A Scots family say they had the holiday from hell after staying at a controversial hotel in Blackpool where mushrooms were growing on the ceiling and toilet brushes were clogged with dried loo roll.
The family told Edinburgh Live they booked the Blackpool Promenade Hotel through Booking.com for a budget trip to the English seaside resort city. But on arrival, the couple and their seven-year-old son were told they were not sharing a room.
Traversing a "collapsing" slanted set of stairs to reach their rooms, the family was disgusted to find "mould and mushrooms" growing from the ceiling in the room their son was expected to sleep in, and a "filthy" toilet in their quarters. The toilet brush, they said, was "caked" in dry loo roll.
The Edinburgh family, who asked not to be named, said: "We went into the reception and a lady sitting there pulled out a piece of paper with names written in felt tip pen. You could already tell it wasn't done professionally.
"We got the key and went upstairs and the place was honestly a mess. The stairs as you walk up look like they are collapsing. I thought I tripped with the bags but I noticed they were on a slant.
"We were expecting a double bed and a single bed all in one room as that's what was shown in the picture. We walked in and there was a single room to the left with its own bed and toilet but in the corner there was mould and mushrooms growing from the ceiling.
"The toilet was absolutely disgusting and hadn't been cleaned in I don't know how long. We walked through to where our double room was and our own toilet was also filthy. The toilet brush was caked in dry toilet roll.
"We thought we'd all be sleeping in the same room so we went down and asked what the deal was and they said they would try book us in another room. That night we came back and nothing had been done so I slept in the single room with the single bed as there was no heating so we didn't want our seven-year-old in there."
The issues kept coming: from scalding hot water in the showers to "disgusting" mattresses, and even leaky showers from the floor above. At one point, they claimed around 20 people were said to be complaining to reception staff about the state of the building.
After contacting Booking.com, they say they were offered a 50 per cent discount, later cut to 15 per cent, or around £30 off their total bill. Booking.com has since suspended the hotel from its website – before it was removed, it had an average guest rating of 3.4 out of 10.
"This has not been dealt with properly at all", the family added. "Something needs done about it. They can't advertise that on their website and expect people to go and live there."
They aren't the only Scots to have reported a nightmare experience at the Blackpool Promenade. A couple from Paisley, Pamela McInally and Mark Fletcher, turned around and walked out minutes after checking in because of the disgusting state of their rooms.
Photos shared by the couple at the time showed filthy toilets, rubbish strewn about in guest areas and rubbish left piled up in bedrooms. But the hotel has insisted the photos shared by a number of guests were not a true reflection of the building.
In response to claims made by Pamela and Mark, the hotel said: "We must start by saying we operate a budget hotel and our hotels facilities do reflect its prices. However the pictures shared online are not a true representation of our hotel.
"The pictures shared are from rooms which are out of order and they were only left open as the builders were in and out working between the rooms. These rooms we do not let out as they are under renovation due to a major leak which happened recently.
"This has been repaired and doesn't affect any other rooms than the one pictured, which is not open to anyone except builders. We are sorry in this circumstance that this had to escalate to such an extent however we completely disagree that these images and the review are a true reflection of our hotel."
A spokesperson for Booking.com said: "While we are proud to offer a huge range of accommodation for all budgets, with a reviews system helping to guide customers on choosing their next stay, this is not the experience we would want for any of our customers. As such, we have suspended this property while we review the issues raised to ensure these are addressed for future guests."
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