Grand Metropole - Blackpool, United Kingdom     

We have just returned home from a three night stay at the Grand Metrople Hotel all I can state is Grand what a joke we arrived at reception to an argument with a couple whom were complaining good start not... were given our key & all we got was its on the third floor good customer liason when we arrived to the third floor it was a joke we had a walk and a half to were the room was once in the room it was small but we just said we are only in here to shower and sleep second day we arrived back to our room to the bed was not made cups still dirty no phone in room to call reception this was in the hall this place is the pits the staff member who came to the room to check was the so called deputy manager and her attitude was a disgrace she was unhelpful and had one hell of a bad attitude if this is how they treat customers they can keep it, we wont be going back to this so called hotel

On arrival the fascade of the hotel is indeed 'Grand.' On entering we were not impressed, the reception staff told us that we could leave our luggage as our rooms were not ready, the only place to leave the bags was unattended on the dancefloor , we already had no intention of spending too much time in the hotel as first impressions were not favourable. The corridors smelt of cigarette smoke and we were suprised to find that you could indeed smoke in the bedrooms. The hotel blurb states that there is a telephone and trouser press in each room, this is not true, we were on the 3rd floor and neither of our rooms had these facilities. Given the amount of elderly people in the hotel, not having a phone was a bit disconcerting, we are not elderly and had our mobile phones, we rang each other to make sure we were okay, as we had noisy neighbours on both sides. There is no mention in the hotel information about the noise you can expect from the main road and the karaoke bar and night club opposite, even though this noise is unavoidable in an area like Blackpool a warning would have been nice! The housekeeping was poor, stained carpet and bedspread, the pillows were no more than wafers. My friend had a single room, which was quite small and more suitable to a student/teenager not a person taking a well earned break. The bar and ballroom was awful (although a bottle of wine was inexpensive.) Needless to say we only went to the bar once during a three day stay. The chairs are in rows, although the tables are circular, it was laid out, in our opinion like an institution, very cold and uninviting,although we did joke with the bar staff and asked when the Bingo was starting, although that comment on thinking back wan't fair to the pleasant surroundings you can find in Bingo halls today. We paid over ?160 each for a 3 night stay, very overpriced. There isn't an automated response to e-mails sent to Britannia Hotels Customer Service, not user friendly at all. This hotel is sadly lacking and not at all 'Grand.' Our advice DON'T GO THERE.