Spark by Hilton Birmingham Colonnade

Price was right, hotel is nice, but I wouldn’t go more than one or two nights. I was originally told by the front desk that we couldn’t check in after 12am, they were accommodating to us when I called to let them know we would be arriving later than 12. It appeared though that the desk is open 24hrs. Beds and pillows were comfortable, but a little soft for my taste. The building is definitely older and under renovation so a lot of that will hopefully be addressed in the renovation. The front desk staff was very friendly and the hotel was overall decent. I would accept it again in a pinch.

Good - the staff was friendly and accommodating. The bed was comfortable. Bad - no breakfast ( I pick a hotel that has breakfast), everything out of order due to “maintenance “ such as gym, pool and even the ice machine on my floor. They had a new AC in my room. A mini fridge and a microwave used the last remaining outlet. Problem is that there were no more outlets to plug in the desk lamp ( which was unplugged) and therefore no place to plug in my laptop. My socks got dirty walking around on the room carpet. Yuck. It took three attempts to find me a clean operational room. This is an old tired hotel that has been neglected for a long time. I checked out after one night and went to another 3 star hotel that was rated #1 in Birmingham on Trip advisor.

We booked this hotel because it was pet friendly and we were traveling with a dog and the ratings online were good. I called after I booked and spoke with the front desk and explained that I was traveling with family and if possible to have adjoining rooms. I provided both confirmation numbers and was told that we were booked in those spaces. We arrived around 8:30pm and upon check in, I was told that not only did we not have the requested rooms but one of them is not ready and still being cleaned. I mentioned that I called and there should be a note and the agent working the desk was super overwhelmed and flustered and blaming everything on the system she could barely form a sentence to explain anything. She managed to get us on the same floor a couple rooms down from each other, although annoyed it was fine. They were still cleaning rooms on the floor, dirty linen in the hall, carpet was in desperate need of a vacuum. My sons room was ok, mine had a small mini fridge sitting on top of the desk that rattled and made noise (room 427), the rooms were clean but I didn’t do a deep dive into how clean, we were too tired. The facility is dirty, trash overflowing in the outside parking lot, cloudy pool, the gym had a an out of order sign on the door, the only working ice machine was on level 4, and the water dispenser in the gym needed maintenance, 1st floor bathroom didn’t have towels. None of the outer doors that required key card entry were locked, anyone was able to use the doors, I didn’t feel unsafe but that is very unsafe to allow that kind of access and should be addressed. We didn’t get a final bill when we checked out, we were told that it can be requested through the app. We were passing through but I wouldn’t stay or recommend staying there to anyone. It was the lack of hospitality and the care of the facility for me.

It took 30 minutes to check in because the person working was new and untrained. We had to wait for shift change. The elevator wasn’t working and the TV in the room didn’t work either. At this time I have three pending charges on my card. Let’s hope 2 of those fall off. The room was clean and the bed comfortable.

After a long drive we arrived at the hotel at approximately 2;45pm. We were polite and courteous to the woman who checked us in - she was sitting on a couch in the lobby, wandered over to the desk, and was not polite, welcoming, responsive, or professional. My wife asked her for a quiet room away from the elevator. She gave us room 316 which is DIRECTLY across from the elevator. We didn't open the door and my wife went back down to the desk to ask for a different room. The woman told her that she didn't have another available except for 416 which she said was also across from the elevator. My wife came back up, we entered the room and proceeded to wipe down the room and bathroom with disinfectant wipes. The room smelled and was in horrible condition with stained couch cushions, and a huge disgusting stain on the floor (at the foot of the bed) which extended onto the bed sham. The smell was apparently intolerable to the "cleaning" staff as well as the window was wide open. There was a 4x6" hole in the window screen allowing any and all bugs to fly into the room. The couch corner touched the corner of the bed making it impossible to get in or out of the wall side of the bed so I had to move the couch. Once done with the wipe-down I tried to turn on the tv and it didn't work. My wife went to the front desk and was told (by a different person) that the tv could not be fixed or replaced as the maintenance person was at another property until tomorrow. My wife told the lady that her husband wanted to watch the NBA playoffs that night and that we needed a tv. So miraculously, the front desk staff said that we could use room 316 (not available 15 minutes earlier?). We went in there and had to wipe down yet another room with Lysol wipes. We finished the night with a late night trip to the front desk to get bath towels as there were none in the room. There were hand towels and washcloths near the sink but sadly I didn't notice the lack of bath towels until I was undressed and ready to jump into the shower. I called the hotel to get the name of the GM; a week later I mailed her a letter detailing our stay. She never responded. Not surprising as this hotel is not only dirty and shabby but also badly managed.

For the price, I was expecting so much more. When passing through Birmingham, we stayed at this hotel after a long day on the road. It was off the beaten path so we did go out of our way to get there. Wasn’t right off of 65. When we arrived that night, the front desk clerk was not the friendliest person we’ve come across. The room was average. It was clean, which I’m a stickler about! Nothing fancy. The room look and felt a bit dated. We did not utilize any amenities during our visit as we left early the next morning. No breakfast offered. At checkout the front desk clerk was much friendlier! Overall, ok experience. Most likely would not stay again because of location though.