The Big Blue Hotel is very different from the other hotels of Blackpool, it is an extremely stylish four hotel right next to Blackpool Pleasure Beach, and the rooms on one side of the hotel look out over the Amusement park, with the Pepsi Max Big One zooming past your window, the rooms on the other side look out over the sea and a residential street.

The standard double rooms are absolutely huge, with a largish bathroom, large double bed, and a relaxing area with two comfy seats with leg rests next to a large window (ours was overlooking the sea). The decor is extremely modern and classy, completely unlike what you expect in Blackpool, let alone the Pleasure Beach's own hotel.

There is room service, which is handy although on our stay they managed to mess up our food order, the food was nice though. You can rent a Playstation for free at the main desk, although I assume these run out quickly. There is the usual selection of freebies in the bathroom, free teas; coffees; and hot chocolate; complimentary shortbread, and when you first enter your room there are complimentary chocolates. Wifi is free in the restaurant/bar.

A delicious free breakfast is customary, serving up an all you can eat buffet of pastries, muffins, full English, toast, juice, fruit, tea and coffee.

This hotel does come at a cost though. The rooms can be very expensive, as you would expect being the Pleasure Beach's own hotel, although it does live up to the price if your looking for a comfortable stay in classy surroundings. If you're visiting the Pleasure Beach, the room/wristband packages do make a stay more desirable, and be sure to shop around for a good deal - as we found rooms cheaper on Lastminute.com.

Recommended, but only if you're willing to splash out a bit.

Booked with superbreak because they take paypal, standard double with breakfast costs £89. Arrived about 6pm, receptionist preoccupied with a problem on the phone and ignored us for a while but we eventually got our room. A very small double room, nothing special, no mini bar, no free water, no nice fireplace or plasma tv and a view of the carpark, bit disappointed really. however the bed was large and very comfortable and the bathroom was nice (apart from some black areas of tile grout). Breakfast was definately above average and i would probably go back in season as it is next to the pleasure beach and a tram stop. We went just after the lights had finished and the trams weren't running, walked to central pier at 7pm at night without seeing a soul, and its quite a walk! I'm sure you could get a better deal at this time of year and more convenient hotel but it was ok for what we wanted.

I had great hopes of the Big Blue Hotel but after my recent stay I wondered if I had been reading reviews about the same hotel!

When we arrived we had to wait 45 minutes for our room to be ready (and this was considerably later than the hotel's official check in time). We were paying over £150 a night for our room which we didn't actually think was much better than travel lodge standard, one of the curtains was falling down, a light didn't work and there were some unpleasant stains on the ceiling.

On both mornings of our stay we had to queue up for breakfast, the first morning for about 40 minutes and the second morning for about 20 minutes. This is the first hotel I have ever stayed in where I have had to queue for breakfast!

The hotel's lifts were very unreliable and quite small and on the morning we were checking out there was only one working.

So although the Big Blue is situated in an ideal location for spending time in Blackpool, I was really disappointed with it and would not chose to stay there again unless significant improvements are made.

My family and I booked The Big Blue on recommendation from friends of ours and had high hopes.

Upon arrival the receptionist ignored us for a good few minutes and when she did acknowledge our existance she was unfriendly and very unwelcoming.

We arrived at our room which was in my opinion quite unclean, the windows were grimy and covered in finger marks there was blood on the floor and the walls especially roud the bin was filthy The bed was just two singles pushed together and the cot we had hired had seen better days worst of all was an awful damp smell.The source of the stench became apparent once I went into the bathroom the bath edges and tile grouting were black with damp mould and the smell made me heave!

I made a complaint and was presented with another room which was just as mouldy and damp and a bottle of wine, ideal for bathing a toddler and a new baby? We were told there was no other rooms availiable and the manager would call us the day after. We never had a call from anybody and had to suffer the disgusting smell and mouldy bath. A lovely lady from housekeeping was sent to clean the mould and did her best but it wasnt dirt it was damp which needed treating.

To summarise we would never have booked this had we known the bathroom was in this state it did not just look nasty but the smell was grotesque and makes me feel sick to think my baby girls had to bath in that (all be it a very quick dip!)

It was not all bad though the hotel is very well placed and rooms are relatively roomy and I liked the view of the pleasure beach, We had breakfast at the hotel and the staff were very pleasant and we thought there was a great deal of choice and the food was fresh and tasty. The staff working in housekeeping were very friendly and helpful as were the restaurant staff. We eventually did speak to the manager we had to do all the chasing though taking up our leisure time and were offered a free upgrade next time we stayed which was no good for us and argued our point until a discount was given.

Unfortunately we would not return to the Big Blue Hotel and on our next trip will return to The Beach House, North Shore. If cleanliness matters to you these apartments are perfect and run by a very friendly couple.