SuperGills
Having spent a number of years working in the hospitality sector previously, I believe I have a reasonable understanding of the challenges faced by hotel management and staff but that also gives me a rounded opinion as to what is clearly right and clearly wrong when I see it in a hotel, however in the case of the Knowsley Inn and Lounge, I would have to ask the management "are you trying (and clearly struggling) to running a hotel or is this to become accommodation for the homeless?"||||We travelled as a family of five and had booked two rooms, requesting them to be adjoining. Upon arrival we waited a good while to check in whilst the member of staff on duty served people at the bar. We were assigned a room on the 1st floor and a room on the 3rd which was rather disappointing as it was a single booking however we got over that.||||The reception, bar and lounge area were well kept, airy, clean and well decorated with a number of large screen TVs. There is one small lift that we struggled to fit into and would not have had we travelled with a case.||||Despite being on different floors the rooms were replicas of each other and, whilst basic in terms of facilities, were decorated in a contemporary manner and would have been fine for our short, three night stay.||||Except for the staff, most of whom were friendly, very apologetic and clearly working in less than ideal conditions, that is where any positives end.||||Following the first night, I had to request to be moved to a different room. I was woken on multiple occasions by insects crawling on me (despite the window being closed and the aircon on). Plus the toilet did not flush properly and when it did flush it made an unholy noise that would, I imagine, have woken the dead, so flushing it during the night was not an option. I was moved later that afternoon.||||The same morning, my partner also reported that some food and drink had been spilt on the stairs and I reported that someone appeared to have been sick in the lift. It's notable that the same food and drink was still there on the stairs three mornings later when we left despite having been given assurances that the staff would "speak to the housekeeping manager".||||The breakfast was booked at check-in for £8.95 each per day, which I did not think was excessive for a hotel (it's £10.95 on the morning). The selection is not great, a few cereals, a couple of pastries, toast, yoghurt, three fruits and a buffet English breakfast. Somehow the chef managed to make bacon tasteless, the scrambled eggs are clearly from powder and the only egg option available, questionable sausages, no black pudding or tomato. Juice, water and a coffee machine that made an undrinkable liquid finished off the selection.||||The plates were small, worn out and wet (you had to dry your own). The cutlery was the same, and was frequently lacking and having to be requested. Neither plates nor cutlery could honestly be considered as being clean. If they came from a dishwasher, the dishwasher clearly is not fit for purpose. In addition we noted that food was being bought from the kitchen by the maintenance man. However, the overriding problem was cleanliness both of the bowls and the glassware to the point that I refused to drink and stopped my family drinking anything from the water and juice bottles which were, quite frankly, disgusting. I also insisted my children eat just the pastries and fruit, and eat them off of napkins due to the cleanliness of the bowls. Sadly the cleanliness issue also follows through to the glassware in use at the bar where we had to send a drink back becuase of a sticky mound on the inside of a glass about half way down which unfortunately my partner had already half-finished. God knows what this was but the glass was probably cleaned in the same disfunctional dishwasher.||||Back to the rooms. I didn't experience any further insect issues following the room move. For both rooms, the room area itself seems to be reasonably well kept (at least where they expect you to be looking), but the bathrooms are a different matter. The tap in the second room I was given was very loose, in the other room, the robe hanger was hanging off the wall, and the toilet handle moved in and out a couple of inches. The electricity in the rooms operates like most hotels by entering your key into the holder, which in one room had to be pushed back onto the wall. Furthermore the area around the windows was mouldy and with peeling paint. Clearly the maintenance man (who is a very nice gentleman) is overworked with his kitchen duties. ||||On the second afternoon/evening however much more became clear when my partner went downstairs to the reception area to find two men squared up to, pushing and shouting abuse at each other, along with a girl standing in the doorway of the lift shouting more abuse at the two men, and the staff standing around watching this going on, clearly with no idea what to do, but calling out to these individuals by their first names, asking them to stop. My partner told one of the staff that guests should not be subjected to this and suggested they called the police, which they did.||||Given that there were children present in the hotel, mine being some, plus a number of other younger children, we asked about the incident and was told that the hotel is being used as emergency accommodation for a number of homeless people, some of whom had been there for a while (thus the staff being on first name terms with them). Now I have nothing but sympathy for anyone that is homeless through no fault of their own and in my experience these people tend to be well mannered, respectful of, and grateful for the assistance. Unfortunately that didn't seem to be the case for all of the "guests". ||||The next afternoon when we returned to the hotel after our day out, I again had to go to reception, this time because of the horrendous smell of weed on the third floor landing. Again, something that my children did not deserve to experience. The staff member was, sadly, not surprised and accompanied me to the third floor, agreed on the smell and began knocking doors. I left it with him also unsurprised.||||There is probably more I could list, but at this stage if I were reading this review my mind would already be made up. All in all I have to say this was by far the worst hotel experience I've had since a Spanish cockroach nest in the early nineties and not something I'd hope my children will ever experience again. I have an incredible amount of sympathy with the staff who are clearly not trained to deal with the kind of behaviour they seem to have to endure, and should not be subjected to it through profit-led decisions of the hotel management, and neither should paying guests. There is absolutely no excuse whatsoever for the lack of hygiene and the disgraceful state of the bowls, cutlery and glassware and I wouldn't be unduly surprised if an inspection closed the place down.||||I will of course not be back.
