A Blackpool hotelier has hit back at a guest who complained on TripAdvisor that 'the place smells like an nursing home'.
The guest claimed that the Royal Seabank Hotel on Blackpool's seafront was cold, run down and described it as 'disgrace' in a review posted last December, LancsLive reports. But the owners said they 'totally disagreed' as they hit back on the review forum.
The owners at the popular hotel have previously taken to online forums to put matters straight when customers complain. They have also responded to glowing reviews on the sites.
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On TripAdvisor, The Royal Seabank Hotel is rated four out of five on average, with nearly 800 'excellent' reviews. The hotel boasts 120 en-suite bedrooms with a wide variety of family rooms, double rooms, twin rooms and single rooms and superior sea view rooms.
Owners says their hotel 'is a family friendly hotel with fantastic live cabaret entertainment every night showcasing a variety of Blackpool’s finest shows and entertainers.' They add that most rooms in the hotel have recently been refurbished.
Most of the recent reviews left on the site are a mix of 'excellent' and 'very good' reviews. One guest said: "Came on Friday 20th January and left on the 23rd January.
"So many different faces since the last time we came but some staff stayed didn't have a great breakfast as member of staff didn't write the breakfast order down or never informed what was on the breakfast menu. Fantastic entertainment with the compare, especially Mark who also does Royal Boston Hotel."
Another added: "Amazing place to stay I stayed 2 nights with the wife, right on the sea front with a short walk into Blackpool town centre, welcomed as soon as we walked through the door by James, hired a hairdryer for £5 deposit, bar and Starbucks available breakfast was only £10 per day and was lovely, entertainment couldn't be beat, we got to see Caine Ward first night and Laura Blackburn and Liam Halewood 2nd night amazing singers!
"Couldn't fault the hotel for anything, personally I won't book a sea view room in winter cause I got a little cold but that's not the hotel's fault, better prep on our part (wife missed her hot water bottle) will DEFO be booking again!"
Another guest said: "Had a great stay great staff especially Ash a server was very efficient well mannered young man. James and Kieron on reception were excellent and done everything they could to help a guest in the hotel which was very much appreciated by the nan Chris n Craig in the bar were very efficient whole serve drinks and food at lunch time the nears were 5 star and very nice."
However one guest left a strongly worded complaint from their stay which they dubbed a 'disgrace'. The guest left the review from their stay back in December 2022 with some serious claims of being too cold, too run down and smelling 'like a nursing home'.
The full review states: "What a disgrace this place is no heating, place dirty, got upgraded to deluxe as complained that outside of standard room smelt heavily of paint so move[d], so never saw standard room omg this place needs closing. The reception man was helpful and singer was good.
"But I’ve never gone out for the evening wearing my pjs and coat as was so cold can’t rate the food as was too cold to enjoy sat in a coat eating my tea is not right so didn’t go again. Asked for refund the day after but that proved difficult but finally got some money back even the singer wouldn’t take his coat off poor staff I felt sorry for they work very hard they was complaining how cold it was. The place smells like a nursing home."
It didn't take long for the owners to hit back at the response with their own take on the stay. They added the guest's claim that the hotel needed refurbishing was 'frankly a lie'.
The full response states: "Firstly I totally disagree with this review, we have an ongoing refurbishment programme to keep up the hotels standards.
"The room you occupied had been refurbished so your comments about the hotel should be closed down are frankly a lie. During the winter months out central heating is on constant and it is up to the customers to control the temperature of the radiators in their room.
"As we are one of the leading hotels in Blackpool we are good at what we do but unfortunately we can't control the weather."
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