Morning at Birmingham's Paragon hotel and in the dining room it's the daily pandemonium that is breakfast..... it was as if residents coming down to eat breakfast was the last thing the staff had anticipated. Welcomed by an unstaffed eating area so gloomy in appearance that it took listening to a couple of Joy Division albums to cheer me up, i faced the first hurdle, finding a plate. there where plenty of dirty/used ones to choose from. Standing, frozen in hunger, with a steadily increasing number of other guests (?), (surely the word guest implies that some sort of hospitality is being recieved, but we'll let that slide for now), i noticed a member of staff approaching bearing the joyous sight of freshly cooked bacon. As she tipped the large metal bowl into onto the serving dish i watched the huge pile of undercooked swine slide emitting a noise like a calf being pulled from its mother. Sausages undecooked/overcooked, Tomatoe's not cooked yet put on a hot plate (?), The greasiest fried eggs ive ever seen. Ok the food was simply terrible. At no time can you get a full compliment of food, theres always something missing, The staff where under so much pressure they didnt even have time to say good morning, they where running around looking very worried, clearly with limited supplies and poorly managed. This hotel cannot serve breakfast full stop. we even had to search through some drawers to find cutlery, when they'd ran out the staff were so busy there was no-one to ask. By the time a seat became avialable my Paragon breakfast was tepid. Only the coffee was palletable to be honest and thats when there are cups availabe. Paragon management need to go and eat breakfast in thier own hotel, then FIX IT !

One of the very worst hotels I have stayed in. I booked a "superior" room & was shown to a small shabby room with a lumpy bed. There was loud music late at night which I complained about & was told by reception over the phone that it was nothing to do with the hotel. I went to investigate & discovered that the hotel was hosting a corporate event due to finish sometime after 02:00 am. I eventually got a quiter room & woke to find it had no hot water. No aplogies from the staff & beware it is an very dingy area of Birmingham.

Didn't enjoy my stay at all, the hotel was not very clean and i found the staff rather abrupt. My bedroom was very untidy and din't feel like it had been cleaned properly. I have stayed in Birmingham a few times on business and although the price was attractive sometimes it is worth paying a bit extra to stay somewhere nicer.

The bed so lumpy I had to ask for an extra duvet to put over the bed to mask the springs stabbing you. No Shower either, only a bath. I would also assume it has not had any work done to it since it opened. Otherwise the staff were friendly. I would not recommend this one.

The Paragon Hotel is an enigma! It's a very strange gothic place where it seems that all the laws of everything in the Universe break down and get spring boarded into oblivion. Put simply there's something not quite right with it. So where to start? Well the exterior of the building is beautiful, it's both enchanting and sinister, imposing but gentle, elegant yet imposing. And frankly it all helps to give the hotel a certain charm; a certain sense of mystery and wonder. It's strangely unassuming entrance and gothic presence just seem to compel you to go in. The huge lettering on the front of this giant monolith boldly declares that it is the "PARAGON HOTEL". It seems to point toward a rich heritage of pride and unrivalled excellence (which is basically what the word Paragon means) But there's something else not quite right; the hotel is completely out of place in its surroundings of industrial mothballed factories and shabby looking tower blocks. It all makes you wonder if the building was always a hotel or perhaps something more sinister in a previous life. Inside things change. Oh don't get me wrong its still an interesting building to look at but Im afraid it suffers from the most diabolical decoration and colour schemes.. The staff generally are very friendly but overall the food, service, decor, cleanliness of this hotel are unequalled - unequalled in terms of being extremely bad. Lets be honest we all know why most people stop within Inner-city hotels. Theyr'e used generally by folk on stag or hen nights, or by amourous clubbers who have just pulled and want to indulge in a bit of druken hows your father. So you can imagine the odd drunken patron may have been talking to god down the big white telephone in your room previously. But do you really expect to find vomit in a sink?.... no, neither did we. Don't get me wrong... the Paragon tries hard...its food isn't bad, it has free wi-fi and a few nice touches here and there. But somehow because it is such a strange place, a place if you recall I said was where the laws of everything simply cease to be, somehow it doesn't quite cut it. More investment, better management and a total rehaul would make this characterful hotel great again. I am told the new management are making a concerted effort to improve standards but until that happens use it as only a last resort. Ladies and Gentlemen I give you the Paragon (it really should have been called the Enigma)