Scarborough’s Grand Hotel divides opinion after TripAdvisor lifts review suspension

The travel company decided to temporarily suspend new reviews of the three-star Victorian hotel earlier this month, after it received an influx of submissions from people who had not stayed there.

The seaside hotel has divided opinion since the suspension was lifted, as several guests have left glowing reviews but others have complained about the poor condition of the building, dirty rooms and the Afghan refugees who have been housed there.

A man from Hull said he enjoyed a “very relaxing and enjoyable” stay at the hotel and described the negative reviews as “utter rubbish”.

One reviewer wrote: “Wonderful staff in all quarters, they go above and beyond to make your stay memorable. We had a beautiful room with sea views and a spa bath.

“Can't wait to go again. As for the Afghans, they were polite but kept themselves to themselves.”

Another guest said her room was “very basic” but it was “clean and comfortable”.

She added: “People moaning about refugee children playing in the lobby? Get a grip! Frankly the sound of children enjoying themselves after having escaped a war torn country was lovely, and I usually do not like kids.”

However, one reviewer described it as “ the worst hotel ever” and complained about being given a run-down basement room with no phone signal or wi-fi and litter in the lobby.

“Overall, what was a grand hotel is now a shoddy, filthy, terribly run dump. If there was something less than one star, then we would give it.”

One woman wrote: “It was unbelievable and not in a good way. The place is a refugee centre and children run freely all over the hotel unsupervised by parents or staff.”

She added: “We did have a window (some don't). It was filthy and wouldn't open but the gap in the rotting frame gave some air, one of the towels had blood stains on it. Nowhere to hang towels and the room stank.”

It comes after TripAdvisor published its latest transparency report, which states the company rejected or removed over 2m reviews in 2020 that did not comply with its standards.

In total, 3.6 per cent of the 26m reviews were identified as fake, with the majority being rejected before they were posted to the website.

Earlier this month, Scarborough Borough Council said it had written to the owners to request a meeting to discuss the "recent reported problems".

On Monday, October 4, the seaside hotel was evacuated after someone phoned and said that a bomb had been planted. North Yorkshire Police said specialist officers conducted a thorough search of the building and “found no evidence of any threat to public safety” as the telephone call was “proven to be a bomb hoax”.