Hotel Santa Maria

It's quite a walk to the nearest tram station, and rather a struggle up the stairs at the entrance. Breakfast room always seemed very untidy with scruffy dirty tables, rather off putting. The bed was horrendous, pillows incredibly thin. Seemed quite differentbon arrival ti the pictures shown. Very disappointing, wish I'd booked elsewhere.

The staff were friendly and very helpful. There has been some effort made to start renovating the property but there is still an awful lot to do. Our duvet was dirty and we had to ask for a clean one and the window catch was broken. Having said that the room was warm, the bed comfortable and the bathroom had recently been updated. There was no hairdryer provided and only one medium sized towel was provided and they were very old and need replacing, one of them had a hole in it! The location was good with a tram stop being 2 minutes walk away or a 10 minute walk into town. Overall as long as you don’t expect too much then for just over £50/ night it does the job.

The staff were very helpful my room was clean but needs updating, the breakfast was pitiful sausage like a bullet one piece of bacon with fat. Nothing is self explanatory at breakfast you do not know what is hot water as all 4 state tea there is a big container that supplies milk which goes everywhere I suggest they need little jugs. When walking through the breakfast room to the lift it smells very strongly of damp. The seating area outside cannot be used from inside the hotel so when you have drinks you have to go outside and walk to the patio area so when needing more drinks it’s a hassle. I asked why we cannot enter the patio from inside the hotel the answer was that they have to keep the doors locked or homeless people enter and go upstairs. On a positive note apparently they will be refurbishing the hotel after Christmas.

Our room wasn't ready when we got there so was upgraded to a sea view room which I would recommend otherwise the cheaper room is a bit pokey and not a great view. Staff were polite and helpful and being able to park at the front was a bonus.

The bedroom had a sea view which was great & I could not fault the bathroom. Problems started at breakfast. Tables were not set with cutlery, condiments and napkins. The breakfast area was small so people were getting in each other’s way. There were no menus on the table as to what was available to order. No brown bread was out to toast. They provided it on request. No alternative milk options such as soy or almond!! Breakfast cereal mini shreddies had gone soft & tasted stale! This is not acceptable when paying £10 per head for breakfast. Had to ask for juice glasses to be restocked. They ran out of orange juice so there was just an empty tank sat there. There was no attempt to restock items if they had run out. You had to ask for everything!! No plates were cleared away. The breakfast staff looked like novices. Worst breakfast experience ever. There was no one on reception to complain to about the poor breakfast service. When we were checking out the reception/lounge area smelt like sewer drains were blocked. Not one member of staff apologised for the smell! Hotel is tired, staff poor and breakfast chaotic and they have the cheek to charge over £100 per night!