A few weeks ago, my husband and I decided to book a two night stay in a Brighton hotel. We were in desperate need of a vacation and so we chose a hotel branch that we were familiar with and said “what the hell!” Let me preface this journal entry by saying that my husband and I are pretty fussy when it comes to accommodation. We like luxury and comfort where possible, especially considering the fact that we hardly ever go on holiday in the first place. Basically, we like to get our money’s worth and have a great time, too.

First of all, the hotel we’re staying in doesn’t have a safe. Either I’ve been spoiled by too many “good” hotels but I really value being able to stow my laptop somewhere secure when I’m not in the hotel room. It just seems like the sort of thing that should be included in every hotel room, right?

Secondly, there is no mini-fridge. Now, I’m not usually one to hit up the minibar, but I do appreciate having chilled water, even if that means storing my own water bottle in the fridge. There is plenty of space in our hotel room so I don’t understand why there isn’t a mini-fridge? Furthermore, when we got into the room we noticed there was a kettle and some mugs, but there wasn’t any tea. We went down to reception to get some but they didn’t bring any up to our room until we called a few hours later. The service at this hotel is really lacking.

Thirdly, the walls are incredibly thin. We’ve had the TV on all night and for good reason because when we turn it off we can hear our neighbors having sex very loudly. I do value privacy when staying at any hotel and it is quite unsettling to know that if we can hear the people around us then they can hear us, too. Major yikes.

And fourthly, the room smells like smoke. The room is supposed to be non-smoking, so I can’t be certain why it smells like someone’s been lighting up all day long. It might be that the windows that look out over the marina are particularly shoddy, letting in any smells and sounds from outdoors, but I’m pretty sure the previous occupants were just flat-out smoking in their room.

Even though this hotel stay is less than spectacular, we’re going to make the most of our time in Brighton. We will definitely not be recommending this hotel to any friends or family, that’s for sure. Anyway, tomorrow we’re going to explore Brighton a bit more and hopefully do a bit of shopping to make up for the crappy hotel room, haha. See you tomorrow!