Hotel Group: Marriott International
Hotel Category: Category 4
Hotel Status: Gold
Booking Type: Marriott credit card anniversary free night
Room Type: King
Date of Stay: March 2018

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Hotel

The Birmingham Marriott was one of seven hotels that Lone Star Funds and Pyramid Hotel Groups invested $70 million into, when redesigning Marriott’s across the country. The renovations were completed in 2017, making this one of the best Marriott hotels in the Birmingham area.

The hotel offers an indoor pool, fitness center, M Club lounge, restaurant and bar, a coffee bar serving Starbucks coffee, and a free shuttle service taking guests anywhere in a two-mile radius. They do not offer valet parking but do offer free self-parking.  

 Booking

The cheapest rate for a standard room was $217.38. Instead of paying cash, I opted to use my Marriott credit card anniversary free night since this was only a category four hotel. 

Check-in

I was cheerfully greeted by the receptionist where she quickly checked me in and thanked me for being a Gold member. She explained some of the brand-new features of the hotel and showed me where the new M Club was. 

The lobby is a large open area with ample seating with the coffee bar located in the front left section. There is also a small store where you can pick up snacks, drinks, medicine or missing toiletries.

Room

The entryway was large with the closet housing the safe and coffee maker on the left. The hotel should really upgrade their coffee maker. I’ve seen this exact same one in a Super 8 before. The room itself was quite spacious with a work desk and an extra chair with a small pull up desk close by. 

The bed was a little too firm for me. However, the pillows were extra soft, which I love. Both night stands had easy access to outlets. 

The Wi-Fi was solid with good upload speeds.

I much prefer a city view but there is something calming about looking out over a forest.

Bathroom

The shower pressure was strong with quick hot water, and the toiletries were your basic Marriott Thann products. Marriott’s usually have great shower heads,I will give them that. 

Pool

The pool is open from 6am-11pm. It’s located on the first floor beside the fitness center. The deepest section of the pool was 5ft.

Fitness

The fitness center is open 24 hours a day. It’s not the biggest of spaces, but I thought they utilized the space well with both cardio and weight machines. 

Club Lounge

The newly designed club lounge is the real draw here if you ask me. It’s located off the lobby and is open 24 hours a day. They had everything from bottle water, coffee, soda, honor bar for wine, M&M’s, chips, bars, and gummy bears. The evening hors d’oeuvre was chips and salsa, pasta with marinara, fruit, vegetables, a cheese plate, BBQ meatballs and beef in pastry (kind of like beef Wellington). I was impressed with the selection and having endless gummy bears at my disposal was probably not the best idea. 

Restaurant

Marre & Allen Kitchen was the restaurant and bar. It serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. I wasn’t able to get a photo of the place without other guests there so I took a screenshot from their website. I normally don’t do that, but I really loved the bar area and wanted you all to see it for yourself. I had a beer and wings while I was there just to try it out. I would recommend the wings for sure. 

 

Service

I was only here for a short time. I arrived late in the evening and left early the next morning but everyone I came into contact with was friendly and was more than happy to help. The receptionist, club lounge associate, and bartender were all great.  This place gets an easy 8.8/10.

Overall

I loved what they did to the place with the new renovations. They really turned it into a place you need to consider when looking for a hotel in Birmingham. I would highly recommend this property to anyone.

What is your favorite hotel in Birmingham?