Not only has the hotel lost its sparkle as a previous review stated, it should be completely revamped. We booked in last week and were offered a room 3 floors below ground level. No surprise as the hotel is built into a cliff – the lift is not working for that floor so you will have to go down in another lift to the second floor, then by stairs. This meant my husband had to carry out baggage down a complete flight of stairs and then along miles of damp smelling corridors. The room we were designated 3017 was not shown on any of the signs as it went to 3016 on one corridor and from 3018 on another. When we eventually tracked it down we could not believe what we had been offered. It was the size of a store room, with no window, no daylight and an office fan buzzing away on the small dressing table. I have seen bigger Anderson shelters. We trekked back to reception to change the room and were offered another one, two floors down this time. When we opened this room we almost fell over a zimmer frame and mobility scooter and quickly realised there was an elderly man in the bed. Back to reception where we were asked to wait. All the time there was queue of people complaining about their rooms. Many had changed more than once. It was chaos. We were eventually offered a room on the third floor and insisted on help with baggage. The receptionist unceremoniously dumped them at the entrance and left us to it. The room was very basic but okayish. The bathroom was totally outdated. There was a bath, but no hand shower attachment, so impossible to wash hair. No hand rails to get in/out of bath. Beds were comfortable and clean. However, we were unable to sleep at night because of the screeching of seagulls which were nesting all around the hotel. There appears to be no attempt to control them, and the nearby steps to the lower part of Scarborough were covered in excrement even on the hand rails.
The carpets in the corridors were stained, some chunks were missing.
Dinner was served till 8.30 – what this meant was that you had to vacate by 8.30. We went down at 8 and found half the dishes were finished and staff were already clearing away. The food was about the level of a holiday camp. Roast potatoes were cooked in old fat. Staff were vacuuming around us as we ate. It was allself service – nothing grand about that. Breakfast next day was a scramble. Lifts are inadequate for the size of the hotel, so there are long waits and no seating to wait on. As the hotel caters predominantly for groups of elderly people, we were appalled at the difficulties presented: long anonymous passageways, poor lighting, lack of working lifts etc. Entertainment started with bingo till nearly 10 pm. We didn't bother to wait for what followed. Carpets in the corridor were stained. The numerous mobility aids being used would have been a nightmare in an emergency. Most of the other guests were so elderly they were just glad to be away from home, so were not very discriminating. The receptionist insisted they had many return guests, which I found hard to believe. Although we had booked for two nights, we left after breakfast. We had booked a two night break to get away from caring for my father, so it was a nightmare to be in what appeared to be a giant care home.
