Hartlepool Marina hotel

This Premier Inn appears to be long overdue a refresh. Stained carpets in the hallways and peeling paint on the balcony railings add nothing to the experience. The view of the old west dock through the peeling paint on the window bars was depressing rather than uplifting, certainly not worth the extra tenner for a room with a view. Breakfast in the attached Brewers Fayre was an abysmal buffet style affair, whatever happened to cooked to order?

We stayed at this hotel for one night, and it’s put us off Premier Inn hotels altogether now, despite having been regular loyal customers for 20 years. We had booked 2 rooms with views, only to be told when ringing up beforehand that all the rooms have views anyway. On arrival there was a mix up over payment, as I’d booked standard rate, and they said it had been refunded and I had to pay again. After stating that I’d paid, and being asked to show my banking app statement as proof, they eventually checked us in. Then late at night I was awoken by a phone call asking me to go down and pay. After getting up, getting dressed and heading downstairs, I was threatened with being thrown out, and when I said I’d rather leave and move on to another hotel than pay again, I was told they’d not let me check in anywhere else, so implying they’d blacklisted me somehow. After an hour of arguing, I had to give in and pay the money, which left us short at the start of our holiday. After taking it up with customer services, I’ve since had both amounts refunded, but I should never have had the problem in the first place, and customer services have admitted there was a glitch in the system. They are, however, accusing me of bad behaviour, which is a complete lie. My autistic grandson was with us, and fortunately slept through the whole thing, but at one point my husband and I were being thrown out, leaving a young vulnerable boy alone. As for the hotel, it’s tired and shabby, as is the restaurant. It’s not a nice area, and we saw some dodgy people when going out for a quick walk, so headed back quickly. The “view’ from both rooms was overlooking a stretch of water and a building site, certainly not the marina view full of boats that we were led to believe we’d get. The pictures on the website are misleading. There are hideous rusting bars at the windows which are very unsightly. There are no net curtains, so passers by were looking straight up into our room, no privacy at all. Water pressure very poor, WiFi very poor. The restaurant has peeling walls and seating with badly torn upholstery. The food was ok however. If anyone stays there, be prepared for very poor customer service, staff who tell lies and gang up on you when asked for their side of the story. Total nightmare, and a disgrace to the brand.

Unpleasant check in experience with stressed and disinterested staff. No servicing of rooms for multiple night stays any more. Really bad wifi connection. Entire facility showing its age and lack of renovation. Excellent experience at separate restaurant on site for breakfasts.

We love this hotel and have been regular visitors for over 15 years. The location is perfect for when we visit family and Hartlepool Marina is a lovely setting. Front of house staff are exceptional: polite, friendly and professional. We even found a lovely treat and card in our room when we arrived welcoming us back. Amazing. This should have been our second night staying at the hotel; instead, we are at home. Why? We could not face another night in a sweltering room. The room temperature registered 26 degrees at 5 am despite having the fan on all night. No mean feat when it had only been 21 degrees during the day and the cool breeze off the Marina was refreshing when we were outside. We kept the window open and the curtains closed throughout the day as suggested. We KNOW that the hotel does not have air con but this was awful. This, coupled with the lack of extraction in the bathroom which meant that even cool showers created massive amounts of steam and humidity, made our stay an uphill struggle. There is only so much that the dedicated team at the Marina can do to make stays pleasant and memorable; the CEOs need to do their part and invest in air con and adequate extraction in the bathrooms. I absolutely WOULD pay more to be comfortable. We will return but only in the Autumn and Winter. A hotel with aircon will get our business throughout the summer months. Such a shame.

Lovely location, marine views from all rooms - as far as I could tell. Very helpful staff, and available at all times. It was noticeable that the front desk was always staffed. In most chain hotels the staff disappear to the back office when the busy morning and evening peak times are over, but here they were always visible. Only drawback is the distance from the rest of Hartlepool. No problem if you have a car but a lot of walking if you don't have one - like me. But a big plus point is the bar/restaurant next door. Sitting outside on a warm evening with a couple of pints watching the seagulls trying to nick some food and the local youth jumping into the dock was a treat.