Dusty room, dirty bath, not enough tea and coffee. When I asked for additional milk you would have thought that I was asking for all the money out of the till.

Very noisy with students running up and down the corridors shouting and screaming.

Breakfast was barely satisfactory with the tiny sausage offered being undercooked.

This is partially in rebuttal to the wildly inaccurate review on 28 June 2010 by ‘manchesteredout’ – I can only assume his entry was a joke or he was staying at an entirely different hotel. The Manchester Hotel in Bournemouth is the very epitome of opulence, much in the style of the grande dames of Mayfair or the 8th Arrondissement. From the moment your bags are whisked through the ornamental doors by immaculately-tailored bellboys, you are welcomed into a sea of Oceanside tranquillity. The creatures of transcendental beauty on the front desk, the sumptuous velvet and acres of opulent marble, the fragrant rose petals liberally sprinkled on the inviting beds, the individual soap cushioned on top of the plush Egyptian cotton towels, the charming carriage clocks.... I could go on, but the selfish part of me wants this to remain a hidden gem because at the price it’s a steal.

Ok where do I start with this. Standing in the foyer of this "hotel" I knew it was going to be bad.....the smell was a mixture of damp and stale fried food and the interior looked like it hasn't seen an update since the end of the war. As we made our way upstairs amazingly the smell got worse but, once inside the room, the corridor smell was like an expensive potpourri compared to the odours emanating from the en suite (if you can call a cupboard with a bog in it an en-suite). The room itself was poorly ventilated, poorly lit, had a TV smaller than the screen on my mobile, a kettle from the middle ages and a cupboard that looked like it had been put together by David Blunkett. The shower had so little pressure that it was a mission to actually get shower gel off your body but if you survived the 3rd degree burns from the temperature of it then you were doing pretty well. The mattress was like sleeping on a sheet stuffed with potatoes and my pillow resembled a deflated balloon...I couldn't even bring myself to look under the duvet as I am sure the sheets would have been a discrace...so I decided ignorance was bliss and slept on top of the duvet. The view of the pool would have been a nice addition if a) the pool was nice to look at b) it had any water in it or c) wasn't full of rubbish. I didn't risk having breakfast, but others in our party who were braver men than me did and they reaction was a mixture of disbelief and acute illness so I deduced that brekkers is probably not the chefs forte. I don't want to be all doom and gloom though...the location is ok and you get a a nice view of a decent hotel (the Marriott) down the end of the road so at night if you are drunk enough you could dream you were in there instead. Avoid Avoid Avoid.

I stayed here on the hottest weekend so far in 2010 with a group of 20 or so girls on a hen weekend. The hotel was full, but it didn't seem like it.

When I was given the details of the hotel in advance, I naturally looked it up on Trip Advisor, and was really worried by what I read!

I work in the hotel industry, and actually have to reply to customer complaints as part of my job. This hotel doesn't claim to be anything more than it is.

The room I stayed in was clean and had all the basics you need. The reception staff were very friendly and were actually more approachable than some staff I've encountered at 5* hotels!

The only thing I would say was not acceptable was the breakfast. The juices were not fresh, and the orange juice in particular looked radioactive it was so bright - so didn't touch it!

The toast was cold, and even when we said it was cold and ordered more, the second lot came out cold too. The sausages were the cheapest you can get and were very small. Bacon was ok, and the poached egg was bizarre!

All in all, this hotel was adequate for a one night cheap stay. Take the negative reviews on here with a pinch of salt, and don't expect more than a basic, typical British seaside hotel, and you won't be disappointed!