Brighton, New Madeira Hotel

My partner and I booked the New Maderia in Brighton when looking for a couple of nights get away to chill out. At first, the staff were very nice and we were quickly given our key card for out room. We stay on the 3rd floor - Room 315 I think and it was terrible.

The carpets was dirty and worn through. The bed was two single pushed together, which had a double quilt in a kingsize duvet cover! They were at different levels and were uncomfortable. The bathroom was very basic, the toilet seat was too small for the toilet and had a large gap between the seat and toilet. The shower was just off the main taps in the bath and the temperature was either boiling hot or freezing cold and I could spit faster than it ran!

The view was good and the original sash windows overlooked the sea and pier which was the only highlight. That night we did not get a wink of sleep as the window panes were so thin, they rattled all night with the wind - the curtains were even blowing!!! We stuck toilet roll in our ears to get us to sleep. We slept better during a festival!!

The morning after, we got up and went shopping into Brighton (1st purchase was earplugs) and then returned approx 4 hrs later to find our bed made and towels replaced and noticed my bags had been moved. I had left my iPhone and digital camera in my bag as I didn't need to take them with us shopping - these had gone! The only people to enter that room were two cleaners and myself and partner! I didn't want to jump to conclusions - I checked and doubled checked the room and after I didn't find my items I notified the staff. The staff were straight on the defence and said that the cleaning staff had worked there for a long time and this had never happened before. This was no comfort to me as I had over £500 of equipment stolen from my room! The staff allowed me to call the police from their phone but that was it! There was no apologises, no compensation, no investigation into my missing items! We left extra early and I wrote a formal complaint to the owner Ian and he was even more unhelpful than before and just suggested I claim on my housing insurance and offered us a discounted rate stay between some dates in October but no including a weekend! I felt this was a complete slap in the face considering my stuff had been stolen from my room.

So I am not over-reacting in my review - this place really was terrible. Before the items were stolen the owner was bragging in the bar that he had a call from BBC Brighton as they were voted the worst hotel in Brighton! Says it all!