Gone are the days that a holiday in a seaside resort was staying in a boring B&B with an strict landlady and having to share a bathroom down the hall usually with extremely dodgy plumbing!
Recently staying in Brighton all the memories of this type of accomodation were dispelled as we stayed in a lovely hotel. The Brighton Metropole has the charm of a great old fashioned hotel with high ceilings and a lovely exterior but with the facilities of the most modern hotel.
***The Location***
The hotel itself is on Kings Road in Brighton. Now for those of you that are not familiar with the street names or even Brighton itself it is right on the sea front and almost next to The Grand. We drove into Brighton on the main road from the A23 and followed the signs to the sea front. When you reach the sea front opposite the pier you take a right turn and travel approx 1/2 a mile and the hotel is on your right.
It is therefore close to the pier and really close to the lanes. It is overlooking the sea and very close to the remains of the old west pier. Just across the road from the hotel and you are on the promanade and down below this is an amazing selection of cafes, bars, shops and even art gallaries.
If you turn right from the hotel and head past RegencySquare and take the next right up Preston Street and you have just about every type of restaurant that you could imagine. If you leave the hotel and turn left then you pass the Grand and then a conference centre and you reach the famous lanes.
Approx 5 mins walk behind
the hotel is the main shopping area of Brighton including a massive shopping centre set on three floors. I have to say that in my opinion the location is perfect as it is within walking distance of everything that i wanted in Brighton.
***The Entrance and Parking***
I'm sorry that i have lumped these together but they are really connected. We knew were the hotel was but we didn't know if there was parking or when we could check in so taxiboy(the husband) abandoned the car with me and lu in it in the laybay outside and hot footed it to get some details.
He arrived back approx 5 minutes later to say that not only were we already booked in but he had room keys and instructions into the car park.
Now having only been to Brighton twice i already know how difficult and expensive it is to park, so finding a hotel with parking is a bonus. You do have to pay even as a guest, but it is £12 per 24 hours which i feel is reasonably good value. Also when we checked out at 11.30 the next day we paid for the parking but they validated the parking ticket for the whole day so really we got about 30 hours for £12 which is really good value in this area.
We therefore entered the hotel via the car park which is not i have to say the best entrance as it is dull and dingy. It directs you then via the back entrance which is better but not as nice as if you had entered through though the main lobby which i have to say is much more fitting for a hotel of this standard.
It is spacious and has seating, it has a concierge who appears to be there a lot of the time though i cannot say 24 hrs as i was not around for this amount of time. It has lots of staff on the reception and we never had to wait. The were helpful and friendly and not at all snooty(not a real word i know). The lobby had high ceilings and chandaliers and a lovely staircase.
***The Rooms***
We walked into the room and on first impression i thought, pretty good, typical hotel room. Now this is OK i suppose but the hotel has a 4* rating and i was expecting a little more i have to say.
On closer expection my view changed. Firstly we were in a room to sleep 3 as we have a little girl and the room had a double and a single and even with both beds it was spavious and not at all cramped. It had a TV which had adverts for extra channels, films and playstations that could all be hired.
It had a table and A chair(yes i deliberately highlighed 1 chair as i feel this is inadequate in this type of room). It had a dressing table/desk type area which had a tray containing a kettle, 3 mugs and spoons and tea/coffee/sugar/milk etc to make various beverages. I also contained a box type thingy to connect you laptop to the internet and a light.
The room also had a chest of drawers and a wardrobe. So my immediate thoughts are this - no mini bar(not that i buy much but i like to keep my own water/coke/chocolate in it) and no air conditioning and no trouser press - always a sign of a well equiped room.
Now once i looked i found in the wardrobe a fan(I presume in place of air con) and an ironing board and iron(which realistically is much more helpful than a trouser press). So really the only thing lacking is the mini bar.
The decor of the room is really beige and coffee. It is tasteful and understated with some nice prints of local scenes including the Pier on the walls. The beds look attractive with co-oardinating cushions etc. My 4 and 1/2 yr old was very impressed with the cushions. The windows are dressed with voile, which as we were not in a sea view room and we looked onto various unattractive views of the back of the hotel disguised this and also some nice curtains with blackout linings which is extremely important when you have a young child.
***The Bathroom***
This is an area were i feel that most hotel rooms are let down and this is as ever the most disappointing part of the room. It wasn't terrible but i felt that it looked a little tired. The bath was enamel and was chipped and the floor was tiled and there one or two cracked tiles. The lighting was bad which doesn't help.
On the plus side the bathroom was really clean (this is not always the case) and it was well equipped. There were three bath sheets, three hand towels, a bath mat and three face cloths. There was shampoo, conditioner and shower gel. There were tissues and a vase with flowers. There was a hair dryer. It had it plus and minus points.
***The Services Offered***
Well as with most hotels these are many and varied. There was a laundry service and the option of breakfast in your room. I usually like this but with one chair and three for breakfast this was not an option. As mentioned before the television had many funtions including pay as you go films etc(there was no porn on offer for those of you who may wonder!).
There was a full room service which we felt was expensive at approx £8 for burger and chips. Though their menu did include snacks for during your movie including popcorn, icecream and onion rings which seemed to be reasonably priced which i was really amazed at.
There is the option to order a paper or an alarm call as necessary.
***The Bar***
This is one area where i really felt that the hotel lacked any sort or character. It was two large rooms which had been knocked into one. They had beautiful high ceilings with mouldings and ceiling roses and chandaliers and it was nicely decorated. This was spoilt with garish prints on the walls and extremely modern sofas which looked to be mixed with garden tables and chairs. It was a miss match of everything and i felt that it just did not work. Even when it was busy it didn't have any real atmosphere though it was pleasant enough to be in.
***The Hotel Extras***
The hotel has its own restaurant which i cannot comment on as we did not use. We opted to eat out as the restaurant was serving a table d'hote(set meal) for £19 for 3 courses. This is certainly not unreasonable but the menu was not really to our liking and it didn't look overly child friendly, though as we did not try it this is only an impression.
The hotel had a functions arrangement desk and also a internet room which had to be paid for at reception.
This is in the basement of the hotel and as a hotel guest you have full use of the facilities. There is a very nice swimming pool area with sauna, steamroom and spa. There is a gym for you very energetic people. There is also a beauty suite with a hairdresser and nail bar. The staff were extremely nice which i was really surprised about. Towels were provided which was nice and children were encouraged to go, which again is unusual. Toys and floats etc are provided for them to play with.
***The Cost***
We only stayed one night at the hotel but our room cost £89 which i feel was reasonable value. I would like to hope that if we had stayed longer it would have gotten better value. Having looked on their website i noticed that they have an offer for two nights for £119, though i am sure there are restrictions. If we had have wanted a seaview room which would have been lovely we would have had to pay an extra £50. I feel this is a little steep.
Breakfast was not included in the price but could have been added for £20 extra for the three of us. We opted out of this and went into the lanes to a lovely cafe instead.
***The Overall Experience***
The staff in this hotel are friendly and to me this is one of the most important features of any hotel. I don't want some snotty receptionist looking down her nose. And on this occasion this did not happen. All the staff were lovely and this included the Living Well area of the hotel.
The atmosphere is lovely as it is busy with people constantly coming and going with a lot of Americans staying while we were there. As i said before the bar area didn't have a lot of atmosphere but it was still pleasant to be in.
The standard of the facilities were up to a 4* so we did feel that we were getting good value for money. Though i have to say a mini bar is always an advantage and would have been nice.
I would recommend the hotel due to the location as it is just so central to everything that Brighton has to offer. There is a nice family atmosphere and you don't feel that in having children with you that you are spoiling other peoples fun.
Booking was easy and can be done on the phone or on the internet.
In all it was a very pleasant stay.
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