Seaton Hotel

We stayed for one night to meet up with friends. The hotel itself is very conveniently situated with a large car park So very disappointed with the room, pillows on the bed so old they were flat and the spare ones were like bricks, had to throw it out of bed in the night. 2 bath towels but only one hand towel, no cups or beakers in the bathroom. For drinks, just 2 teabags, 2 sachets of coffee and 4 milks, was told as we were leaving there were more in reception but too late by then. On the plus side, the staff were excellent, we would have liked to eat out but couldn’t get booked in at any eateries around that area so ate in the hotel. Food was adequate and the two young ladies, Shelby and Cloe were so helpful and fun , nothing was too much trouble . The best bit was breakfast, an excellent choice of fruit, yoghurt,cereals etc, continental and traditional English fry up, all hot and cooked beautifully. As we weren’t leaving until much later that day, the young man arranged parking until midnight so we could just leave when we were ready Over all a very pleasant stay.

Upon arrival, the hotel looks uncared for and needs a revamp on the outside. The exterior of the building has black marks all over it which seemed to be coming from the air vents from each room, indicating the vents and ducting have not been cleaned or serviced in a very long time. On the plus side. there is plentiful parking, albeit there is a charge per night £7. The room was the standard fare, but the bath/shower area needs updating. In keeping with first impressions of the outside of the hotel, the grouting and sealant around the bath was mouldy and in desperate need of replacing. Not a big job, but it has been neglected. The shower also needs replacing as it was making an awful noise if you dare to open the tap more than half a turn. Where things really went downhill was in the restaurant. Very soon after sitting there, my wife and I heard the chef and his colleague making all sorts of loud comments, often about complete nonsense (such as what was butter or margarine). They were very loud and unprofessional. We overheard the chef tell his colleague that he deliberately made such loud comments to annoy the supervisor who was working on the reception desk. At one point, the supervisor did come over to warn the chef and colleague and to tell them to keep the noise down; if anything, this made them worse and at this point they started to loudly state how many servings of each main they had left. To make matters worse, my wife observed the chef drinking from a bottle of Doombar ale and the colleague eating some bread and butter, both whilst in the kitchen. We normally enjoy making use of the meal deal but after observing such juvenile and pathetic behaviour we did not want to risk eating any of the food coming out of the kitchen, and instead left and went to a nearby restaurant (Ragini - excellent btw). Thankfully we had only booked a room for one night and left the next morning without bothering with breakfast. Premier Inn really need to work on ensuring greater consistency across the brand. It seems very hit and miss on what you get at each hotel, some having Premier Plus rooms, some not, some being clean and tidy, others looking very tired etc... Up until now the one thing that was consistent was the great staff but Seaton has put paid to that.

Staff all over the place, don't go to the restaurant if you want to relax! Have to pay £7 a day for parking too which is cheeky!

The hotel in general was ok, usual Premier Inn standard however small housekeeping items could have been improved such as air conditioning in room, an easy chair to sit on for instance. A maintenance check would have not gone amiss either as the hook to hang your towel on the back of the door was broken and the soap dispenser on the wash hand basin didn't work - aren't these things checked when they clean the room? The stay was very much let down by the restaurant. The first night was a total shambles. There was only two people on duty and one of them a young girl (who seemed to be there all week) didn't have a clue on how to behave in front of and treat guests. She was very rude and had a couldn't care less attitude and frequently went into the kitchen shouting very loudly and messing around with the kitchen staff. One evening the duty manager had to go and speak to her about it. We had been sitting at the table for an hour before we were even asked what we wanted to order. Our soup was standing on the counter to be collected by the waiting staff for over 15 minutes and had gone cold. I approached the kitchen staff and demanded a fresh order which the chef said he would do, however this took ages and he progressed to cook our main courses before doing the fresh starters! Again, I said I was not having those and he agreed to make fresh main courses for us too. When we had finally had our starters the new main courses were lying on the counter again to be collected and served to our table which didn't seem to happen. In the end I went to the kitchen and got them myself after having cleaned the table of dirty crockery. We were eventually given complimentary desserts (which were slammed on our table by the young waitress without a by or leave) after much demanding on my part. The young waitress was quite rude saying she couldn't authorise it as she "wasn't high up". Dirty dishes on all the tables were never cleared up (see photo) and the whole process took over two hours! The service did improve as the week went by however every night several items were not available on the menu. One night I had to have my second choice on all three courses! Breakfasts however were very good and the different staff on the early shift were much better, one middle aged waitress was particularly pleasant (I didn't get her name) and Dean was very good too. The evening meals were good once you got them but the service and availability needs looking at. The young waitress I think is in the wrong job, she really doesn't have a clue how to behave in front of guests. She improved slightly towards the end of the week however she still had this immature attitude and continued with her larking about in the kitchen shouting about when there were people still eating. Would we stay there again? Possibly, but we wouldn't have our evening meal there again.

Stayed here for two nights during Lyme Regis fossil festival. Family of 4 (2 younger boys). After a 3 and a quarter hour drive, we unloaded our luggage from the car. Lovely clean car park and handy Tesco next door. Got to reception, waited 15 mins holding heavy bags for lady to appear. She said no walk ins for dinner. This was disgusting as at 7pm with 2 young children, what else were we supposed to do? They had plenty of space for us but due to lack of staff we had to go elsewhere. Luckily a restaurant nearby, the lady at the desk for unhelpful, unapologetic and rude, especially as their fault! Only reason we didn’t book was because we were unsure of our exact arrival time as so far away. Rest of stay better, breakfast lovely both days. Room was clean. Long waits for lift though as only one working. The bathroom was nice too. Just a shame our welcome was so frosty.