115 The Strand Hotel and Suites

Very friendly people in reception. The breakfast was outstanding. Comfortable room with TV and private bathroom. Close to everything. Very inexpensive considering the quality.

I never usually write reviews but felt compelled to on this occasion. Overall a positive experience as the hotel is in a wonderful location and was (for the most part) clean and comfortable. The pool is lovely but I recommend queuing outside from 9.45 to secure a good seat by the pool which opens at 10am. We had a lovely spacious balcony however it was not seafront facing but this didn’t bother us. We had a comfortable double bed (with dirty sheets which I will expand on). Free water and ice dispensers available. Breakfast was fine, standard for a hotel breakfast with hot and cold options. The receptionists were all very polite, friendly, and helpful upon check in, but were very reluctant to address our repeated concerns which I will explain.

When we arrived at the hotel on a Thursday evening, we noticed the bed sheets smelt bad. I put it down to them being improperly dried before being put on the bed and therefore having a damp towel/wet dog smell, but after one night the smell was unbearable. Between Friday and Sunday we requested that our sheets be changed multiple times at reception. Each time we were told they would send someone to the room to change the sheets, each time no one came. When we complained on Sunday, they told us that we had requested “do not disturb” on our room and that’s why the sheets were never changed. We never once requested DND and never once put the DND card on our door. The staff were coming into our room everyday and emptying bins, making the bed, cleaning the toilet, rehanging dirty towels so the room was 100% not on DND. After this, we were told someone would come up to change the sheets and no one did. We asked a second time on Sunday and asked for them to just give us the clean sheets and we would make the bed ourselves, to which they again said they would send someone to do it. We stripped the bedsheets and left them on the floor. When we returned Sunday night they had changed the sheets but put THE SAME dirty pillow cases from the floor back onto the bed (they still stank and there was a small makeup mark on one of them so we knew they were the same ones). Monday morning we stripped the sheets and left them outside the room door along with the dirty towels that hadn’t been changed in four days and eventually they were replaced with clean ones. Four days sleeping on dirty sheets that I now believe were unchanged from the previous guests and four days reusing the same two small towels multiple times a day. Absolutely unacceptable and to be met with no apology whatsoever is outrageous. We are extremely un confrontational people and asked politely each and every time despite being completely appalled by the fact that we were being made to sleep in someone else’s dirty sheets. Some members of the cleaning crew are really letting this otherwise nice hotel down, and the lack of action from reception worsened the situation. And it is unacceptable for reception to try and lie and tell us that we requested DND when we didn’t and the room was being entered by staff daily anyway.

Also don’t book any trips from the people selling day trips in the lobby. They will charge twice the price. Research and book trips online instead.

Despite having an otherwise pleasant stay, I can’t give more than 3 stars as I am truly so upset after having slept in what I now believe was someone else’s dirty sheets for four nights. This review is not meant as an attack on the hotel but I really hope that it is acknowledged and there is a review of cleaning crew hiring and training.

I would like to add that we booked our stay through loveholidays and I sent a complaint in regarding the bed sheets. The complaint was handled promptly and effectively within 24 hours and loveholidays were very apologetic.

Was a great hotel with amazing facilities, staff were very friendly and helpful too. We initially asked for a different room as our original had no windows. When we asked to switch the staff were incredible and accommodated us with a new room with windows straight away.

The location was perfect with plenty of restaurants nearby.

Hotel overall was clean and was great value for money, I would definitely stay here again.