The Sebel Hotels in Margate

Terrible! Do yourself a favour and do not stay here. The room I booked via their website was a ‘classic room with 1 king size bed’. For $250 per night. What I got was a room in the staff service corridor. It was excessively noisy with staff running past, noise from reception and the car park entry to the hotel. Staff arrive early in the morning to yell out loudly to each other outside your room. Housekeeping is right outside your door and this area is best described as a forgotten corner of a hotel not suitable for guests. Yet, they are using this as a guest room for $250 per night. I’d booked a 2 night stay and on the first morning I waited in reception for a long time for staff to show up. I asked to be moved to the guest area instead of the noisy staff area. The receptionist told me it was my fault because I’d selected a ground floor room with my online booking. She insinuated that I was poor and obviously not able to pay for a higher room and therefore deserved the noisy and staff corridor. I insisted on a change of room and left the hotel for the day’s activities. It took them many hours to get back to me to say it would an extra $60 to move to level one ‘but the room would be the same’, just on level one. I was out for the day so couldn’t view the area. I didn’t feel like $310 per night was viable so asked them to cancel the night and refund me. I’m still waiting for the refund. The most disappointing part of this is the attitude of the staff. They had no regard for my concerns and no ability to manage my complaint or request for a change of room. They just insisted it was my fault for selecting that room. Their website certainly does not describe it as a noisy staff corridor across from the housekeeping and reception hub. In addition, the room was musty and damp (obviously not used often). The pillows were dirty and one had someone’s else’s makeup marks on it. They had shoved an extra bed in the room, meaning there was no couch as per the online picture of the room I selected. This meant no bedside tables or access to PowerPoints. There was no privacy from the street. When you opened the curtain, the cars and people outside looked straight into seeing you in bed or getting dressed. The TV is ceiling mounted to damage your neck. The online photos showed a business desk for work which I needed. It didn’t exist either. I was prepared to overlook all of this, but the noise and staff movements outside the room was unacceptable. Avoid this hotel and their lack of care at all costs.