Village Birmingham Dudley - Hotel & Leisure Club

This is one of my favourite hotels for a quick visit. Good value, nice atmosphere and located close to shops and transport. Staff are always pleasant and helpful

This was our second stay at The Village in Dudley and again used it as it is so close to the Black Country Museum which we were revisiting The deal for 2 nights included a voucher towards dinner, breakfast and use of the pool. The hotel is advertising that rooms are being upgraded and the room we were allocated certainly needs it. Since staying last year all the old problems remain whilst prices have increased! The rooms are very basic, look tired, have no Fridge, limited storage and more importantly as many have reported no Air Con. Upon entering the room, we were hit with a wall of warmth that never seemed to go. They did have a Dyson fan in operation but this was next to useless. We also found another fan on a shelf opposite the Bathroom but again this did very little to help. The other issue at the hotel, and its one we found last year is that although there is a smoker’s area at the end of the hotel smokers and vapers totally ignore this and congregate outside the main entrance and on the seats on the walkway. Although security staff are on duty no one stops them. This means if your room is above this area you can’t open your windows unless you want obnoxious smoke or vape fumes wafting into your room as well as a lot of noise. The heat was intolerable at times but as we didn’t want our room to stink (or indeed our clothes) it meant the windows were rarely open. As the England game was on and the hotel was very crowded even more people were standing outside at times so it was even worse. It is also clear by the amount of discarded dog ends on the wall beneath the windows that many smokers who stay in the hotel disregard the rules and smoke in the rooms. I have no issue with people who want to pay a lot of money to damage their health and stink in the process whilst thinking it is somehow cool but it’s not right that those of us who don’t can’t even relax in our room with the windows open! Moving on the food in the bar is ok without being anything special and the Breakfast adequate. The hotel is so handy for the Museum, Zoo and Castle and the staff so good that it is a shame the basic room, Air Conditioning and ignorant unresticted smokers let it down, it would also appear that since our last visit local youths now seem to be attracted to the large car park to ride their bikes and rev there cars up, it did make us feel a little unsafe one evening on venturing out. I would recommend the Hotel if they get the refurb completed Air Con installed, Fridges in rooms and the Smoking policy sorted but probably would not visit again myself if it wasn’t.

I have stayed in some pretty dreadful hotels in my time (please see my review for The Grand in Scarborough if you don’t believe me). This place pushes for a place near the top, particularly as it is the only hotel I have ever left before my stay was done (the lady who booked us out did not bat an eyelid nor ask why we were going early - perhaps it’s a regular occurrence?). The only things that save it from a one star review is the bed (comfy), the lad who moved us from our original room (the only helpful staff member employed there it seems) and the shower pressure (jet hose, which was good for me but I accept is a 50/50 thing). I should have guessed that this was going to be a poor experience when the phone calls/emails started in the days beforehand, trying the hard sell on extras. Yet I’d have paid anything to have the one extra they do not have - air conditioning. The rooms are very similar to what Alec Guinness suffered in that box in “The Bridge on the River Kwai” - although he did not have to cope with the additional factors of a tower fan that produced less air than a mouse farting, a nearby road that doubled up for Brands Hatch, and some clown walking/running/doing god knows what on the ceiling above throughout the night. I will accept it was one of the heatwave days, however it is clear from the many bad reviews (and there are many, heed the warnings!) that the heat of these rooms has been flagged time and time again - and all you get (as I no doubt will) is some insipid response thanking for bringing it to their attention and then doing nothing about it. If you’re the sort of person who loves to sleep in a noisy oven then this is the place for you! For anyone else, stay ANYWHERE but here. Well, maybe not the Grand…