Okay so we’re approaching the Bank holiday, yippee, where shall I venture to, perhaps my bank balance will dictate that, after all we are in a recession, money is tight. Hmm what’s first – I know I’ll check the weather forecast. I was delighted to note Southern England was going to be gloriously sunny Saturday and Sunday, well that was the venue sorted – Bournemouth here I come! Next step was to find a nice looking, spacious hotel, naturally I went straight to google. Bingo, found booking.com, surfed around and discovered what sounded like the perfect hotel. ‘Overlooking the sea golden beaches, only ten minutes walk to town centre, sauna, Jacuzzi, gym, swimming pool, etc etc. I couldn’t believe my luck all this for a mere £211 inclusive of breakfast – yes please I’m booking right now! Credit card out, details in I was well pleased with myself. I packed my bags, called my friend and we were off!

After a 2 hour journey we were in Bournemouth outside our hotel ‘Suncliff’ First impressions weren’t bowling me over but hey the insides probably great and I certainly couldn’t fault the sea right behind me – yes I’m gonna get my sea view. In we go straight to reception and I can’t contain my excitement any longer so I ask the receptionist “Have we got a nice sea view room?” to which the response was not what I was expecting “£10 per person per night for sea view and balcony” WHAT??? Surely they were standard as the website didn’t mention anything about extras! No if we wanted sea view we’d have to pay an extra £40. I then asked what our view would be if we didn’t pay the supplement – “car par” was the response. Very reluctantly we agreed but I asked to see the room first. The receptionist (a very polite young man who’d only been with the hotel for 1 week) took us to room 102 on the first floor – shock horror, the room was disgusting. The dressing table was chipped, the furniture looked worn and ancient and it was small and dingy BUT had a large balcony with sea view – I don’t think so sunshine, I am paying over £100 per night I expect something better. Off we went back to reception whilst this young man tried to find something else. Finally he said there was only one other room available 307, which was larger and also had a balcony – off we went to the third floor. Okay so this room was not as old as the first and the furniture was in much better condition but the balcony was tiny BUT we did have the sea view so reluctantly we agreed to pay the additional £40!

Wait for it, it gets better. Well we thought at least we’ve got sauna, gym, Jacuzzi and pool downstairs, let’s go have fun. When we got there it was a tiny pool with dust particles floating on the surface, the sauna was tiny and there was no shower available next to the sauna and the Jacuzzi and gym were closed down – great! When I complained to the hotel manager he apologised and said he’d have words with bookings.com, no mention of any discount. After all, these facilities were part of what swayed us to this hotel and yet it was all about money for them – EVERYTHING was extra! I called room service in the morning to have our full English breakfast brought up – the first thing I was told “£3.50 per person for room service” “Fine” I said as by now I understood the philosophy of the hotel – ‘make as much money from patrons as you can.’

When you pay an extra £7.00 for room service you expect room service – but oh no. The tray arrived with open plates (no covers), no salt n pepper, no jam, no tea cups and only one sausage each – oh my God these people really take the biscuit.

Next time I want to go anywhere, I know which site not to use, in fact I don’t think I’ll be booking any hotels over the internet. I’ll just take my chances and drive down to the place and PHYSICALLY check out the hotels for my self. And I am never likely to visit Suncliff Hotel in Bournemouth ever again!!

The only saving grace in this trip was the delicious dinner we had at the Korean Grill (www.koreangrill.co.uk) in 223 Old Christchurch Road, Bournemouth 10 out of 10 for food, décor and service.

Travel Guru for clickwalla.com