Selina Margate

We had a great visit to Margate, but unfortunately, the accommodation largely detracted from our experience. Our room was on the first floor, directly bordering the lift shaft. This meant that whenever anyone in the building returned to their room, we would be badly disturbed. This happened pretty much every half hour throughout the night, and was impossible to sleep through. We also had a broken mixer in our shower, which meant that water only poured out scolding hot or freezing cold. We explained this at the time to the receptionist, and further followed up with customer service who told us they were looking into it - it's been three weeks and we've yet to be contacted. Really disappointing stay.

Lovely staff, very nice room with good sea view. Really just what we wanted.

The Selina hotel in Margate is stylish and attractive in terms of decor. Staff are approachable and helpful which does make a difference. There are interesting and relaxing spaces outside, and near check-in, to sit and enjoy a drink. However, in terms of value of money, I felt the hotel was really expensive; the room I stayed in felt sp****, to the point bare, and for the price of a room, I expected it to be more comfortable and accommodating. The response to this could well be something along the lines of ‘we want you to enjoy Margate and get outside and explore’ etc. but to say that suggests the hotel is merely ‘a base’ and there are far more affordable places to have as a base after a long day out, and places closer to the hub of action too. To summarise: I felt ripped off. The place has a lot of potential but pricing has to reflect what is offered, for people to recommend this place to others.

We visited the Selina between the 26th and the 29th of August this year. The hotel is quite far away from the centre of Margate - much further than it looks on the map. The hotel itself is spacious and clean with its own public bar and a lift to all floors. The issues I had were with the room. We booked a basic double as we were intending to spend most of our time discovering Margate we didn't need much! But boy they weren't kidding when they said it was basic, we didn't even have a T.V or any tea/coffee making facilities (not that we drink the stuff) all we had was a bed that was FAR too firm, two bed side tables (only one with a draw in) and a rail with a bag on the end containing a hairdryer. Now on to the bathroom, when we booked this hotel we booked a room with what was advertised as a "private" bathroom... They said this was the case as our room was the only room that had access to this bathroom it even had a plastic laminated sign blue tacked to it saying "private bathroom for room ***" however to access the bathroom from our room we had to leave our room go into a hallway that had another room in it and a glass fronted door onto the stairs. This was where our bathroom was and not only that but it was impossible to lock the bathroom door from the outside so while I'm fairly sure the guests in the room opposite didn't use our facilities I have no guarantee it also meant that we had to wedge the door to our room open when we went to the bathroom so that we didn't have to continually take the room key with us to get back into our room again! One day I tried to use the shower only to find that no matter what I did the water just would not get hot now to be fair to the hotel staff they did give us a choice: wait until it was fixed ( which they weren't sure how long this could take ) or use the facilities in another room on the same floor or at least kind of on the same floor as because of the way this hotel is set out our room was on a little off landing between floors, so to get to this other room - which is what we did in the end - we had to go up the stairs and along the corridor, which as you can imagine was a bit of a hassle but we both needed a shower! All in all while I would visit Margate again in the future I don't think I will be visiting the Selina any time soon.

The only reason this isn’t a 5 star review is due to the lack of reception/ bar staff - came down to get some food (which was amazing btw) but couldn’t find anyone to actually take my order. One of the chefs came out and saw me just stood at the bar waiting, so thankfully sat me down, gave me a menu and got someone to serve me! Ate dinner and breakfast here and the kitchen were amazing and made my food to perfection! Will be coming back for the food alone - perfect!!! However might not stay in hotel again, as staff very unhelpful and to busy sat outside the front of hotel or not there at all to assist. Especially an older lady in her mid 30s who I believe was some form of manager of hotel- very unhelpful and overheard her being rude to other staff members who actually helped me!

I hate leaving bad reviews and I only do so if I think something can be better for it. So I write this in the hope it may plant a seed in the Selina management's mind for future reference. My 10 year old and I came to stay here a couple of weeks ago and almost as soon as we'd checked in we received some bad news from home and had to return to London immediately. Our room was untouched. I informed the (very nice) person on reception of our departure and she told us she'd ask the manager if there was anything that could be done. Of course the hotel were in no way obliged to refund us and I didn't expect them to. But it would've been really (really) nice if they'd offered us something. £20 quid off. A voucher to put towards a return visit. Anything - some gesture of goodwill to acknowledge our misfortune. But we were informed by email that the manager had declined to offer us a refund of any kind and that was that. A real shame because naturally we won't return when we go back to Margate and it's unlikely I'd recommend it to friends which is unfortunate because it's a good looking place with a nice atmosphere. I'm sure they'll do very well but could do even better by extending the happy vibes beyond the decor.

Shower flooded when my daughter used it. I was handed a bucket and mop and some towels were brought up. There is no kettle, or TV in the rooms be warned the rooms are basic and small. We had one bed side table as there was no room for 2. Light by window doesn't have UK plug so wasn't usable. Breakfast was limited choice of one thing and 1 drink for £8.95 honestly not worth it. Communal areas full of people working on lap tops was like walking through someone's office. Staff were lovely but no really prepared to offer any kind of discount for an unusable bathroom. Disappointed

We walked in off the street and asked if they had a room for one night. They had a standard room and with breakfast came to £133.26 which we thought was a bit expensive but we were tired and hungry. We went into the room and dropped everything and went out to eat. When we came back and took a good look around the room, there was no tea and coffee, no TV, couldn’t open drawer in my tiny bedside table handle missing. No rails for hanging towels and nowhere to put toiletries. I went and complained and the girl at reception said she would have a word with her Manager. We were given what she called a bigger room and would give us a kettle, tea and coffee. So we moved but that was a disappointment too, still very sp****, nowhere to put things in drawers, really no storage space just a wooden clothes hanging thing. No plug in sink. Tiny bed table one side of bed. The shower was nice and large.but very slippery should provide a non slip mat, especially for elderly guests. Did have a nice big comfy bed. Next morning went down to breakfast, there was one girl doing everything and we were told to wait and she would then take our order. She gave us a menu which consisted of a choice of 2 Oat meals, a toasted sourdough and some pastries. We were expecting to be able to have a cooked breakfast but was told the chef doesn’t arrive till 11 am and this was at 9 am. We rejected the breakfast and requested a refund, we were charged £16 each. The girl then said I will speak to my Manager. She left us sitting there for 3/4 hr, I then went and asked her if she had sorted it and she replied my Manager is on holiday??? I was told I would be contacted with the outcome by email. This hotel seems to me to be a business hotel. It is very sp**** and cold looking but they are charging luxury accommodation prices. Not impressed at all. They should tell guests at reception that there are NO TVs anywhere in hotel also no coffee and tea facilities in rooms.