English
Birmingham Nec
Book online or call:
1 877 2 CROWNE (1 877 227 6963)
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Hotel Contact Information
Hotel Front Desk: 44-871-9429160
Hotel Fax: 44-121-7814321
Costs 10p per minute + network extras
Hotel Fax: 44-121-7814321
Costs 10p per minute + network extras
Rated 3.7 out of 5 by 105
reviewers.
Rated 5.0 out of 5.0 Good service friendly and welcoming
Great stay! Shame about Pink being postponed, hopefully we will be able to book again when we have the new date :)
April 28, 2013
Rated 3.0 out of 5.0 by paulus382004 No Free WiFi
For a major hotel chain not to offer free wifi is scandalous. The ONLY reason i used your hotel was because it was opposite the LG arena. If I was attending the NEC and another hotel offered free wifi, then I would not have stayed at your hotel
April 28, 2013
Rated 1.0 out of 5.0 by marksp mr paul
uncomfy bed, and very basic,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
April 26, 2013
Rated 4.0 out of 5.0 by Kristina12 A good choice while working at the NEC
The hotel is perfectly located for working exhibitions at the NEC. The reception, breakfast and dinner service was all superb. Sadly the 100% good service record was missed by a farcical episode trying to get served at the bar, with two staff members wandering about behind the bar studiously avoiding catching my eye while a third worked hard to serve the queue. But that was a small annoyance and everything else was good and good value for money. Oh and avoid the top floor if you are not a sound sleeper, the roof bangs in the wind as if you're sleeping in a lean-to.
April 24, 2013
Rated 1.0 out of 5.0 by UnhappyLady Dirty Bedlinen
I stayed at the Crowne Plaza whilst attending a conference at the NEC and was very disappointed to find that the bed linen had not been changed since the last guest.
Housekeeping had just turned the pillows so the make-up smears were facing away and placed a decorative runner over the dubious stains on the duvet. This was dealt with by housekeeping but I do not expect this disgusting practice at a Crowne Plaza.
I also had the misfortune of dining in the restaurant. They messed up my order, which meant I didn't eat at the same time as my companions.
The manager sent an email to me saying "it was entirely their mistake" but didn't offer an apology.
All in all I will never stay here again.
April 22, 2013
Rated 5.0 out of 5.0 by Siobhan45 Excellent location
Only stayed one night as we attended a concert at the LG Arena . Very comfortable room , Helpful friendly staff , the room was big enough for the 3 of us ,although we did have to ask for extra cup , wine glass and robe and towels which often happens when we stay as a triple ! The hotel was very close to the arena and to trains into Birmingham for shopping . Tea and coffee making facilities in room also 2 bottles of complementary water . Would use this hotel again
April 19, 2013
Rated 3.0 out of 5.0 by 007wilmer Nice room, bar service variable
First time at Crowne Plaza hotel NEC. Chose it for convenience for LG arena and couldn't fault locale. Bit miffed to be charged for car park as an added extra!! Bar staff varied from extremely helpful to almost useless. Front desk staff very polite and helpful. Would stay again (have already booked!# but would think that regular users of this hotel would get a concession #free) for parking and some incentive for bar/food??
April 18, 2013
Rated 3.0 out of 5.0 by Thead1st Not for the business traveler - even in a convention location
I am a Priority Gold member
There is not Club Lounge here - it was removed
They do not offer free wifi for members - and the cost if very steep
And when you try to discuss it - you get blown off
When signing up for the paid wifi - you only get two devices - and it is not two ACTIVE devices - which they don't tell you - it is just two devices once active - and adding more or changing is not something you can do - and again they just don't care and tell you that its your problem not theirs
April 11, 2013
Rated 4.0 out of 5.0 by Thomo13 Excellent hotel if going to NEC
This is the ideal hotel if your plans are to visit the NEC Birmingham. Unfortunately, I only arrived at 10pm and was only staying 1 night so never got to experience anything but my room.
Short walk to via a path to the NEC. Use the rear entrance via the bar.
Only criticism would be that they recognised me as Gold rather than Platinum. Don't know if I should have been on a Club Floor or not. Room was ideal anyway.
April 11, 2013
Rated 1.0 out of 5.0 by FredtheNeedle I don't think I'll bother again
My wife and I were going to see "For the Love of Mrs Brown" at the LG Arena and therefore this hotel should have been an ideal place to stay and give us a relaxing evening/night. Oh dear, what a disappointment.
Where do I start? How about the 15 minutes it took to check in? Two receptionists on duty at the desk and both were busy with customers. So my wife and I stood and waited. And waited. And waited....... Eventually I suggested that my wife sat down with our overnight cases and I'd wait in the "queue". And wait. And wait. Finally a man appeared from behind the reception area and asked if there was anything he could help me with. I said that I was waiting to check in. There then followed a magical "rabbit in the headlights" moment where his eyes widened and his face froze. He then moved over to one of the receptionists (who appeared to be having a problem) and started talking to her. He never did say anything else to me after the first question.
The second receptionist eventually finished with her customers (what were they talking about?) and I managed to check in - I'd booked online and I'm a platinum member of the points scheme so my check in took about 2 minutes as all was ready for me. Goodness knows what the delay was.
The room was clean and tidy although I wonder if the rooms are ever checked as the standard lamp didn't work and the bathroom door didn't close properly. I forgot to mention those on our departure. Also, we'd reserved a lake view which we got, but also got a view over the building site next door (not the Crowne Plaza's fault I grant you, but worth noting that you can get "extras" with the lake view :-) ).
Now comes the tricky part. The LG Arena is about 6 or 7 minutes slowish walk away from the hotel and the show started at 7.30pm. Therefore we decided to go downstairs to eat at the hotel around 5.30 to give ourselves 2 hours to order, eat and then freshen up and get to the show in a nice relaxed manner. When you've got youngish kids, evenings away together are pretty precious and should be savoured.
Problem No 1 is that the restaurant, Pendigos doesn't open until 6.30 (according to my welcome letter). I'd assume that most shows etc on the NEC site start at around 7.30 so that's a bit tight to say the least. However we thought we'd eat at the bar. It was 5.20 when we arrived in the bar area (I looked at my watch) and there appeared to only be one person serving! I assume from what happened later that he was the bar manager. I was 3rd in the queue behind 2 other guys but somehow got served behind 2 women who appeared from nowhere but seemed to be known - the guy next to me remarked on that as they pushed him one down the pecking order too. Service was slow, why only one person doing the bar? A couple of people asked about ordering food and were told that you needed to sit at one of the tables where a server would magically appear to take your order. So my wife went off to get a table.
Eventually I got our drinks served by a "different" guy in a suit (it was then 5.35, so about 15 minutes!) and joined her. She suggested that in order to save time, we got the Brasserie Boards (note that the British one differs from the one on the website as I write this). These involved no cooking as far as we could tell and we were starting to get a bit nervous based on check in and bar speed. After a 10 minute wait, no server appeared so we asked one of the staff who was passing if we could order some food. She said she's get us a server, who arrived about 3 or 4 minutes later (we were after all at least 20 feet from the end of the bar).
We ordered our food, one of each of the boards (a Spanish and a British) and finished our drinks. About 5 minutes later our server appeared and said that the kitchen had told her that there would be a 30 minute wait for the food so did we still want it? After looking at our watches and weighing up the options, we decided to carry on and wait. At 6.10 the server appeared and said that our food would be along in about 2 minutes. We ordered a couple of glasses of wine which appeared rather quickly. At 6.25 I called the server over and asked where our food was. She went back to the bar and spoke to the guy who had served up the drinks at the start. He came over and began to apologise, saying that the kitchen..... At this point I stopped him, pointing out that it was now 6.30 and we wanted to have something to eat and then get off to the show. I pointed out that they were a hotel and as such, guests should expect to be served in a timely manner (my son is a chef by the way and he would not have put up with a customer having to wait for that length of time). I asked if he agreed that it was poor service and he said that it was and started to blame the kitchen again. At this point another server arrived with our food. I asked if we could be allowed to eat our food as this was what we wanted and all of the talking was delaying us further. He said that he's take the cost of our drinks off of our bill. I told him that that was not what I wanted, what I wanted was to be served in a reasonable time. He did take the drink cost off, but again, that's not what I'm after.
Part way through our meal (which we had to "bolt" down now, my wife looked at the menu as she was certain that there was supposed to be salad on the British board. She was right! I called the server over and showed her this. The server apologised and said that they had introduced a new menu and the kitchen hadn't got to grips with it yet! She said that all the servers were doing their best to speed up service but that the kitchen was a problem.
We managed, by dint of some quick walking to get to the show on time (excellent if you haven't seen it - or even if you have) but decided against an after show drink at the bar - well would you?
We woke up and looked to see what time the restaurant was open for breakfast. According to the welcome letter, it's 07.00 - 11.00 Saturday and Sunday. According to the information in the room, it's 7.00am - 11.30am on weekends and Bank Holidays. Are you prepared to chance an 11.05 arrival on a Sunday?
Actually, for us the service and food was pretty good for breakfast. However it cannot make up for the annoyance,explanations and excuses of the night before. It was supposed to be a relaxing night away for 2. It turned in to a joke - and not a very funny one either.
How can a hotel which is obviously targeted at the NEC and LG Arena have a restaurant that opens at such an inconvenient time?
How can said hotel have a bar menu that takes so long to prepare?
How can said hotel have a kitchen staff who don't know the menu?
How can it take so long to check in?
Unfortunately they made the mistake of asking me if everything had been alright with my stay when we checked out. Guess! They took all the bar food off as well, even though I told them again that this isn't what I complained for. I just wanted a good stay. They asked if I wanted to speak to someone, but I explained that I just wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible.
I won't be going back so please do not phone, write or e-mail me to offer me discounts/freebies. You ruined the night away and you're not going to get another go.
April 9, 2013
Rated 4.0 out of 5.0 by Mo21again Great room, great service
Had overnight stay in family room with lounge area. Room great, spacious, lots of magazines provided , robes etc - good value for price paid although breakfast not included. Service excellent, room set up for two rather than family of four so needed to request additional cups, drinks etc but all arrived promptly on request.
Had dinner in restaurant, very busy so had to wait for food quite a while, worth waiting for in terms of quality of food but prices expensive for family meal and made it an expensive trip for an overnight stay.
April 8, 2013
Rated 4.0 out of 5.0 by knight123 Great hotel close to the NEC
We enjoyed our stay at the Crowne Plaza Birmingham NEC. Staff were very helpful and hotel was comfortable. The only criticism to make is the background music in the bar and restaurant wasn't "background" but quite loud and annoying. A little disappointed to find that our television was disconnected at the back, the aircon didn't work, the fan in the bathroom had been closed off and only 1 mug on the complimentary tray. These were minor and we didn't complain at the time.
April 6, 2013
Rated 4.0 out of 5.0 by mrsbrownsgirls ideal location
The whole of our stay was lovely. The reception staff were very friendly, check in was very swift and receptionist managed to allocate us two rooms together, which we were not expecting as we had not requested this when booking. Once in our room, which had been booked for three of us, we found that the third bed had not been made up but we informed housekeeping and this was rectified within 10 minutes. The evening meal was delicious and again the staff were attentive, polite and friendly. The buffet breakfast was well stocked, hot and with plenty of choice. All in all a very enjoyable stay and the location next to LG arena was ideal.
April 6, 2013
Rated 1.0 out of 5.0 by Johnnyboy1968 not impressed with aftersales, or customer service
Bar prices shocking expensive, dearer than when i've stopped in London.
Room comfy, Bar area nice, Poor customer service, wouldn't let me tell the real truth about dishonest housekeeping and when things go missing with 10 minutes of reporting it being left in the room. Took me 7 calls and 29 hours later finally got a response.
Phone cut off when trying to speak to manager and dont respond to emails,
Priority club not recognised and will never use it or hotel group again
April 6, 2013
Rated 3.0 out of 5.0 by allyh ok stay!
On arrival check in was swift. The rooms were well furnished with comfortable beds. As we were staying as a family, the sofa bed was not made up on arrival and I had to request this was done. The bar after our show at the LG was very busy and it took at least 15 mins to be served.The bar area was cluttered with dirty glasses etc. The bar staff were pleasent but stressed from trying to cope with the amount of customers
During the evening / early morning there was an unpleasent smell that kept drifting into the room. Having tried to contact reception by telephone I had to go and complain in person as my calls were un-answered.The gentleman I spoke to was very apologetic and came into the room. I was told that the bath in the room had leaked recently and what I could smell was damp. I begged to differ, as yes I could smell damp but this other smell was very different! We were compensated for this issue. Breakfast was good but a little expensive and we had to wait whilst the tables were cleaned again the staff were finding it hard to cope with the amount of guests.This hotel is great when attending events at the NEC / LG for its location but it has a few issues that need addressing.
April 6, 2013
Rated 5.0 out of 5.0 by ky33 Excellent place to stay if attending lg arena
Stayed here overnight when my daughter and her friend attended concert at LG. Only five minutes walk away from venue which meant I felt quite comfortable walking there and back on my own to take and meet them. Also easy walking distance from the station. Check-in was easy and room was spotless. On arrival to family room thought initially that they had forgotton bed linen for sofa bed- but it was in the wardrobe- not only that a very pleasant chap arrived to make it up for us. The room had an ironing board and iron which was great.
There were only a couple of things that didn't make it perfect -the dry and tasteless chicken and beef burgers that took 40 minutes to arrive- and the fact that it was snowing and unfortunately the path from the bar to the main footpath leading to the LG was not salted so a bit hazardous.
I think they were not prepared for the amount of people- probably many ordering food were not staying at the hotel. The chips were lovely but at around £14 for each meal we were disappointed- the wait wouldn't have mattered if the burgers were nice. Admittedly we didn't complain at the time as by then we were running late.
Every member of staff was friendly, helpful and smiling. Would definately stay there again.
April 6, 2013
Rated 5.0 out of 5.0 by AVfan Quality comfort & service
Good location for NEC , central Birmingham or Birmingham airport .
April 6, 2013
Rated 5.0 out of 5.0 by Radar57 Second great stay
This was our second visit to the Crowne Plaza & we weren't disappointed, the rooms are very pleasant & spotlessly clean, nice big bath towels which we really appreciated. The food preparation & service is of a very high quality & service was brisk. Overall a place we will come back to next time we are seeing a show at the NEC.
April 5, 2013
Rated 5.0 out of 5.0 by Sut21 Regular visitors to LG Arena
This must be our 5th stay at this hotel, ideal location for the LG Arena, great rooms and staff very freindly, breakfast a little expencive but ideal as this was a weekend.
Will use again.
April 5, 2013
Rated 3.0 out of 5.0 by MrsBrownsBoys Bar drinks very very expensive
Modern, clean hotel within easy walking distance from LG Arena. Hotel bar is very expensive. Evening meal was good and breakfast was excellent.
April 4, 2013
Rated 3.0 out of 5.0 by 19Helen56 Pleasant and helpful staff
I could not fault the staff, they were all very helpful and pleasant. The bed was very comfortable and I had a good nights sleep which is unusual for me when staying in an hotel. The downside to the room was the dust - it seemed that it had just been wiped over very quickly. There was dust on the drawer handles, behind the TV and on the edges of the sink unit in the bathroom.
We were staying as we were seeing a show in the LG. When we returned to the hotel we went to the bar. I expected the prices to be higher than normal but was a bit taken aback to be charged £8.50 for a glass of wine! I had not seen a price list anywhere so did not know what to expect.
We had not originally booked breakfast but decided that we would have it. There was no problem booking it, even though it was after 10pm when we decided, and the buffet style breakfast was really good.
Despite my grumbles, knowing that the staff are so pleasant would prompt me to stay again.
March 30, 2013
Rated 3.0 out of 5.0 by Thumper6252 Poor dining experience
The staff are friendly and very helpful, the quality of the rooms is very high, breakfast great, but the whole experience was greatly let down by the ability to get a timely evening meal.
I stayed over two different weekends and received the same level of service when attempting to get an evening meal. To eat in the resturant, I had to wait 1 1/2 hours. To get a meal in the bar area, first you have to wait at least an hour for a table to become free, then you will wait anything up to two hours for your meal. Getting a drink in the bar is another challenge in it's self and a wait of 10 - 15 minutes was the norm.
Your staff were extremely challenged due to their low numbers, and the resturant and bar facilities were clearly lacking in relation to the demand. What could have been an outstanding experience, ended up being a dissapointment.
March 29, 2013
Rated 5.0 out of 5.0 by Gaz67 Excellent deal
Stayed over for a concert DBB package. Had a mini suite, Checked in no problems, room was fantastic, clean warm and comfortable. Evening meal was really good and service was quick which was great because we had a concert to go to at the LG (10 mins walk away). After the concert, we all had a great night sleep in comfy beds and had a buffet style breakfast in the morning, which was the best I have had in any hotel I can't fault the entire experience.
March 28, 2013
Rated 4.0 out of 5.0 by Gerrycj IMHX Exhibition
We stayed at the Birmingham Crown Plaza while exhibiting at the IMHX at the NEC. My room overlooked the lake and we could easily walk around the lake to the reach the NEC and leave the cars parked at the hotel. This is a modern 4 star hotel with a good sized rooms and friendly staff. The evening buffet had a good choice for all of us and the breakfast was great. The bar prices were a bit expensive and Wetherspoons in the NEC may be a better option
March 28, 2013
Rated 5.0 out of 5.0 by mazdaz93 First time visit
First time using your hotel and will be back again in June as it was so good. Made to feel welcome at the reception and was impressed by how friendly everyone were. Very clean and tidy and room was spot on for our needs. Breakfast compare well with other places we have stayed and would not think twice about recommending other people to use your hotel and have already done so. Overall it was a great stay in a wonderful enviroment.
March 28, 2013
Rated 4.0 out of 5.0 by gary4444 our stay
super visit , the room and room service was great , the resteraunt was also really good , the staff are excellent .
my only gripe was the machines in the toilets had all ran out of painkillers and hadnt been replacd .
if i can book for the price i had id stay again without doubt .
March 25, 2013
Rated 3.0 out of 5.0 by Wilson1973 Only average for a four star stay
Rooms are run of the mill for a four star rating. Bedding and towels were very average for the price paid. What's the point of having a fridge in your room if you aren't going to stock it ?! My largest complaint is with the restaurant and not the room. Waiting staff were far from attentive; waiting 20 mins to take a drinks order was less than impressive, this was the same for both evenings!
March 24, 2013
Rated 2.0 out of 5.0 by JWC860 Easy to get to and from.
I stayed here 3 years ago and it was disappointing that the gym equipment was exactly the same, although it was functional. The wait to check in was lengthy. The restaurant was good for dinner. The breakfast was crowded and the cutlery was slow in arriving.
£10 was added on to the bill for parking.
March 21, 2013
Rated 4.0 out of 5.0 by Poppy29 Ideal location for N.E.C.
I VISIT THE NEC for the Crufts Dog Show and the hotel is very convenient and the rates competitive. The lady on the Business Centre Reception ,Kym, was very helpful and a credit to the staff training. I expect to return in 2014
March 18, 2013
Rated 5.0 out of 5.0 by lacruz928 Really nice and convenient
Thanks for a lovely stay while there for the Crufts Dog Show. Missed having the restaurant experience - would have preferred menu to buffet. Thanks to Rebecca for help prior to my stay and prompt response to my questions about amenities. Also, having to wait so long to check in was a problem for us since overnight travels required early check-in. Maybe next time??? Thanks again to all who made it very pleasant in spite of some of the drawbacks and I hope to be able to return next year.
March 16, 2013
