I will keep this short and sweet, Due to work commitments I have to stay in all manner of hotels from lavish to basic, this hotel was multiple levels below basic.
It was booked solely to be used as an overnight hotel before myself and partner jetted out on hols the following morning from Glasgow airport.
Run down and un-kept is an understatement of biblical proportions, all the hotels in down town Tripoli are currently several stars better than this debacle, and they are all flattened by Gaddafi's scud missiles, which are still an improvement.
Credit to the web designer who managed to do the photo shop on the hotel website pictures, as they have no resemblance to the actual building, I think the politically correct term is "duped"
When the taxi pulled up at the hotel, I was welcomed by multiple empty tins of Special Brew, A garden that David Attenborough would refuse to enter.
The front door, which I fully expect to see again on the cover of the next Hollywood horror DVD box, had the handle hanging off, the bell kaput, so had to give it an old fashioned chap. an eerie silence before the door swung open, I was greeted by a stench of a smell I cant even describe, if I have to, it will be burnt pubes.
The check-in was undramatic as my senses was still under the influence of reality kicking in, asked if we requested breakfast, I politely declined, in hindsight I maybe should of asked what flavour of rats was on the menu.
Now, the room, Jesus wept, it was best described as the lay out being like the letter "L" with two scabby single beds crammed into the up and down, and left to right of the letter "L". with a tiny, minuscule TV in between, must of been installed for comedy purposes by the owners as an iphone is larger, and if two guests (mugs) stay then both can not watch the TV while in bed due to the positioning, The toilet ? ? well there was not one, zilch, nada, zero, no toilet in the room, we had to use the communal toilet that was down the corridor, I doubt Bear Grylls would attempt that challenge bare foot, at your own risk.
However, we are going on holiday the next day, so lets just get our heads down and sleep this escapade out. well FYI the walls are officially made out of paper mashe, as the Coup-de-grace for me was to hear what I thought was a 50CC scrambler motorbike getting started 12" from my left ear, no, it was not a motorbike, it was indeed the joining rooms guest snoring, loud on an imaginable level, that or it was a MI5 interrogation cell to torture some suspects, several, multiple boots to the wall and a chorus of STFU did result in my wakening, for a short period of time.
So combined with a builders merchants strobe type light glowing next to our room window, there was not much sleep had, so we checked out very early and went to the airport, I was hoping to pass on my experiences with the landlord, but they must know to keep a low profile in the mornings, take the money and run...
Live and learn and all that, and I learned never to visit the Lomond hotel again...
