A new vibrant boutique hotel has opened up in Birmingham and it’s rather fabulous babs. Introducing Aloft Birmingham Eastside hotel brought to by the Marriott brand, located on the Eastside just by Millennium Point in the business district of Birmingham and offering the best of what Birmingham has to offer from just a short walk away. A modern and urban-inspired hotel where music is key and technology is seamless, keeping you connected and inspired throughout your stay. Aloft moves to its own beat and creates bold, open and vibrant spaces for guests to come together and relax. My partner and I was invited down to review my experience with Aloft and to say I was pleasantly surprised is rather an understatement on what’s to come in this review… 

Please note that this experience was gifted, and this is my honest opinion.

Located on Woodcock Street just next to Millennium Point, the hotel is not exactly City Central however soon as we arrived we realised how quiet and peaceful the area is, it was nice to be away from car horns, mouthy party-goers and Sweet Caroline that’s been on constant repeat throughout the City for the last two months. The hotel is only a short walk away from the iconic Bullring, the vibrant underground world we like to call Digbeth and let’s not forget the world’s largest Primark! Unfortunately, the hotel does not have a car park, however we were told to park in the Millennium Point car park (just over the road) it costs us £9.95 for 24 hours which was rather cheap as other times we have stayed over in Birmingham we have had to park at The Mailbox and that costs us over £20.

Walking through the front entrance of Aloft you are hit with an almost futuristic design throughout with loud colours, sleek designed furniture and mouth-watering textures, many Instagram addicts will be lunging into their pockets for their phones, I was one of them. Your eyes are constantly diverted from one area to another, The hotel is visually yummy and by the look at how many guests were there, very popular. One section that will stand out to you is the 24/7 Re-Fuel Snack bar which is great after a night out in Birmingham and you are feeling a bit peckish! The reception is open-planned and very spacious, plenty of seating if you just want to get out your room and relax. Upon checking in at reception we were greeted with smiles instantly, staff are lovely here and very down to earth. Once we checked in, we was then greeted by Catherine who agreed to take us on a tour of the hotel and the Eastside room’s.

The Eastside Rooms is located just next door to Aloft, its Birmingham’s newest conference venue that brings you amazing substantial blank canvases that are perfect for any kind of event. Eastside Rooms caters to big events such as weddings and award ceremonies to small events such as Business meetings or offer rooms that offer a quiet space for you to work, Eastside has you covered with a room fit for all kinds of occasions. There is also a light, airy gym which can be used by guests with great views of Birmingham. After our tour we finished in The WXYZ bar with a bespoke Bab about town cocktail made just for me! What do you like? Strawberries! POOF! It was done just like that…These guys are good. WXYZ offers a chilled space for you to relax in with a cocktail and you can also dine in the bar and play pool.

When we first entered the room, we only admired it for about a minute as we decided to do the tour first and didn’t want to keep Catherine waiting. Upon our second visit to the room we realised how lovely it really was and it deserved our immediate attention. Clean, spacious and cosy, a decent sized bathroom with a more then decent walk in shower that could fit the Kardashians family in there and a huge tv that kind of transported our room at night to our very own home cinema.  We were booked into The Urban king Room, it has everything you need from ironing boards to hairdryers to your very own coffee machine plus a great view of Birmingham, we weren’t short of anything. What I really loved about the room is that it featured local artists art work in there which was a lovely touch to the City and something I would like to see more hospitality businesses doing. What really lit our eyes up was the gorgeous “Naughty and Nice” platter made just for me and my partner by the Chefs at Aloft. A stand full of luxurious sweets and desserts from cupcakes to trifles, it was very impressive and a lovely touch to our room, we instantly felt very special. Aloft’s tech-forward approach to hospitality comes to life at the bedroom door as you can’t enter your room via your smartphone! – there’s no key card. There’s also fast, free WiFi throughout the hotel.

In the evening we were booked into Alofts restaurant Tempo! for a three-course meal. The restaurant is beautifully decorated, music-related art work hanging on the walls and a few splashes of neon that was very Bab about town! Looking at the menu, they have a great selection of burgers, pizzas and more, the only thing lacking is the vegan options however. Luckily my partner and I are meat-eaters and we really enjoyed our three-course meal. Ham hock and pea timbale to start followed by pan fried rump steak and classic lemon tart to finish, it was very tasty, and we left feeling very impressed with our Teletubbie bellies.

After our meal we decided to go up to our room and watch a couple of films in our very own movie theatre which features cable tv, three movies later and we were fast asleep with popcorn crawling out of our mouths. We both slept through the night, I woke up with no back pain and feeling very refreshed. The bed was very comfy, I didn’t wake up ONCE which was something, I thought I might struggle with as the hotel seemed to have guests more from the 20-30 age group, so I was quite surprised that we heard no party goers shenanigans throughout the night.

Aloft serve breakfast in the Tempo! Restaurant from 6am to 10am, They usually offer a buffet breakfast however due to CO-VID they put on a set menu for guests to choose from. They offered a variety from meat/vegan fry ups to lighter options such as cereal and yogurt. I went for the English breakfast tea then the vegan fry up which I was very impressed with. I have to say it’s not the most appealing breakfast (I have a thing with skin on sausages pealing) but I was pleasantly pleased with the taste and proves the point of don’t judge a book by its cover, it was delicious. My partner went for the buttermilk pancakes and said they were the tastiest pancakes he has ever had, another successful meal at Aloft and a great finish to our stay.

Aloft Eastside is a fantastic contender to Birmingham’s booming hospitality sector, a great night’s sleep that doesn’t burn a hole in your pocket and a more than satisfactory service is something that really stands out here, the room was priced at £85 for the Urban King Room and breakfast which I feel is fantastic value for money as I have paid £100 for other Birmingham hotels for just the room. Let’s not forget about the quirky perks now when you stay at this hotel such as having the luxury of renting polaroid cameras and making your stay as fun as possible especially with your furry friends as the hotel is proud of its pet friendly policy. Aloft Eastside has quickly become one of my top 5 hotels to stay in Birmingham, the staff here are fantastic and really went to great lengths to make sure our stay was positive and memorable. Aloft is bold, eccentric and dares to be different. We need more hotels like that in Birmingham.

To book your stay please click here and to see more of the hotel please check out my reel of the Hotel here

BAB x