Spark by Hilton Homewood Birmingham

The hallways and elevators have a strong sewer smell as if the sewage is backed up somewhere. The breakfast is the bare minimum (cereal, yogurt, bagel) coffee was cold. Walls are thin, I was on the 3rd floor and it sounded like a stampede of horses above my room. Front desk personnel isn’t readily available. Room and bathroom was clean

Good

We were visiting a few attractions in Birmingham and stayed here for one night. I booked it based on pricing, location, and the included free breakfast. The property is located about a mile from I-65. The cross street you drive in on has a lot of shopping plazas and some restaurants. Then you turn onto the road that actually leads to the hotel - it initially has several chain-restaurants, followed by a couple of other hotels and a Lowe's Home Improvement Center. The Spark Hotel is at the end of this road. It was quite easy to drive to places to eat or shop from here. Walking to those places would be more of a commitment, but wouldn't be out of the question. It was noisier than I'd anticipated overnight, especially given the location. We occasionally heard loud cars in the parking lot (before 4 a.m.) and my wife heard people in the hallway around 2 a.m. (maybe from a tour bus that showed up and dropped off guests at some point overnight?). These experiences may not be typical (it was a 1-night stay), but we usually have quieter stays when travelling. The property had a sort of 'just enough maintenance but no more' vibe to it. The breakfast was also pretty minimal. If I returned to Birmingham, I'd probably shop around and try someplace else, just for comparison. This wasn't a bad experience, but there was also nothing to make me want to stay here again particularly.

Hotel overall was clean and had a nice smell. Looked like it had recently been refurbished. Bath in the room looked a little old and had some hefty marks in it. Other than this it was perfect for what we needed and included free self parking. Staff were all so friendly. Restaurants are nearby and walkable, but no sidewalks so need to walk off road on grass or thrugh parking lots.

The room smelled like mildew for the first 24 hours until I kept the air conditioning on mostly full blast. There was a strange stain/peeling in the shower right near the drain. Paint was sloppy and peeling in multiple places. Everything seemed a little dark and dim, especially for the price. The location was nice, and the staff were really friendly, but the state of the property was not worth the price at all.