Sea Spray

The room was a good size, nicely presented, and had a comfortable bed. The bathroom was large and lovely, even without a bath. It was warm, close to the sea and centre, and reasonably priced for Brighton. Service was minimal, but I'd stay again. One small request: the rooms have lovely names like Geisha, Elvus, Morocco, but nothing inside connects to them. A picture to match the name would be a nice touch.😁

The room itself was nice, which makes the rest of this experience even more frustrating. We booked three nights but left after two because of the cold and how poorly our complaints were handled. The heating wasn't working, and we ended up sleeping in our coats. We got sick and had to buy medicine. It came on for about an hour on the second day, then stopped again. On the third evening, around 6pm, a man finally came to check it, but by then we'd already booked tickets home. Getting help was a struggle from the start. We arrived around 4 or 5pm and waited nearly 40 minutes for reception. There were four other people waiting too, and one woman was also complaining about broken heating. Someone eventually came after we called the night number several times, though they didn't answer at first. Later, calls to the front desk and night manager went unanswered, and Booking.com couldn't get through either. For two days we checked reception throughout the day and found nobody there. We only saw staff at the desk twice during the trip. We heard the receptionist might also be working at another nearby hotel, but that's just what we were told. We asked several times for a refund, and Booking.com tried to get one for us, but the hotel refused. We have records of the calls we made. After we left, the hotel emailed to say the heating had been working correctly and that we hadn't tried to contact them. That wasn't true from our experience. The radiators were set to full heat, not a timer or low setting, and we'd called repeatedly. The other guest seemed to have the same heating problem, and we saw her complaining about it on two separate days. The lack of sleep and feeling ill ruined our trip. We felt like a nuisance instead of guests, and the service was the worst I've had at any hotel. Heating is basic, especially in winter. We paid for a room with heating and weren't willing to risk another cold night and getting sicker. If staff had been there to speak to and taken the complaints seriously, this review would have been very different. The room was great, but I wouldn't recommend staying here.

The staff clearly take pride in making guests feel welcome. My daughter and I arrived in Brighton early after I'd driven up from the south of France the day before, and we were tired after exploring town. I messaged to ask about checking in before 3pm and got a lovely reply saying it was possible. We were greeted warmly and even given a free upgrade, which made our day. The room was lovely, with a very comfortable bed and a great bathroom, good shower and heated towel rail. There was bottled water and a generous selection of tea and coffee. Downstairs, a small room had complimentary fruit and pastries. I felt so at home I could have wandered around in slippers and a dressing gown. It was the perfect extra touch to a lovely couple of days. I'd definitely stay again and recommend Sea Spray Hotel.

The photos on Booking.com made this look like a lovely hotel, but the room we got felt more like a budget place and was in genuinely poor condition. The sink was cracked, the shower tray damaged, and the rest of the bathroom didn't look like the photos either. The bedding didn't match the headboard, which looked ready for the skip, and the coffee table had stains on it. When I complained, I was told the room had everything listed and that rooms can vary. They hadn't mentioned the condition we'd find. I also think some of the other reviews may be fake. One included photos of a bathroom with our headboard visible, but it definitely wasn't the bathroom in the room shown in the other photos. I've reported it, though I doubt they'll take it down. I wouldn't stay here again.