Yellow Mountain Hotel

The location is still great, which is why I chose to come back with my son, but the stay was a mess. I booked through booking.com, and some glitch showed the booking as being for next year, even though I’d emailed the hotel about this week’s stay and asked whether breakfast was available as in previous years. Breakfast wasn’t available, and the restaurant was out of order. She couldn’t move the money I’d paid onto a stay now, so I had to pay again, three times the price. I’d paid £118 for what was apparently next year, and wasn’t given that money back, with booking.com saying it would take 7-12 days. Then I paid £235 for just two nights for me and my child, with no breakfast. The lift was also out of order, so it’s no good if you’re disabled or have trouble getting around. There were only four milks, coffees, sugars and teabags, and a little kettle. The towels and other things weren’t presented nicely like they were on previous visits, when they’d been made into shapes. The room I ended up paying for was tiny, about 5 ft by 5 ft, so no good for a larger person. It had a tiny bathroom with shower and toilet, plus a small sink by the bed and lots of screw holes where something had been changed beneath it. There was a long blond hair hanging on the door handle. Luckily, no cobwebs. It had been shut for refurbishment this time last year. Downstairs has been painted and the check-in desk moved, and there are cameras everywhere. I’m sad about the lift and restaurant being out of order, and about the lovely ladies who used to be here.

The cot was provided, and the location worked well for the coast. There was free on-road parking right outside during our visit. But the cot was stained and full of holes, and the room felt grimy as soon as we arrived. We were a family of four, with our 12-year-old and 5-month-old baby, staying one night during the school holidays after a long day visiting family on the coast. We’d asked for a cot the night before. Prices around the area were inflated, and this seemed like a reasonably priced option, though still expensive. The online photos looked okay, but were misleading. The lift was out of order, which made getting a pram and lots of bags up difficult. The room was dusty and tired, furniture damaged and some pieces held together with tape. We looked out at heaps of rubbish bags. The bathroom felt just as unfinished, with incomplete tiling and a shower head that wouldn’t stay put. Noise from upstairs sounded like a stampede all evening. The bed was clean but very firm, and the room got hot and stuffy with all four of us in it. Other guests told us wallpaper had been stapled to the wall. The building looked very dated outside, which is common in Skegness, and it was just as dated inside. It felt as if renovation work had been started and then abandoned halfway through, with poor paintwork, paint on the windows and patchy walls. At night the doors were left unlocked and there was no staff around, which wasn’t reassuring when people came in at 1am. In the morning reception was closed, nobody was there and the restaurant was shut. We left our key in a bowl as instructed, but the whole thing felt unprofessional. I’d put it at 1.5 to 2 stars at best, not the advertised 3. We were glad it was only one night, and wouldn’t return or recommend it at the price we paid.

Freshly painted hotel, and both of our two rooms were tidy and very clean. Tea and coffee were provided. Good value.

The room was so tiny we felt crammed in like sardines, and it was called an upgrade because it had its own toilet. The sink was in the bedroom instead of the bathroom, and the view from our room looked straight into someone’s house. On arrival there were piles of rubbish, and the decor was dated. We didn’t trust the cleanliness, so cleaned everything ourselves and left most of our things in the car to avoid bringing dirt home. I’d rather have slept in the car. Avoid at all costs, a hotel inspector would have a field day.