Gullivers Hotel - Brighton, United Kingdom 

My partner and I have just arrived home after a weekend at the Gullivers Hotel, Brighton, and I guest I am not going to be the first guess to be taken in by the website. On arriving at the hotel we where greeted by a very friendly receptionist, offering us a glass of Pims (very nice). We where told that parking outside the hotel was residential and we could purchase a vouch for ?5. There where no spaces so we parked along the seafront, which was free between 6pm and 9am. We where then taken to our room, which was on the ground floor, we had to walk through which I think was once the reception desk, to a door that had glass panels (some frosted and others not) with a net curtain. On opening the door you walked into an entrance hall, with a door to the bathroom. It had a corner bath with a shower attached, the front panel hanging off the bath. The shower head would not fit into the attachment on the wall and had no shower curtain. My partner had a shower and flooded the floor. There was a toilet off the bathroom which had a window that would not shut. Both the bath and sink plugs were blocked due to them not being cleaned regularly. The bedroom was off the bathroom with a 1 foot step down, which was very dangerous, the room was small but ok. This should have been an “on suite bathroom” not an “on suite bedroom”. On our first morning my partner got up to see if there where any parking spacing outside the hotel, and there was, so he went and got the car, while I paid for the voucher. We then went down for breakfast. We both wish we had order cereal as the full English was cold. Having finished our breakfast we went out for the day. We came back to the hotel at about 4pm to freshen up, ready for the evening, when we noticed we had a parking ticket (for not displaying a ticket). When I went into reception the young lady I spoke to could not understand why I was so upset. She rang the sister hotel two door away and we where told to go and see the manager. He said that we couldn’t park in the street outside the hotel only in Zone C, which was the road off the hotel road. He said that his staff all knew this and would not tell us that we could park there. The receptionist in question was due to come in at 6pm and he would have a word with her. Unfortunately we heard no more about it. So for us to park 9 hours it cost us ?30.

This hotel seems to be one of the unknown gems in Brighton. I had stayed at Gullivers before but, since I had left my booking late, I didn't expect to get a room. Thankfully I did. It is a small hotel situated very to close to the sea front. My initial impression on booking-in was how friendly and helpful the woman who booked me in was. This was replicated by all the staff that I met for the duration of my stay. My room was airy, comfortable but, most importantly, always impecibly clean. The breakfast room is also very comfortable and clean and the waiting staff provided the same high level of service that I had come to expect. The breakfast was very tasty and more than enough to start me off my day. If I had to criticise anything, it would be the length of time between ordering breakfast and having it delivered to my table. This was a small price pay given the quality of food and service and I would far rather wait than feel rushed. This is a great place to stay: a comfortable and friendly hotel that made my stay in Brighton much more pleasurable. ( But, SSsshhh! Don't tell anybody because if I am late booking again I want to be able to get a room.)