and Copthorne within spitting distance.

This creates the impression that the area is built up, and you wouldn't be wrong, but with 15 floors at Jurys, there are still a number of chances to view this magnificent and rapidly modernising city.

Despite being in a one-way road system, the car park at the rear of the hotel is easy to access providing you download the clear directions from their website. Parking is available on-site in the form of a public multi-storey car park, charging 60p an hour for the first 10 hours and then 30p an hour or part thereof. This is not the cheapest I have had had for city centre outlets, although to be fair, it is certainly comparable with extortionate prices paid in Manchester.

RECEPTION
This is a large affair with high ceilings, and needs to be because of the hotels size. The area can seem like an efficient modern company, or a barrage of chaos dependent on what time you are there. Reception leads off to an Italian restaurant, a bar with lots of comfortable sofas, a coffee bar and the hotels main restaurant.

CHECK-IN
If anything, this is where Jurys outlets seem to fail the most. Everything had been undertaken correctly by both us and the organising party. However, even though I had booked for 3 people on-line and provided all names, the hotel had no record of one member of the party. They then tried to charge me £107 per room (rather than £63), which I fiercely argued against, thank goodness I had taken my paperwork with me, which was copied and attached to the booking paperwork by the diligent receptionist. Good job, because on check-out, they once again tried to charge me £107 room only, I was not a happy bunny. So if staying here, ensure you take your paperwork with you.

Also, it is worth noting that Jurys Birmingham is a 450 roomed hotel, and location and price, coupled with its excellent meeting facilities make it a popular outlet. Therefore, f you arrive or leave during peak periods there WILL be a LONG WAIT. Checking out took some 20 minutes of queuing, that was without the complications of the rates charged.

Some 30 minutes after arriving, we were sent to the correct rooms, and although I had booked three smoking rooms, because the website does not allow different selections, we had no problem changing the third room to a no smoking.

It is very disappointing that that they could not manage their booking systems correctly, despite everything being computerised.

THE ROOM
I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but the room was exceptionally roomy with 2 very comfortable double beds, a large work area, open-plan wardrobe, numerous drawers, TV and coffee making facilities. There were ample plug sockets, dial up and high speed internet access ports, and as usual, an en-suite bathroom. The baths in Jurys raised several comments from my fellow-travellers. The baths were extremely shallow, with several pull-bars in the shower area, suggesting that they were designed with accessibility in mind, but interestingly made life difficult for many able-bodied people. The usual complement of fixed toiletries was supplied, along with a few midget sized towels. Electricity was obtained through inserting the room swipe key into a specially designed socket near the door, This totally confused my colleague, and in my experience is not particularly common in UK outlets, although this is slowly changing.

Depressingly, the hairdryer was a fixed unit in the bathroom, although my colleague did have a free moving dryer in her room. Iron and ironing boards were not available for use in rooms. Guests had to make use of the ironing room in the basement. This was not ideal, but I guess with 450 rooms, the staff could spend half their life delivering equipment to guests, and with the speed of reception anyway, this could be damaging to the overall service level.

The room windows did not open, and the heating / cold air blower did not appear to work. I did however, spend very little time in my room and didn't find the temperature particularly intolerable, (which is more than I can say for my recent visit to the Milton Keynes Hilton).

There was no cables for the high-speed internet access, and reception struggled to find cabling. They also advised me that the cost of the access was £5 each time you log in, and of course because your electricity is turned off when you leave the room, this could be quite frequent and therefore expensive. This saw me issued with two room keys so I could leave the laptop on, however, it decided to switch itself off overnight, and connected without an extra charge the next morning. This means either the staff gave the wrong information, or their system is not working correctly; with a 1Mb speed, I was more than happy.

In summary, a nicely equipped modern room with a few minor niggles.


EATING AND REFRESHMENTS
In common with the other Jurys outlets Ive visited, drinks are reasonably priced, and bar meals are the order of the day. Selection is broad and offers choices for meat-eaters and veggies, and at just £6 to £8 for a main course, reasonably priced for a city centre hotel. Drinks were priced similarly to my local which is more than acceptable. I paid around £6 for a double G&T, although I did find nearly £4 for a glass of red wine a bit steep, now I know why I tend to drink lager.

Food was served quickly and was very palatable.

BREAKFAST
This was not included in the room rate, and will add £9.50 to your bill. As you would expect in a hotel of this size, it is buffet service and on offer were a whole host of cereals, juices, yogurts, pastries, breads and toppings. There was also the usual hot selection of bacon, sausage, hash browns, fried bread, beans, mushrooms, potatoes, veggie meat types. To be fair, it was fresh and hot with none of the school dinners experience we had in Jury's Edinburgh.

The breakfast here made a refreshing change from all the other Jurys outlets Ive stayed in.


LEISURE FACILITES
This is a Jury's Inn rather than a hotel, and they pride themselves on offering affordable practical accommodation for the business and leisure traveller. The superb location means that chances are you will not need them. However, if you cannot do without your daily workout or swim, there is a leisure club opposite the hotel, and Jury's guests get a discounted entry price of £10 (c 15 Euros). With our busy two day schedule there was no time to try it out, and if you really want these facilities, the nearby Copthorne offers them all for no extra charge, and has room rates comparable to Jurys.


SUMMARY
To be fair there was little to fault about the hotel itself, either with facilities or cleanliness, although the staff could do with understanding their systems a little better and honouring their commitments to customers when booking

MY VERDICT: Highly recommended, although they need to tighten up on their booking and check-in procedures