ApartHotel421 by Seafront Collection

I paid £75 for one night in an apartment advertised with a balcony or terrace and a second bedroom, but neither was there. They’d literally put a single bed in a cupboard and called that the second bedroom. The place smelled of fish and poo. The fishy smell came from the bathroom sink, and the poo smell was under the kitchen sink, where I found mouldy pans with mouldy oil and food. Fruit flies were swarming, and I felt sick enough to leave. Reception was incredibly rude when I raised it, and got upset with me because I retuned the TV, which hadn’t been tuned. I had to be out for over an hour, returning at 8pm with two young children in the freezing cold, and the apartment still smelled. Furniture was falling apart and dangerous for young kids: screws were sticking out, and the broken table leg left the table very wobbly, like it could collapse. The sofa was ripped, disgusting and covered in stains, and the beds were rock hard. It wasn’t as advertised at all. They offered £15, which I turned down because I didn’t think that was fair. £35 would have been fair. Honestly, this room was so disgusting it wasn’t fair that I paid anything.

The beach view is lovely and the location is good, but the rooms need a really thorough clean. Ours smelled of old feet, and the floor was dusty and dirty under the beds and around the shelving unit. The microwave had clearly had curry cooked in it, the sink was partly blocked with soggy cereal, and half the cutlery was missing. They need better cleaners.

There was no soundproofing, so the flat was noisy both inside and out, and guests didn’t stick to the supposed strict quiet hours. We were in bed when we got a text threatening to kick us out for excessive noise. The bedrooms had no curtains, just sparse blinds that did nothing to block the sun. The flat was basic, and with no lift to the upper floors my dad, who’s in his 60s, struggled. I wouldn’t stay again. It felt more like a dodgy hostel.

The apartments themselves are good once you’ve cleaned them, held your nose and shut your eyes on the stairs. The oven is a bonus and there are plenty of pots, etc., but cleaning is a huge letdown and they need new cleaners. The bedroom carpet edges and lounge skirts had incredibly thick dust that hadn’t been touched in months. Allergy sufferers, beware. I had to ask for the hoover. There was thick dust on the hall and stairs, including the tops of everything and the stair edges. Don’t look at the top of the vending machine on the way down. The hall recycling bins were full of bottles and McDonald's and takeaway boxes that hadn’t been emptied for days, and the smell went up the stairs. Bedding and rubbish from room cleaning were just thrown all over the stairs to be picked up later. Don’t try going down at those times, it’s an accident waiting to happen. It’s meant to be non-smoking, but the cleaners, all four of them, leave the ground-floor back door open, and smoke smell lingers in the hall long after they’ve gone. Four cleaners should be able to manage basic cleaning with less talking and fewer smoke breaks.