Britannia Hotels Ltd
reviews and complaints

Booked 2 night dinner bed and breakfast at £244.

When I arrived at 4pm - no I couldn’t check in earlier - I was told dinner wasn’t available due to a wedding party being in but I could order a bar meal and the restaurant would be open the next night. Ok I thought these things happen but I was surprised a big hotel couldn’t cope with a wedding and it’s normal guests ! We were like 2nd class guests.

Breakfast was 7-930 all wkd - no later than mid week ! Again surprised.

Second night was confirmed by restaurant manager that dinner was there and was a carvery as usual. Checked at lunchtime - same story. Checked again at teatime and told no it’s always bar meals on wkd and the wedding party only was having restaurant type menus ! Tried to complain but no one was interested - no point having a go at receptionist.

On top of that check out is 10am !

In the room - lighting appalling….only 2beside lights for whole room and only one of those by bed. TV u need a telescope to watch ! Curtains that don’t shut… used pegs to clip them shut…..phone didn’t work….bath plug didn’t stop water draining out !

I have honestly stayed in Travelodges and the like that cost half what this cost where I didn’t experience so much wrong with room. No one interested. I certainly won’t use this hotel again and would have reservations abt using Britannia Hotels ever again. Not cheap but very cheap service and room condition. Def wouldn’t recommend

Oh and room cards had to be reset at least a dozen times during the stay.

One excuse given was the restaurant was shut for dinner due to covid restrictions - but it could cope with full breakfasts and a wedding party !

Good afternoon

We stayed at the grand hotel in Scarborough on the 25th of February 2022

We stayed in room 2002

My sister had a bath in the jacuzzi on the morning of the 26th.

We didn’t realise, until it was too late that there was no filter on the inlet and it sucked her hand in, scraping the skin off. It looked fairly innocuous at first but since then looks quite nasty.

The inlet had a lot of pull and could have taken a young ones arm off. (I’m not kidding, it was a strong pull)

We didn’t report it at the time as it didn’t look too bad.

We haven’t reported it since as our mum has sadly passed away and we have been dealing with that.

I rang reception this morning to tell them. I’d hate for someone else to be injured.

Our booking ref was [protected].

I attach a couple of pictures. And look forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards

My partner and I booked a room for a few nights the first room we went in the toilet was blocked and stunk the hotel room out of [censored]. I went and asked to be move we got relocated then when we got into the new room bearing in mind we had spent 2 nights here I'd asked for fresh bedding considering we had another 2 nights booked I was told no the TV was not working the room was cold we had no clean towels provided no tea coffees or sugar I even had to buy my own toilet roll. We still have another night but feel the amount we have paid for this room is way over priced. Blocked toilet no fresh bedding & towels no tissue no condiments and no tv

My mother who is 80 and I stayed at this hotel last Thursday 10th February and we had an appalling stay. The hotel is currently being used for migrants and the quality of service has degraded immensely. I did speak to a manager during my stay to complain but basically was told that his staff didn't have adequate time for (paying) guests due to the amount of work they needed to do to support the migrants. We are not anti-migrants, however if we pay full price to stay at a hotel we expect normal service. There were lots of signs saying that the service was degraded due to COVID, why is this not reflected on the website, if I had known I would have booked somewhere else. Here are my complaints, an hour to check in as we were ignored completely in reception, the room was filthy, dirty duvets, towels, carpets, bathroom didn't look like it had been cleaned in weeks. We didn't use the bathroom, we went straight to our show and used them there. Also the bar/food options were closed all afternoon, why is this not on the website? I would have chosen elsewhere if I had known. We didn't arrive until 4pm and because of the hour it took to check in it was too late to cancel and go elsewhere. My mother being 80 didn't want to go out in the very cold weather so I went and got some sandwiches and refreshments but got told off by a lady when I returned to the hotel saying it wasn't allowed. So we took the food to the show before this we asked for help to get a taxi and got told to go outside and find one ourselves. When we got back from the show the bar was open but we were approached by the migrants asking us to sit with them and asking us if we had some cash to spare. We went to bed instead of having a drink, so again facilities not used. During the note the room was absolutely freezing and because the duvets were so small we couldn't keep warm so got fully dressed. After an awful night we went to see what breakfast was like, but not being too hopeful. We were right. None of the hot food was covered and due to limited servings tools the other guests were helping themselves by hand (COVID!). During the whole stay not one person had a mask on (even staff) and it was so crowded. This hotel has been a favourite one for many of our family and friends for years but we have no intention of ever visiting again we will make this known to others. we have written several bad reviews about the hotel and the service is doing nothing for Eastbourne Tourism so we will alert the council and the local press. Terrible, I demand a full refund!

[protected]@hotmail.com [protected]

11th February 2022 at 7pm

Me and my partner booked a double room with breakfast for an early valentines away from the kids and just to have some us time. We got to the hotel around 7pm checked in at reception no manners or even a polite greeting hello ...

We were told our room number 23 and left us to find it, by the time we found it we entered a room which was more like a cloakroom dark,cold smelt damp and musty and couldn't swing a cat in there, loads marks over the walls it was disgusting we only paid £62 but we have said there previously at spent £40 and it was lovely.

We immediately went to receptionist and told her we are not staying in there not fit for a dog,she said no more rooms only singles,she didn't offer to look at the room or even question us or if she could help in any other way, we asked for our money back cash as we needed to get another hotel she replied they don't have cash and refunded back to my card ruined our evening as we saved up for this night as money is tight with two kids under 2.

we had booked a double room back in 2019,which had to be rescheduled because of covid.

we are now able to use the room I've sent 2 emails to newcastle hotel asking for some details but no reply this is £90 we have paid and i cant afford to lose it.

Ibelieve it was around may 2019 we booked, i cant be exact as i lost all my data from my phone.

The hotel will have records of our booking and tge payment.

Booking ref RWS10577177.
I booked two "Courtyard" room for myself and my mother under the booking ref above. After booking the rooms on-line I called the Britannia main telephone number to ask whether the rooms I had booked had accessible bathrooms. I was advised by the lady on the phone that the "courtyard" rooms I had booked were, indeed, accessible and that they would have either wet rooms or shower cubicles. My mother is badly disabled and cannot manage a bath.

On checking-in at the hotel, I again checked with the nice young lady who served me, and she advised that there were no accessible bathrooms in the WHOLE hotel! Myself and my mother were most distraught about this, particularly because I had taken the time to check about accessibility on the day I had made the booking. The young lady was most apologetic but could not help in any way.

I would like someone to contact me about this complaint as it should be very clear at time of booking that there are no accessible bathrooms in this hotel, and also the call centre who took my call should be aware that there are no accessible bathrooms. Finally, I think it is an absolute disgrace that, in this day and age, you do not have one single room with a wet room or shower cubicle in the whole hotel!

I would like to receive some form of compensation for the distress that was caused - my poor mother had to try and stand at a sink in her bathroom and wash herself, which proved very difficult, for the duration of our stay.

I look forward to hearing from someone regarding this matter.

Whom it may concern,

I stayed here on New Years Eve for New Years.
It started off pleasant, but ended very badly, at early hours or the morning me and my family was struck by the fire alarm going off, my wife who is disabled, and my son who has autism was in pieces, there was no staff around to attend or advise what had happened.

It took my wife 40 minutes to get out of the building as there was a huge que and she has a walking impediment. After all that was done we was then told this was by an angry customer who had set it off ( this could of been advised am we all did not need to leave the building) this is where it gets better the alarm countinued to go off for most the night, barely sleeping. We did not
Make it to the swimming or sauna as we was exhausted. We got offered a free breakfast for which only 3 of us attended, as the rest of the rooms was too tired we only got an extra hour for check out. We had over 4 rooms and paid around £799 for the night there.

I find this absolutely diabolical and I will be taking this higher. I will also share and have friends of friends etc share on every media outlet there is. Aswell as my niece who is Tik tok famous with over a million subscribers.

This is out of order and ruined our day and experience we couldn't do enjoy the next day in Blackpool we had planned as my son also was in such a panic and scared we had to get him counselling.

I would appreciate a response.

Thanks

I have previously contacted you via our christmas 2021 stay at the north stafford hotel..this was a 3 day booking for 2 rooms 24/25/26th dec..this was a shambles..no food on the 24th was only told bar food which they was only us and food disgusting ! No one else was at this hotel apart from being used for down and outs over the christmas..not acceptable we paid good money for a christmas /60 th birthday..totally ruined..we was informed they was NO christmas venue breakfast, lunch etc..we checked out on 25th xmas day to find other accomadation and travelled hour and 30 to bosworth hall where we çhecked in and paid again..not acceptable ! Cost us money and petrol inconvience ..disgusting that the manager at stafford was rude and didnt care they had spoilt our birthday christmas stay ! Plus the fact we had pantomine tickets for stafford that we didnt attend as hour and half away at bosworth..everything was planned around the stay at stafford..Either something is compensated or im taking it further to a claims court..this is the 2nd complaint i have lodged with no response..Angela mansbridge [protected]

We stayed at the grand burstin hotel folkestone for the new year 31st Dec -2nd Jan Double executive room full board.

When we got to our room we looked around only to find Pubic hairs all over the loo dirt along the bottom of the bath panel and black hairs all over the mirror and sink sticky carpet and NO pressure in the hot water tap on the bath we tryed to complain but no one was around to deal with this issue.

We have stayed at the Burstin for appox 10 years and belong to your Grand rewards, we have never seen it this bad before. To make things even worse we were surronded by Feral kids, lots of dogs (just like battersea dogs home) and witnessed TWO visits from the Police and an ambulance. We came back to the Burstin because it was our wedding anniversary and recovering from an illness we eventually saw a nice lady called Yvonne who knows and told her we had no choice but to go home she could not make us, she told us that she could not give us a refund but would pass it on to some who could, NO ONE COME BACK TO US I fill we sould get some sort of refund.

mum has a lung condition and there was mold all over the windows and smells of mold, she now has a chest infection, I won't say Its from there as I don't know but I'm pretty sure it didn't help ... 

I don't want to pay a discounted rate as I don't think after that stay I should have to pay anything and it would be a miracle for me to want to stay again.  We nearly didn't stay that night .. I was just about to write feedback on booking .com but wanted to give you the opportunity to see and hear what happened. 
The food was supposed to be from 4 they wasn't doing it till 6 . We had to ask for them to do something, finally we get food . The manager was nice the chef was nice and the mn in the gym was lovely.

These images are of the room this is appalling and I refrained from adding them to booking .com but don't see how this fits health and safety ..

On 30 October I stayed at the Grand Hotel Blackpool just for one night, no breakfast included £200 2 adults and a one year old. 2 single beds and a sofa bed. checked in 4:30pm room 751 got into the room wasn't that great considering 4 star and £200 for one night. tried to put heating on, didn't work, called to reception on the way of going out for food no service. came back to the hotel room around 10pm the room Baltic, no customer service around. I am sleeping on a sofa bed next to the window large draft coming through the window with the rain, the windy is faulty coming off the hinges. mum and baby trying to keep warm with numerous quilts over them. the wind and rain picked up the window was hanging off the hinge. again tried to get in touch with reception nil. eventually around 6am I got in touch with reception who advised we could move room but by this point we were ready and just wanted to check out due to having no sleep and been freezing most of the night. we were given a 10% refund which to be honest is an insult. As a 4 star hotel you should pride your self on making sure your guests have a great stay. Our stay was nothing short of a nightmare and it ruined the rest of our time in Blackpool. no matter where you stay expectation is warmth, comfort and just been able to enjoy. I have complained using the email address given I wrote my complaint the same day, I am appalled at the response from the front of house operations manager.
The conditions we stayed in were not acceptable for anyone especially a small child! If you and your family paid for a stay in a 4 star hotel you would feel exactly the same!
I have attached photos.

on the 5th November, Friday, we booked into our rooms (112b and 116) Booking Ref: [protected]. Our booking was for 2 evenings including breakfast. At reception we were given our keys to entre the rooms, which didn't work.. I had to take 4 trips, running up and downstairs using numerous cards before gaining access to our rooms. This seemed to be an on-going with issue with many residents over the weekend.

When i entered the room, the first thing i noticed was the terrible stains on the carpet (please see photos attached), the bedding had, which appeared to have blood stains on them, there was no chair, the bed was rock hard, the furniture was tired, worn and broken, the sink in the bathroom was coming away from the basin and had tape wrapped round it, the doors were filthy and hadn't been cleaned, the balcony hadn't been cleaned and tiles in the bathroom was a mishmash of different tiles. The floors and bumps and lumps all over them and the creaking on the floors when you walked about the room was unbelievable !

I went to reception to make a complaint, and I waited over an hour for someone to come to my room to inspect it and also bring a chair and mattress toppers but no one came, so i went back down stairs and spoke to reception, who told me the they were really busy and had a lot of jobs to do. I informed them, i'd had spinal surgery and on medication and would really need this rectifying by the time i got back. She reassured me the room would be sorted and apologised.

I left the hotel at 5.35pm and returned at 9pm. I was in a lot of pain with my neck and just wanted to take my medication and get in bed. I went to my room and still no one had been, so i went back downstairs to see reception. The gentleman on reception was very apologetic and assisted me straight away. At roughly 11.15pm the noise coming from next door was unbearable. They were playing music, singing, their door was constantly knocking and slamming shut and it sounded like they were having a party in there. I went downstairs and complained to reception and was informed someone would speak with them. I waited 15 minutes and no one came up, so i had to knock on and politely ask the to keep their noise down.

The day we went for breakfast, the food was lovely. It would have been nice for staff to say 'good morning' at the very least but we got nothing, other than being asked what room we were in on entering the restaurant. I thought it was quite rude and there was no customer service going on here..

Later on, we went to the bar for a drink. We were informed the card machine was broke and we had to pay for drinks at reception when ordering at the bar. I spoke with the manager and asked if we could just open a tab, as it was inconvenient having to keep getting up and down to go to reception every time and he said no, it wasn't something they do. They didn't even offer a service where someone came round and took your drink order and cash to reception for you. We asked about the evening entertainment and was informed we would need to buy a red band if we wanted to go downstairs at an additional cost. This was not stipulated on the website. The entertainment was shocking, he was not a professional singer and i actually felt very sorry for him, especially when people started leaving and we did too.

I went to reception to inform them that no one had been to clean my room, change the bedding and i needed my wet bath towels removing and my bin emptying and they told me they don't attend to your room until you've checked out. I asked them what i should do with my towels and bin and i didn't get an answer, so i went upstairs and left them outside my room.

I got to my room for 9.30pm and tried to settle down for the evening. At apox 12.10am the noise from the room on my opposite side kept me awake until gone 2am. I didn't see the point in making any further complaints and i was in a lot of pain in my neck.

When i woke up, i was absolutely shattered. I couldn't wait to get home. I went there for a stress free break to relax and enjoy the peace. This has to be the worse experience I've ever had when taking a break anywhere. I'm really disappointed and expected much more. We paid £168 each for 2 nights, which wasn't a good experience. When i arrived home, i was so tired, i got in bed and slept for 6 hours, i don't feel like i even went away anywhere.

good afternoon, i recently stayed at your manchester airport &inn establishment, from the 29th october 2021- 31st october 2021, room 139.
reserved through booking.com under josh goldspink.
so firstly, i paid £178 for a family room and got 1 double bed and a pull out sofa, to me that isnt a family room, it should have had 2 double beds at least, not a pull out bed.
secondly i paid £178 for 2 nights, when i was checking in i overheard a woman checking in on the day, no reservation, for one night, same room as mine and was charged £45 for one night. how is there a huge price difference? i booked weeks in advance.
the room was filthy, clothes left from another perosons stay, poo stains on the ceiling and walls in the bathroom, poo left in the bath. the phone in the room had buttons missing, unplugged and mouldy.
the cups were stained with god knows what.
i talked to the front desk and was assured they would get someone to clean our room while we were out on the saturday (30th) we came back after a day out with the kids to find that they hadnt touched our room, no clean towels, no clean bedding, nothing cleaned!
yet we had a tag on our room day saying it had been sanitised.
early hours saturday morning the fire alarm went off around 1/2am woke me, my wife and kids up, which ruined our first nights sleep. when i paid so much to stay there, you would expect clean facilities, a relaxing nights sleep, but this wasnt remotely the case.
we ate in the restraunt on saturday night, food was very expensive for what we got, i paid £108 for a burger, pizza, curry, nachos 2 drinks and 2 gins.
burger was very dry, curry was warmed up in a microwave as the middle was cold and outside was hot. pizza was rubbery, and drinks tasted like no alcohol in them at all.
all in all the stay was very expensive and not a good experience at all, this was my wifes birthday weekend which we looked forward to for a long time and it was ruined.
i expect a full refund for the room and for the food we had as it was a complete waste of money and a terrible experience.

i can send yo my bank statement showing the two payments made to your establishment.

FAO General Manager

Letter of Official Complaint

I booked 2 nights away at the Norbreck Castle Hotel from Monday 25th October. I explained that I was disabled and without a sympathy vote that it was my first holiday with my 13 year old twins. It was my first holiday since learning to walk following waking up paralysed 3 years and I wanted to look at upgrading. I spoke direct to your hotel but as it was booked through laterooms I was advised I'd have to speak with them. When I called, they said that to be honest I had the best room available already, great, so I thought.

On arrival we were allocated room 149, as soon as we walked in the stench was awful and on investigation there were curry containers in the drawers, shot glasses and plastic glasses behind the armchairs. There were Haribo sweets under the chairs and chest drawers (photos are attached). The room was in a very bad state of repair, the drawer was off the Chester drawers and just placed on top - definite health & safety issue. Radiator was falling apart. Muck on Reception sign.

It was disgusting.

I called down to Reception to explain and requested to move rooms I was told this was not possible over the phone so I would need to go back down to Reception.
Usually this would not be a problem but as the only adult in the party it had to be me and as mentioned previously, I am dependant on walking aids. I went to show the lady on Reception the pictures she was not in the slightest interested and just gave me another room key for 788. This was significantly better, definetly newer refurbed, so why this was not our first offer I am unsure? I would have expected an offer to assist in transporting our bags, as the Norbreck was at fault, but I never even received an apology. Again, as the only adult, it was down to myself to do 2 round trips from one room to another with my walking aid and they were not close.

Once in the room and settled we decided to have a shower - no towels! I called down to Reception and requested housekeeping bring them up as their error but again I was told OI had to come and collect them, now the new room was further away from Reception so again being disabled I was far from impressed. Then we discovered no toilet roll, I was no way going to call the miserable desk again, so my twins went and bought some from the local shop at our expense.

There were no toiletries, and the hairdresser was faulty.

The lack of customer service is dismal I have never ever experienced anything so bad in my life - it did not give my holiday the start I wanted. I spent the first 3 hours
just sorting rooms out and my legs were extremely tired and painful, so we cancelled our meal out as I had to rest up.

I was not the only person at Reception complaining, in fact one visitor described it worse than a prison camp and the staff were like zombies.

This experience tarnished my holiday, and I am deeply upset.

I expect a response within 7 working days.

Lisa Coulson

booked in hotel on 25 oct for 4 nights bed breakfast and evening meal.confirmation ref [protected]. After 2 nights having evening meal we complained to reception desk telling them food was appalling and we would not be having 2 other evening meals.we requested a refund for meals but where given an e.mail address to log our complaint. having done this we have recieved no reply. we contacted reception again but no satisfaction. e.mail i was given. [protected]@britanniahotels.comm

Spent one night at this hotel. We had 3 children. We choose this for entertainment. 3 bars. Bingo. We are livid as there is one tiny bar. By door by exit to door that can only serve cans. This all due to receiving asylum seekers Monday so they closed down everything. If this had been stated we would not booked here. Plus if getting ready for Monday hotel should have closed for guests instead of false description. I am lived and assume you will reinburse us as not recieved product described. Plus under double bed a metal top with a cork attached probly of a bottle wine and a plastic wrapper under single bed. A b and b would av been cheaper if that is all we wanted yet we chose this hotel for entertainment for children. A ruined 6 year old surprise night away.

I booked to stay at Pontins Camber Sands booking ref [protected].
On arriving it looks like a prison block but thought we would give it benefit of doubt, stupidly we found a place to park this gave us a good look at all the filth flaking paintwork everywhere dirty window rubbish everywhere broken paving (surely a h&s issue especially when children are runni g about).
Well it got no better when we registered was give a key to 102 and a duvet cover after tripping on another few broken slabs we went to the cell passing more dilth steamed up mouldy windows and disgusting smells, we opened the door the stench was so strong we shut the door and went back to reception ready to air our views a long with a long queue of people doung the same. We were ignored so gave our key to a security guard I have been trying to get my £357 back but refused I find this absolutely unacceptable especially during these uncertain times.
You know what an awful reputation you have this will also reflect on some of your hotels which I have also stayed in.
I look forward to your response
Kind regards
Karen Woon

I booked into this hotel after waiting 2hours in a que to find the room I asked for with sea view and varander outside was disgusting and dangerous to walk out on if I or my grandchild fell god only knows what could have happened so I went and told receptionist who told me to go down and see manager in the morning so I did that and kept window closed so glass didn't fall out and we never seen a sea view also shower was mouldy and black varrander was full of poop and cigarette ends all over varander as well I've added photos to show what it was like and their was no notice to say it's ok to use I am seeking some compensation for a holiday for my grandchild before seniors so he could have a nice time which he did not have fun in your hotel we also had problems with lifts as I am disabled and had the children of refugees running and screaming playing in the lifts can you look into this please it's the grand hotel 6th September 2021 thankyou

Our booking was from Thursday 9th until Sunday 11th September. On arrival we were checked in and given our room key. Room was extremely small and the furnishings very poor. Looked like something had tried to eat the furniture. There was lumps and bumps everywhere.
We returned to reception and advised them we would not be stopping in that room. We were advised that they were fully booked. However manager came up with another room on the 5th room, a premier room
Room was bigger and no being able to secure another hotel in Llandudno we decided we had no option.
The room was next to the lift shaft and there was loud continuous noise from it as we were advised that it was overheating and they had to have the door open to cool it which was on our balcony. Making the use of our balcony null and avoid. The noice was so bad you couldn't even have the door open for ventilation
The balcony was littered with so much rubbish that you didn't want to go out anyway
You could t lock the door to make it secure as it was broken and a window catch was added
The bathroom was so bad. It looked like someone had tried to paint it, there was more paint on the floor than the walls.
There was cracked tiles, the mastic around the sink turned out to be toilet paper
The shower wouldn't lock into place making it very difficult to shower also impossible to regulate water
Around the taps and grab handles on the Bath we're thick with brown dirty slime
The walls of the lift shaft inside the hotel were wet with what appeared water running down them. We were later informed that this was in fact oil from the lift
The heated towel rail in the bathroom was hanging off the wall
The carpets didn't fit and had more gaffs tape on them. They were also extremely dirty
The was a piece of paper in the lift with numerous dead bugs on it
Dirty plates in the restaurant
This hotel is not fit for purpose, and should not be open as it is a danger to your health. I have numerous photos to support our claim
Our stay at this hotel should have been enjoyable but it was far from it and I will never be booking another one of your hotels