English Tourism Week: Three Birmingham hotels win top tourism awards

Tourism experts have named three of Birmingham’s finest hotels as the best places to stay in a top awards ranking.

The hotels walked away with gold, silver and bronze awards at the glitzy ceremony hosted by Brummie writer and comedian Shazia Mirza.

The West Midlands Tourism Awards winners with the gold and silver gongs have automatically qualified for the VisitEngland Awards for Excellence to be held later this year - and could be honoured as national champions.

Here are the West Midlands Tourism Awards 2023 Large Hotel of the Year winners:

Gold: Clayton Hotel - Albert Street, B5

The modern hotel prides itself in offering city breaks for families and couples. It also offers delicious afternoon teas. The romantic city break includes dinner in the hotel’s newly refurbished restaurant and a recommendation for a walk along the canals. With a host of family friendly attractions around Birmingham - including Sea Life centre, Legoland, Bear Grills adventure and Drayton Manor - there’s plenty on offer with the family city break too.

Silver: The Grand Hotel, Colmore Row

The landmark hotel was originally opened by Isaac Horton in 1879.  Since then, it’s welcomed royalty and rock stars and has been a hub in the city for meetings and networking as well as incredible events in the breathtaking Grand Ballroom. Following a £50 million restoration and refurbishment, Birmingham’s original grande-dame hotel re-opened having been closed for almost 20 years.

Bronze: Hilton Birmingham Metropole, NEC

Located just off the M42 the hotel is within walking distance of Resorts World Arena and all the bars, cinemas and more at the destination. If you want a bit more action you could check out Bear Grylls Adventure, which is just half a mile away.

The hotel has three restaurants and a LivingWell Health Club, featuring a 24 hour fitness centre. And it’s an ideal spot if you’re catching a flight being just two miles away from Birmingham Airport and Birmingham International Rail Station too.

What West Midlands Tourism Awards chiefs said about all of the 2023 winners

Andrew Lovett OBE, Chair of the West Midlands Tourism & Hospitality Advisory Board, said:“The West Midlands Tourism Awards gave us the perfect opportunity to look back on a momentous year for our region and recognise the contribution that our fantastic sector has made in enhancing the West Midlands’ global profile.

“Together, we congratulated the staff and owners at visitor attractions, accommodation and hospitality venues, who have helped to highlight to a record number of people from around the world the breadth, depth and distinctiveness of our tourism offer.

“This provides an excellent platform on which to build, as tourist volumes continue to recover to their pre-pandemic levels. We acknowledge that there remain ongoing challenges for the sector to address, but we saw at this year’s awards ceremony that we have the talent and ambition to overcome these and continue to make the West Midlands an exciting and popular visitor destination.”