The Hillcrest Hotel Sure Hotel Collection by BW

I'm still waiting for the manager to call or get in touch about the refund. The duty manager was very helpful and apologetic, but couldn't reach the manager and said I'd have to wait until Monday. That seems unprofessional. I used to work at this hotel years ago, when it was run like a hotel, and now I'm not sure what it's run like. Something needs to change. I'm currently staying here and have had problems from the beginning. The first room was next to people partying. In the second, the bed was broken and there was blood on the sheets. Young lads aged 14-16 were banging on doors, and the room's load lock didn't work. I was booked for one or two weeks, but after one of the worst stays ever, I'm rethinking that.

The shower didn't work, and the carpet could have been cleaner. Otherwise, our large double had a super king bed, tea and coffee, a microwave and a fridge. The room was nice, with a bath and shower, and the code lock meant no key problems. Staff were friendly and efficient. Breakfast was nice and good value. There was a lift, a wheelchair ramp, good ground floor toilets and a great function room.

The place is generally run down, though it could be really nice. Our room for my friend's father's birthday party was okay, but the shower was poor. Most of the staff were nice, but one male bar staff member kicked off at someone in our party over a simple misunderstanding about closing time. A colleague had said it was okay, then he came in throwing his weight around and saying the guest should know better. It was disrespectful to paying customers and to his colleagues. The downstairs function room was filthy, thick with dust, and the tables and bar hadn't been cleaned before we hired it. The kitchen area behind it was just as bad, with remnants of old food everywhere. Bar staff were pouring rum down the drain because they couldn't tell a double measure from a wine glass measure.

The bed was stiff, and when I asked for another pillow there were none, so I was given a couch cushion instead. I didn't feel safe and wouldn't come back. The vending machine snacks were stale, breakfast was mediocre at best, and there was no one around to help. We'd booked a place to crash after a family do. We'd heard good things from people who'd visited years ago, alongside a few quiet concerns about the people staying there. On arrival, it seemed the flooring and purple LED lights had taken most of the budget. Nobody could show us to our room. We spent forty minutes going up and down looking for the unlabelled room, ending up on a staircase full of beer bottles and rubbish before finding it another twenty turns from where we'd been directed. By then I was stressed and already late getting ready. The toilet was half ripped off the wall and seemed to have been caulked with as little effort as the room's bulbs, which didn't work when switched on. In the shower I heard the person above us get in and saw our ceiling start to sag and drip water onto me, so I cut my shower short because I didn't want to die in such a horrific hotel. Even with the balcony door wide open, the fire alarm blared in our room for two minutes before stopping. The service and room amenities had already worn me down.