A retired couple who spent their savings to go on their "dream holiday" to Southport found they were stuck in a dingy room "like prisoners."
John Robinson, 82 and his wife Sally recall spending many lovely summers at the coastal town. The couple, from Burnley, said they had always wanted to stay at the Royal Clifton Hotel, due to it's historic reputation.
However the couple found that their bucket list trip ended up being "depressing" because the hotel was in such a state of "despair." Their son, Kev Robinson, 43, said to make matters worse, his parents had spent all their savings on the trip.
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John, who is described by his son as not being media savvy, booked his room over the phone. He was told he would have to pay around £125 a night for his sea view room for his stay in September 2022. But when he arrived he was told he then needed to pay an added £42 each night for the sea view, Lancs Live reports.
Kev said: "For that generation it was perceived as being quite grand, it's the Royal Clifton so it was more the tradition of it and the significance to them. They'd been thinking about it for around two years and then I went over and they said they'd finally done it, they booked the Royal Clifton.
"I'll be perfectly honest, they don't use the internet and my dad wouldn't have looked online, it was just what he wanted to do. They're not a well to do couple, they're just living on their pension and this was a holiday for them."
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When the couple arrived they were checked into a room they didn't book. Kev says even at this point, his parents tried to remain positive and chose not to "make a scene".
Kev decided to join his parents and booked a room through a third party online system and only paid £49 for the night. When he saw his parents room in contrast to his, he says it was "far superior" for more than half of the price.
The central heating also didn't work in the room duration of the couple's stay. Kev added: "The heating didn't work and when they'd gone down to tell them the heating didn't work, they gave them this radiator which was tiny and said this is all you've got it's an old hotel what do you expect? It was just in a state of disrepair, the lights were hanging off the wall, the bulbs in the lamps were actually broken so they didn't work.
"The windows were filthy inside and out so even though they wanted a sea view, all you could see was the filth. The windows were draughty so in the evening my parents said they were sat in their coats. When they came back home they were poorly, it was that cold they came back ill.
"When we saw them my son said, nanny what's wrong and she just said, it's awful here, we're waiting on the taxi to come and get us early. My dad was angry with himself- he thought it was something special but it was awful."
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The couple were left feeling "ripped off" by the stay. Kev said: "My dad's room, he said he wouldn't even put a dying dog in there. When he saw my room he said straight away, he said they've ripped us off. He said I feel like they've taken advantage of us.
"When they'd seen the rooms on the brochure, they looked amazing. My parents are old school and I just feel like there are other older people who would use that hotel for the same reason and I'm just upset that older people could be treated this way.
"The room was dingy and I felt it was unsafe and depressing. They didn't want to complain, they just made do and tried to spend their days outside but in the evening, they're not particularly mobile so they had to just stay there.
"You can't under estimate how life is like at 82 and you know people will say oh they should've done this and they should've done that but they're not from that generation where they do that. They're from a generation where they make do and don't cause a fuss."
On behalf of his parents, Kev says he's now in a lengthy complaints process with the owners, Britannia Hotels to try to get some form of response from the company to see "if they think that room is acceptable". LancsLive contacted Britannia Hotel who confirmed "that the guests have been communicated with directly."
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