St Elmo Hotel

The one thing in its favour is the excellent location for Pleasure beach. The area around it was very run down, though, and the room was basic. The lamp was broken and had no bulb; there were flies and a spider in the otherwise clean, basic bathroom. The walls need paint and the place urgently needs renovating. The bed base also needs replacing, although the sheets were clean. The door key jammed and the barrel shifted when I turned it. I was out with family all day, so only slept there. You get what you pay for, I suppose. I was on a budget this trip, but stay here at your own peril.

There was no hot water, and the plug sockets didn't work. The room was freezing, the radiator couldn't be switched on, and the ceiling was damaged with holes. Parts of the bathroom ceiling were missing too. The bathroom was extremely small, and the walls and floor were dirty. The room was very outdated and felt completely insecure. The fire escape window opened all the way and wouldn't lock, so a child could open it easily and fall out. If you ask me, it needs closing down for a huge amount of work before something happens to a family.

We arrived to find the door padlocked and nobody answering. A neighbour told us the place had been cleared out and left three weeks earlier. My family, including small children, and I were stranded. We managed to find rooms at Travel Lodge in Southport, which cost another £234. Then Booking.com said I couldn't get a refund because the hotel hadn't replied to them.

The bed was comfortable and the sheets looked clean, but the room itself was very dirty, with sticky surfaces and dirty water sitting in the shower tray. The electrical plugs and wires felt unsafe, and the TV didn't work.