Quote Of The Day

"Victory goes to the player who makes the next-to-last mistake - Chessmaster Savielly Grigorievitch Tartakower (1887-1956)"

Monday, August 06, 2007

Brighton Pride: The hotel saga...

This weekend just gone Stu and I went down to Brighton Pride. We had a lovely time all told but it wasn't without it's ups and downs. More later about the ups but first let me tell you about the main down. Our hotel. The afternoon journey down to Brighton started with only a slight niggle. We missed our train from London Victoria. No biggy really. We just took the next fast train, got off at Hove and walked along the front to our hotel in Brighton proper. Well, I say 'hotel'. The place was without doubt the shittiest place I had ever set foot in. Yes, I name and shame you The Brighton Charter Hotel. It was run down, there were no staff that we could find. "Call in at the bar next door" the sign said. We did. Rude dismissive barman called over some woman who proceeded to fleece us for the full room rate up-front (one hundred and forty eight pounds if you please) and take a fifty pound (yes, fifty pounds) deposit for the key. Well, really! They didn't actually show us up to the room. We found it on the first floor overlooking the street. Small. Miserable. Dirty. Smelly. Noisy. Rusty metalwork in sink and shower. Television held together with sellotape. Mouldy wall paper coming off the walls. Missing light bulbs. Twin beds that had all their springs poking through. A Yale lock on the door that had just a single loose screw in it so the door could be pushed open even when it was 'locked'. We almost turned on our heels and left. Almost. We debated long and hard and decided that we would give it a chance. God knows why we did. Maybe we're just not born complainers.

 Anyway later that night when we returned to our room we had steeled ourselves for the worst. We had a few drinks, we both look a Valium and some painkillers and tried to settle down for the night. Needless to say, neither of us slept. To say the beds were uncomfortable is an insult to the word 'uncomfortable'. Needless to say we checked out first thing the very next day. Saturday morning we found a lovely hotel just opposite; The Queens Hotel. OK, it was one hundred and seventy quid for just the one night but it was worth it. Polite staff, sea view and everything. My advice: look before you book.


6 comments:

  1. Anonymous8:36 am

    Crap hotels like this will continue to get away with it because people DO NOT COMPLAIN!! Whats wrong with you English that you "don't make a fuss"...someone is laughing...and its not you! More like the pub landlord...laughing all the way to the bank!!! YOU ARE THE CUSTOMER - MAKE A BLOODY FUSS THEY HAVE TAKEN YOUR MONEY!!!!! (and lots of it by the looks of it!)

    If it was me I would have marched straight back down and demanded my money back...if they didn't....then I'd go elsewhere see them in court! You only have yourself to blame for staying there really.

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  2. You are, of course, absolutely right.

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  3. Go and slag them off on Tripadvisor as well, lots of people look there for reviews so you may be able to warn other people off making the same mistake

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  4. If I were you, I'd complain to the local council too. I'm sure they have to be licenced to operate as a hotel dont they?... and rooms need to be of a habitable standard, surely? Perhaps call environmental health on them. If I were in a right "old lady" mood, I'd call the tourist board too, so they know not to recommend the hotel to anyone else.

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  5. EWW EWW EWW EWW!

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  6. Anonymous9:02 pm

    "Look before you book" - That's what the Internet's for. :) You can still get caught out as my partner and I did in Wales. So don't feel too bad.

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