A 111-room Aloft design hotel inside the SoHo Square mixed-use centre of Homewood, ground-floor restaurants below, the metro's most reliable design-led three-star and the closest thing to an urban boutique on the south side.
"The pool deck, the rooftop, and the seven restaurants downstairs. The Aloft is the closest thing the metro has to an urban boutique, and it knows exactly what it is doing."
The Aloft Birmingham Soho Square opened in 2009 as the anchor lodging component of SoHo Square, a mixed-use redevelopment of a former school site in the walkable centre of Homewood, a six-mile suburb on the south side of Birmingham that runs as a small, design-conscious commercial district in its own right. The five-storey property sits above a strip of seven independent ground-floor restaurants and a coffee roaster; a public plaza wraps the building's north side; the entire complex was conceived as the closest thing in the Birmingham metro to a New Urbanist town centre with a hotel built into it. A 2016 refresh updated the design palette and the public spaces, and the Aloft has held its position as the metro's most consistent boutique-three-star booking since.
The 111 rooms are spread across five floors, all built to the Aloft brand's loft-style template: 290 to 340 square feet, nine-foot ceilings, exposed concrete and ductwork in places, walk-in showers in most categories, ergonomic chairs, and the brand-standard king platform bed. The contemporary palette is muted grey, charcoal, and oiled timber rather than the louder primary-colour Aloft pattern used at older properties in the chain. Bathrooms are walk-in showers across the standard categories; the corner kings and suites add a small sitting area and a desk that comfortably handles a working day. WiFi is brand-standard fast, and the in-room temperature controls are responsive (a small but underrated detail in the Birmingham summer).
The food offer on-property is intentionally light because the building does not need more. The W XYZ lobby bar runs the brand-standard cocktail and small-plates menu through the evening; the Re:fuel grab-and-go covers breakfast, coffee, and late-night snacking; there is no full-service restaurant on site. The point is the ground-floor cluster: Salt & Pepper, Avo, Little Donkey, and the SoHo Wine Bar are all a 60-second walk from the lobby, and Big Bad Breakfast around the corner handles the morning. Live music runs on the W XYZ stage four nights a week and is unobtrusive enough to leave the lobby seating workable through the early evening.
Amenities round out at the right level for the room product. The Splash pool deck on the rooftop runs late April to early October and is the metro's most consistently social outdoor pool, drawing a mix of in-house guests and locals on summer evenings. The Re:charge fitness centre is 24-hour and includes a small set of free weights. The hotel runs 1,200 square feet of meeting space across a single boardroom; for any group larger than fourteen, the Marriott property in Grandview or the Westin downtown are the correct calls. Parking is in a small surface lot at $14 a night, and the front desk will arrange airport pickup for guests on a $42 flat fare.
For a solo weekend in Birmingham organised around food, the Aloft is the right call. SoHo Square gives a single traveller seven walkable restaurants without needing to drive after a wine pairing; the W XYZ lobby bar is one of the rare three-star bars in the metro that is comfortable to use alone with a book; the rooftop pool, when open, is the social environment the rest of the city's three-star stock does not offer. Two nights here paired with a downtown day at the Birmingham Museum of Art and a Sloss Furnaces visit makes a credible 48-hour reset.
For a small bachelor or bachelorette weekend looking for a non-Nashville southern alternative, the Aloft works at a sensible price point. Block six to ten rooms across the same floor; use SoHo Square for the Friday dinner and the late-night cluster of bars; take the rooftop pool for Saturday morning; pre-book a long lunch in Mountain Brook village and a Friday-night reservation at one of the chef-driven downtown restaurants for the marquee dinner. The hotel is too small for a wedding party of more than 25 but right-sized for an intimate eight-to-twelve crew.
1903 29th Avenue South
Homewood, AL 35209
SoHo Square mixed-use complex; 6 miles south of downtown; 10 miles to BHM airport
111 rooms and suites
Kings from $156/night
Queens from $166/night
Corner Kings from $210/night
Suites from $260/night
Check-in: 3:00 PM
Check-out: 12:00 PM
Opened 2009; renovated 2016; Marriott Bonvoy
Splash rooftop pool (seasonal)
W XYZ lobby bar with live music
Re:charge 24-hour fitness centre
Re:fuel grab-and-go market
Ground-floor SoHo Square restaurant cluster
Complimentary WiFi; surface parking $14/night
From $156/night. Weekends from May to September book three to four weeks ahead for the pool deck; weekdays are usually available within a week at the lowest rate.
View Rates & Dates →The boutique reference for the metro, three miles east in Mountain Brook village.
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