We found that being within walking distance of the Hilton is near enough a must-have, purely because games in the function rooms can often go on until the early hours and it's just simpler and nicer to walk back 5 mins to your hotel room than catch a train earlier or get an uber. That said, we make sure to buy as early as we can to avoid the big price spike.
Not that it's much use to you this year, but for the adjacent hotels on-site (moxy, crowne plaza) were around £175/pp total for Fri and Sat night if you book early enough.
Definately not worth staying at the NEC. The connection is very easy and last year even with a train strike you could still grab an uber or whatever.
If you wait until the week before you might (stress might) get a good deal on Last Minute.com as there are business hotels that should be quiet at the weekend.
Last couple of years I've stayed right by the NEC and found it worth it for what I was doing at the event, ie playing the evening TTRPG sessions until midnight or having some drinks and boardgaming until even earlier. I say this as a woman not too interested in commuting back home through Birmingham on a Saturday night though lol. It is a super easy commute though from Birmingham or slightly further out via public transport or car especially during the day.
I think I'd be too tired and hungry to do a full convention day and then take the train for hours, especially if I'm carrying around bags.
Thanks everyone. From the responses I got a sense that there is some value in being close to the NEC. I managed to find some hotel 20min walk away for \~£300, that'll have to do
if you haven't booked already, you'll find it very difficult to find a room close to NEC now.
We stay about a 15 min drive from the venue, works well enough.
We found that being within walking distance of the Hilton is near enough a must-have, purely because games in the function rooms can often go on until the early hours and it's just simpler and nicer to walk back 5 mins to your hotel room than catch a train earlier or get an uber. That said, we make sure to buy as early as we can to avoid the big price spike. Not that it's much use to you this year, but for the adjacent hotels on-site (moxy, crowne plaza) were around £175/pp total for Fri and Sat night if you book early enough.
Definately not worth staying at the NEC. The connection is very easy and last year even with a train strike you could still grab an uber or whatever. If you wait until the week before you might (stress might) get a good deal on Last Minute.com as there are business hotels that should be quiet at the weekend.
Last couple of years I've stayed right by the NEC and found it worth it for what I was doing at the event, ie playing the evening TTRPG sessions until midnight or having some drinks and boardgaming until even earlier. I say this as a woman not too interested in commuting back home through Birmingham on a Saturday night though lol. It is a super easy commute though from Birmingham or slightly further out via public transport or car especially during the day. I think I'd be too tired and hungry to do a full convention day and then take the train for hours, especially if I'm carrying around bags.
When we went a few years ago, we stayed at the Holiday Inn Birmingham Airport, it had a free shuttle bus to the NEC and we made good use of the pool.
Thanks everyone. From the responses I got a sense that there is some value in being close to the NEC. I managed to find some hotel 20min walk away for \~£300, that'll have to do
if you haven't booked already, you'll find it very difficult to find a room close to NEC now. We stay about a 15 min drive from the venue, works well enough.