Eastbourne (Polegate) hotel

Simple and efficient hotel. Clean but needs a little TLC. Although there is a renovation happening the disruption is limited between 10-6pm. The staff are friendly although strangely they insist on you making a reservation for dinner and the space isn’t busy. The soap dispenser in my room is rusty which was weird. But the room is big enough and fairly comfortable.

Really lovely helpful staff but it needs an upgrade . All the carpets are stained . No lift, so we struggled to get bags up stairs . Noisy fans rather than air conditioning . Lots of MacDonald’s rubbish around the front . Good breakfast but evening meal choice was very beige and all drinks were in cans . I guess the building work next door is part of improvements being made . Hope it sorts this out !

Stayed at many premier inns including this one before this latest visit. Have to say it was a little disappointing. I really don't underatand why they are giving preference to building a new annexe rather than concentrating first on updating existing rooms. This has to be the worst room experience we have had at premier inn. Table lamp not working, matress on bed in need of replacement, sheet on bed not big enough, lid on bin in bathroom did not close down. Also at breakfast on the first morning the milk at the tea/cofee machine appeared to be off because we had white lumps floating about on top of the tea.

It would have been useful to know that there were no lifts in the building. We were offered a ground floor room because of this but with a sofa bed which I was not happy to accept-my mistake as should have booked an accessible room. The room we had was ok but dated. The carpet was dirty. The shower leaked all over the floor because the shower curtain fittings were broken. The breakfast was ok but although we had booked a 9am slot-the food had run out which resulted in a long wait for it to be replenished. Also didn’t like watching a member of the kitchen staff eating sandwiches in the kitchen and then serving food without washing their hands. Overall it was ok for what we paid. Staff were friendly but appeared to be inexperienced-perhaps a more professional approach to guests would be better particularly checking in for breakfast. We also didn’t like having to walk past a huge pile of dirty laundry at the bottom of the stairs. The outside area is shabby with faded plastic plants in the planters. Not a good first impression. The outside was filthy -we almost turned around to find somewhere else when we first arrived. I know it’s under going refurbishment but regardless of this it wouldn’t take much to clean up outside. Overall would we stay here again? No. Improvement could be made in many areas- maybe a stronger management team in place who would take pride in the hotel and instilling a professional approach from staff.

We have used various Premier Inns in the past and have always appreciated the exceptional value that they normally have to offer. And also the secure parking for our motor bikes, classic cars etc. Polegate was an horrendous 2 night experience that we will never forget. The new restaurant didn’t open until the following week so nothing except pasta, pizza, chips and chicken curry - no salads or fish or other meat. The portion size of chicken curry was disgracefully small even for a child - we are 2 very slim adults with relatively small appetites!! Cleanliness: hygiene promise is a joke: the bathroom was disgusting and we have photos. (Unable to load 2 more from iPad). I needed a rubber mat in the bath - it was so old and hard that it wouldn’t unroll and was split. Carpets were dirty, chairs were dirty. Staff were very pleasant but obviously incapable of coping. Windows in the bedrooms do not open more than a couple of inches but we were provided with a fan. Will the new restaurant make the experience any better? We doubt it. We are now dreading our visit to the Premier Inn at Chippenham as we have 2 separate stays there for one night each time in the next few weeks. Hopefully it can’t be as bad……?