We booked the worst hotel in Blackpool, my kids were begging to sleep in the car and families were fleeing
A MUM has revealed how her kids were left begging to sleep in the car after they booked the ‘worst hotel in Blackpool’.
Pamela McInally’s Easter break quickly turned into a nightmare after checking in to the Blackpool Promenade Hotel in Blackpool, Lancashire, on April 9.
Accompanied by her partner, both 33, along with his two daughters and Pamela’s two sons, the family fled the hotel almost instantly after seeing piles of rubbish and a crumbling interior.
And they weren’t the only ones with four other families eager to abandon the hotel on the same night.
Speaking to Fabulous as part of our series, Holiday Horrors, Pamela says that the hotel was meant for nothing more than a stopover, but they couldn’t even face one night.
She explains: “We were taking a trip to celebrate my partner’s eldest daughter’s tenth birthday and we had a gorgeous apartment booked in Blackpool for the week.
“The booking didn’t start until Monday and so we found the Promenade on Booking.com for just £69 and thought it would be the perfect place to dump our bags for the night.
“It looked fine and clean on the website, there was a pool table for the kids and somewhere for me to grab a drink.
“But having seen it now I don’t believe that the pictures on Booking.com are even of that hotel.”
Pamela says she knew that something was wrong the moment she stepped across the threshold.
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“The reception area was an absolute disgrace and immediately felt uneasy,” she recalls.
“We’d booked a family room and the receptionist told us that we would be in single rooms which was obviously not on.
“Eventually she gave us two family rooms that were at opposite ends of the hotel.”
While Pamela was pleased her kids wouldn’t be sleeping alone, any sense of relief came to a halt when the family got to their bedrooms.
“When we opened the doors we were just horrified,” Pamela says.
“There were bin bags everywhere and my seven-year-old pointed out that bugs were crawling up the wall and the toilet brush was filthy.
“It looked like a prison cell and I was just not prepared to sleep in there - I wouldn’t have let a homeless person rest their head there.”
After grappling with the receptionist, Pamela was given a key to a room that was right next door to her family after being told there weren’t any available.
“It didn’t make any difference though,” the mum says, “The next room was just as bad and so we left without even entering it.
“There was laundry all over the floor, the pipes and kickboards were hanging off in the bathroom - the place was in absolute shambles.
“On the way back to reception I came across rubbish absolutely everywhere.
“There were also mattresses blocking the fire exit, that’s a fire hazard.
“At this point the kids were begging to sleep in the car so I told the receptionist that we wouldn’t be staying.
“As we were leaving, another guest told me four other families had made the same decision.”
Pamela was told that she would have to file her complaint to manager the following day and that she would have to go to Booking.com to seek a refund.
In the meantime the family were forced to seek alternative accommodation, forking out £150 in room costs and an additional £200 deposit.
After spending hours the following morning attempting to get through to Booking.com, Pamela was horrified to discover the hotel had claimed she had spent the night and that no complaint was recorded.
She says: “Because of this Booking.com would not refund us, they attempted to give us a goodwill gesture of £60 which didn’t even cover the cost of the room.
“While I eventually got the whole amount back I wasn’t all that interested in the refund, I was more concerned about other families making the same mistake.
“When I got back to Scotland I called environmental health and Blackpool council and fire service about the hazards in the hotel.
“They have since had an enforcement notice and as far as I’m aware it’s been forced to stop trading.
“I have definitely learnt my lesson when it comes to booking online.
“I can’t urge people enough to do their homework before paying- people say you get what you pay for but you wouldn’t pay a penny for that experience.”
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A spokesperson for Booking.com says: “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 and refunded the customer what she paid (£65) for the hotel room at the Blackpool Promenade.”
