The Big Sleep Hotel. Eastbourne

I went to  Eastbourne last week end. There, I had organised a small event for 100 people.

Altered reception area

Having failed to confirm on time the great hotel I had picked for my team to stay at on time, we were reduced to stay at the first hotel that would have us at such short notice. So we stayed at the Big Sleep Hotel on Eastbourne Parade. I had never come across it before (Big Sleep is a chain). The website should have been a warning enough but…

So I got to the hotel on the Friday afternoon. I couldn’t find the door… what I could see looked like a service door,  I pushed it, got in the reception area … (The service door was in fact the main entrance) … looked very clean and the staff was pleasant enough. To the left, a picture of the reception area altered to hide and actual guest and staff with the photo of John Malkovich.

I asked and was shown the lift… ahahah… I walked passed it, came back to the reception asking “Where is the lift?”,  “it is just there.” The receptionist replied … the door to the lift looked  like a bedroom door. I got in with my luggage. … no more than 2 people can get in that lift with their luggage.  Door of the lift shuts, then, starts a cricking noise… it sounded like a kitchen elevator… This gets better. I got to my floor looked around… It all looks and smells like a teenagers dormitory. The colours are … well looked at the picture on the side: Grey stained carpets, white clinical walls, bad lighting.

Malkovich & the curtain

I got in my room and a nutter looking John Malkovich was staring back at me from the wall. The bedroom looks like a 10 year old boy’s display room in a IKEA shop…. Baby blue with a baby blue shaggy rug… I mean curtain… who in their right mind let a child decorate this place?...  guess what? The coat hanger is just above the TV… I had to double check that I wasn’t in guest house where I had to stay in the little boy’s room. Two good things about the room though. The view of the sea and the new bath towels… Nope! I will not come back event for that.



Tv in my room

After checking my room, I when downstairs to further explore the reception areas and came across an oddly decorated room which turn out to be the bar and breakfast area… with those quirky colours, I don’t think a chandelier has a place here… I DON’T GET THE DECO HERE (puzzled look)...  

The reception and bar areas are worlds apart; any one would hardly believe that the accommodations and this are even in the same building…. Needless to say, my colleagues hated the hotel and tried to stay out of it as much as possible… my boss got a lovely a pink room! Imagine the set up of my room in baby pink… I’d love to meet the designer of this Hotel; it must have been a dare to decorate it this way me thinks.

Bar & Breakfast area

Lesson learnt; in Eastbourne, do not book anything under £100 if you want to enjoy your stray. Do not always trust what you read on Trip Advisor... Some hotels post their own review on the site.

I don’t think I will be visiting the town any time soon anyways… a day trip should do it for now.These are my views. Do not take them as they are, try and form your own opinion. Info on the Big Sleep Hotel here.
The Reviewer.