This was my first visit to Brighton and I must say the location of Gullivers is excellent - only about a 10 minute walk from the centre. On arrival the staff were very friendly and helpful. As I was on holiday with my mother who is in her 90's (!!!) they put us in a room on the ground floor which I thought was considerate of them.

The room itself was rather small and the toilet/shower room even smaller. When I attempted to have a shower, I almost scalded myself because the water was so hot, even on the lowest setting. The next time, I lathered myself up with soap outside the shower and dashed in quickly to rinse it off before it got too hot!! The toilet was a joke - it was one of those Saniflow things that works on a pump - you had to flush it about three times, but the worst thing about the loo was that when you got up off the seat the cistern banged back against the wall - most annoying, especially if one of you had to use the loo in the night. I tried stuffing wads of toilet tissue behind the cistern, which did deaden the noise a bit, but it kept slipping down behind the cistern so in the end I just gave up.

As we were only there for 4 nights I couldn't be bothered to say anything to the staff about the loo BUT I did get annoyed because on two occasions when we returned to the Hotel, our bedroom door was unlocked. I had quite an argument with one of the staff who thought I was saying that something had been taken from the room - but I told him that everything was OK - I was just annoyed that the cleaner had obviously left the door unlocked.

Another guest was talking about his room - he was in the "attic" evidently and he said the shower was in danger of dripping onto the electrics. This doesn't sound very safe to me!!!

The breakfasts were acceptable, perhaps a little early, but we managed. I believe we could have gone to the "sister" hotel two doors away for a later breakfast. The Spanish waitress was very friendly, and she even helped us with our bags on the last day.

It was a strange set up - there never seemed to be anyone about and the phone in the "Reception" was very often ringing for ages without being answered. The staff seemed to wander from one hotel to the other. I would not class this as a four-star hotel, maybe a two-star. The Hotel Inspector from the TV programme should pay them a visit!!!

Would I stay at Gullivers again? Despite all I have said, I may well stay there if I went to Brighton again because it was such a good location and "better the devil you know....." I may choose somewhere worse next time!!!

I guess I am not the first traveller to be taken in by a slick website and probably won't be the last. Personal opinion is that this place considerably oversells it's less than modest offerings. Whilst the staff are helpful, the surroundings appear tired and cheap suggesting little attention to detail has been paid to the 'recent refurbishment'. The seventies style bathroom with mildewing cladding and no shower curtain was a low point....as was the breakfast service. The website accurately predicts a "memorable departure"... I couldn't get out of there fast enough.

Great location, very quiet side road but 2 minute walk to sea front at the bottom of the road, and very near the pier and the sea life centre.

The staff were very friendly and informative about the area, nothing was too much trouble. The breakfast was excellent. The choices were full English, vegetarian, vegan, continental (pain au chocolat, croissant and baguette) or pancakes. Coffee refills were offered, they also served tea and hot chocolate in generous quantities! Breakfast was served until 10 at weekends and 9 on weekdays (the continental breakfast could be ordered later than this).

We had a triple room for 2 adults and one child aged 11 (one double bed and one single). The room was on the top floor (it would be unsuitable elderly infirm or disabled guests as it was up approximately 5 flights of stairs, there was no lift), it appeared to have been recently decorated. However, the bathroom was miniscule and the wash basin was in the bedroom. The bathroom needed refurbishment, the shower was hot but very noisy when switched on. The toilet flush lacked a bit of power! Although we we up on the top floor the view from the window was obstructed by part of the building.

There was a complementary tea and coffee tray in the room and some toiletries in the bathroom. The tea and coffee sachets and toiletries weren't replaced daily but more were given on request. The room was cleaned daily and the beds were made.

There also was a hairdryer in the bedside cabinet drawer. The room was also equiped with a small flat screen TV which had all the freeview channels but didn't have a remote control. There was also a phone in the room and a small room service menu.

My boyfriend booked a night in this hotel recently as a midweek Valentines getaway, he told me that the rooms looked really nice on the website, however, I did not check the website out before we went. When we arrived at the hotel I thought the location was great, right by the beach front and the hotel looked nice from the outside. We were greeted by our French host who was most welcoming and very hospitable. We were given a map and told some of the best places to check out and see, and some bars for the evening. I was very impressed by the way we had been greeted and looked after and was now looking forward to seeing our room. We were shown to our room on the third floor and as we entered I tried to hide the disappointment from my boyfriend. The room was incredibly small and dingy and was poorly furnished. The bathroom was very claustrophobic and I had to keep the door open whilst showering as I felt so enclosed. My boyfriend explained that the rooms did not look like this on the website. I also found a dirty sock on the floor by the bed left from a previous occupant............ nice! That night we both had the worst night sleep ever as the bed was so uncomfortable (two singles pushed together) and the mattress was so old and squidgy. The pillows were equally as bad. When we woke in the morning we both felt like we had not had any sleep!
When we got home I thought I would have a look at Gullivers website and was gobsmacked to see the pictures they had used to advertise their rooms. They were literally nothing like what we had got. I believe it is either another hotel or they have refurbished one room to use for the purpose of the photos. We then went on to read the reviews, and what we read confirmed our experiences, other people felt exactly as we did.
I now wish we had read the reviews prior to booking this hotel, and we will be doing so in the future, as the consensus was too great to be wrong.
This hotel should be investigated for false advertising, and misleading the public. I believe that the owners are very deceptive as they compensate by being overtly friendly and hospitable in the hope that the guests will value this more than what their rooms are like. (This is obviously the case when reading some of the reviews)! We will definitely not be returning or recommending this hotel to anyone we know.