Oak Mountain Lodge at Riverchase Pelham, Birmingham

Oak Mountain Lodge formerly known as the Suburban Lodge - is disgusting. It is clear that it is not properly cleaned at all and also that the staff there are aware of this and either cannot afford to pay for the cleaning or do not care, I suspect the latter as you will see below. Firstly all advertisements for this hotel mention a kitchen in the rooms. To call what was in there a "kitchen" requires a giant leap of the imagination. This so called kitchen consisted of two dirty heating rings and a filthy microwave. That’s it. No silverware. No cups, glasses, plates, pots or pans - nothing. In addition the tiny food preparation area was covered in a sticky substance flecked with hair that looked like jam but I could not be sure. Clearly though this had not seen any kind of attention as far as cleaning goes. Already quite disgusted I continued to look around the rest of the room. I could easily smell mould in the air and this was because the windows are surrounded by it. Mould and gunk about 1cm thick lines the base of the window where it slides open. To my horror I found two used cotton buds covered in ear wax lying in the groove where the window opens nestled in the filth. The small table propped against one wall was dusty and sticky also having not been cleaned in quite some time. After a start like this I shuddered at the though of crawling between the threadbare sheets of the sagging bed. I could never bring myself to get in this bed - and could not possibly imagine sleeping there with my girlfriend. I gingerly peeled back the sheets holding my breath in anticipation of what I might find. At this stage I was beginning to feel sick. I went downstairs to the office, faced the attendant and the 7 or 8 clearly visibly "No Refund" signs surrounding him, and demanded that they give me a full refund. The thought of having them pocket almost $200 of my limited funds in exchange for 3 nights this neglected hovel was beginning to make my blood boil. After protesting their no-refund policy for several minutes, the attendant finally caved in and agreed to come and see the room. It quickly became clear after he gave the room only the most cursory of glances that he was not interested in discovering the state of it at all. Already aware that it was filthy, he was only interested in ensuring that I had left it untouched so that he could rent it out to someone else. Finally, I got refunded and couldn't get out of there quick enough.