Rex Hotel at Whitley Bay

I’d give this zero stars if I could. I’d tried calling for five days to ask whether they had a cot bed or if we needed to bring our own. We had confirmation of our booking through a third party website, but when we arrived the ‘owner’ was not accommodating at all. The front door was locked and it took him about five minutes to let us in. He asked our name, tapped away on his laptop for 20 minutes, then sent us away with our 14 week old baby, saying there was ‘no availability’, even though the sites all showed rooms available. Disgraceful. His only response was ‘sorry’, and he didn’t seem sincere. They advertise free parking, but he told me to park on double yellows. Try the Windsor hotel a few doors up across the road, they even have a free car park. I’ve never been so flabbergasted by a hotel welcome. AVOID AT ALL COSTS.

We booked one night as a stop on our journey, but ended up driving home because we didn’t feel safe or comfortable staying there. We’d been given door codes, but when we checked the rooms, they were a complete mess, with no cleaning or preparation done. We went next door for dinner to give them time to sort things out or see our texts. An hour later, the rooms were still messy and the doors were open. They had contacted us on WhatsApp, but we missed it because the connection in the area was poor. We followed the instructions we’d been given to get in. They also asked us to photograph our ID and send it to a WhatsApp group with nine members. At 6pm there was nobody at reception, and no one answered our messages or calls.

We left the first night of our Friday the 28th to Sunday the 2nd booking at The Alexander and had to book somewhere else. The noise made it impossible to relax. Our room was directly above a bar, with loud music and commotion, and it was in poor condition too: dust was noticeable, old tea bags had been left instead of replaced, and the TV didn’t work. The noise was severely affecting my partner’s mental health because she has bipolar disorder, so we felt we had no choice but to leave. The hotel initially acknowledged the problem and agreed I was entitled to a refund. Since then they’ve ignored all my messages and haven’t paid it. It’s extremely frustrating and unprofessional to get radio silence after that first acknowledgment. I’d advise against booking. The room condition and the lack of customer service and regard for guests’ well-being make this a place to avoid.

It’s 02:30 in the morning and we’re stuck outside. The front door needs a keycode, but the keypad is broken. Earlier we got in and left our things in the room because the door was off its latch. Now it’s latched, and we’ll have to sleep in the car. Nobody is answering the phone or the door. Dump.