The Palace Hotel

On Wednesday the 27th of August we arrived for our 2 night stay. We were placed on the 5th floor which was a floor in very poor condition. Room 503 that our Son's were to stay in was inhabitable & should not be used to accommodate any family in its current stay. The room window was full of dirt, the carpet was not just stained it was blackened. The bathroom toilet had filth stains on the toilet seat, hair in the sink & the window was broken with a piece of wood holding it in a open position! With just a 2 night stay we wanted to drop our luggage & head straight out; instead we had to wait for the handyman to come to which he advised that the family placed in there the day before had also complained & he wasn't able to fix it as he would need to take the whole window out! We obviously could not let our sons stay in that room & the room we had been given (Room 501) was also terrible with a old rusting bathroom shower plug & base; a less so (in comparison to 503) but nevertheless stained carpet & bird poo on the INSIDE of the window. Again instead of going out to enjoy ourselves we had to move all the belongings to 501 & go to reception for a second time to deal with the depressing issue. The first time the assistant Tommy looked me straight in my eyes & lied & said that there was no more rooms with a Seaview that we could be moved to. It was not until the handy man came & said he could not fix the issue that Dorcus (I assume the team leader) came to give us another room - I asked both Dorcus & Tommy for a room with a sea view & they both said they didn't have one. Dorcus showed me a room but it was a double & not a twin which was needed for my one adult son & one child. after letting them know that we did not want to stay there & asking what the process was if we were to leave - we were showed another room on the 3rd floor. Low and behold it was a room with a Seaview! My partner & I had to sleep on different floors to our children with the understanding that we would be moved to another room in the morning, the bird poo inside our room was to be cleaned & we were given 4 vouchers for a drink to be used in their restaurant (no one came to clean the poos & we didn't dare to touch the window at all). Reluctantly we stayed in the room that night. We heard noises in the night but assumed birds were making noises outside & tried to sleep anyway. In the morning we went to check on our sons when my partner when back to the room he noticed bird poo on the carpet!! He looked under the bed & a bird was under the bed!! We had slept with a bird!!!! Under the bed the whole night!!!!!! He raced out of there - brought all of our belongings from the 5th floor to the 3rd & We had to send our sons out of their room in order to shower as we had no room. After expressing our shear dismay at sleeping in the room with a Pigeon!! & the dismal stay so far we were told we would be given another room. & the room for the night would be refunded. We moved all our belongings again to the new room & tried to put all the problems aside as we needed to try & get some enjoyment from the well needed short getaway. When we got to the so called superior room the fan had food marks on the plug. The iron didn't work (we had to borrow the one from the boys room) & low & behold the wind blew & the window pooped open & wouldn't shut!!!! My partner spent all of 25 minutes trying to get the window to stay closed. The window handles we unstable, rickety & just came off in his hand. He somehow managed to get it to hold in a place & we just had to keep hope that it stayed closed. The toilet seat in our son's room broke!! We went to the restaurant to use the vouchers to appease some of the dishearten. The cocktails on the menu they not longer made them & had a poor offering as a replacement. The voucher could be used for house wine, a bottled drink or soft drink or beer. They didn't have bottle drinks in the restaurant. The food was poor. I made comment to a member of staff how poor the hotel was & that it was a getaway from hell. The staff member said they knew the hotel was in deep trouble & they had been working a 17 hour shift!! (I will not describe the person to protect their identity) I had read the reviews before coming & I had anticipated that were not going to be the best that we stayed in & thought I had fully prepared my family by ensuring we brought slippers for the possibility that the carpets would have bleach stains but be hoovered & clean. I NEVER ANTICPATED THE INCREDULOUS DISREPAIR, FILTHYNESS, RUSTY, BIRD PROBLEMS & more importantly the UNSAFE position this hotel places its customers in. I believe the 5th floor is a place that it places people they deem to be of less class & that the room 503 should be decommissioned with immediate affect. Someone there is knowingly responsible for putting indecent, scrupulous & ill gotten gained revenue - masking this hostel level offering with a side of unsafety, pigeon infestation & a clear lack for cleaning - under the guise of a 3 star hotel, Infront of decency & care for others!! No matter the class of a person - no one should need a break & get the problem filled, deceiving & disgusting experience given to us by Park Inn Radisson Palace at Southend. This was the worst stay we have ever experienced. We would not stay there again even if it were for free! This is not a service but a nightmare. Please if you decide to go & they treated you like this. Take photos! I could have shown far worse but we got caught up in the shock of it all. If there is any good to say. Some of the staff was polite & the hallways smelt nice but it was ruined by what was done to us

You need to drop the palace name. Defo not palace but ok for a 3 star

Had a lovely time here

Me and my family had a lovely time on our short break. Our room was a great size for a family room with a lovely sea view and It had enough beds for all of us which were very comfortably. The bathroom was tiny for a family rooom. The bathroom floor was bumpy and uneven to walk on. The toilet seat cover fell off. The flush buttons was too hard to push so the toilet never really cleared after each use. Also when we turned on one of the fans in the bedroom, so much thick dust came flying out of it that we had to turn it off immediately. But the breakfast the next day was great and all of the staff were lovely.

Room hotel and restaurant were fine. However they charge us twice for additional charges. Dog room and breakfast. Rang them and they refunded one charge. Next day they took it again. Good job I check my account frequently. Shame I would use the hotel again but this has put me off

I was at the hotel on Saturday night. Since returning we have found charges made by mistake. We contacted hotel and they refunded them. Then they took them again. Other than that our stay was fine. Hope the mistake can be rectified soon

Hotel was ok generally. Not much atmosphere in restaurant area. Room and bed were ok. Carpet was very dirty. Balcony had many bird droppings.

First of all, the bed was so lumpy that you could barely sleep on it. You could actually see the lumps in the mattress as the devalue was sitting on it. Second of all, because I was in the room where they allow dogs, there were dog pee stains all over the carpet. There is no excuse for that from either the owners of the dogs or the hotel. There are products out there that will successfully remove pee stains as well as the smell from the dog pee. Additionally, because I had booked two nights in a row, but booked them separately, I asked when I checked in if I would have the same room. The clerk told me that yes I would have the same room. I received a call the next day where they had gone into my room and my stuff was still there. So I had to remind them that I had actually booked tonight. It was then that I was informed that I should have checked out and then checked back in. I don’t have a problem doing that, but I need to be told in advance that that’s what the expectation is. So I thought that was very unprofessional of them. Overall, it was not a good experience staying in this hotel.

My wife and I stayed in a dog friendly room whilst we took in show at the theatre there. Room very comfortable and even when we knew we would not have a sea view we actually did. The view waking up was great we could see the sea and beach from the room at the side of the hotel. We ate in the restaurant and found it reasonable and cooked fresh. Staff were great. We will certainly be returning with our little dog. He certainly enjoyed the 5 am walk along the front. Well you have be careful in a hotel.

It's a nice hotel in an excellent location. The staff was kind, breakfast was tasty and there was a great variety of food. The room was spacious with all the necessary facilities and nice big mirrors. As I read some of the previous comments about the cleanliness it was true that the carpet was stained. The windows are old, not double glazed, I couldn't fall asleep because of the sound of the wind. However, overall, we had a good stay here and we would return because there are more pros than cons.