Hampton Blackpool – new rooms review

[WillPS]

Stayed in one of the rooms in the long-awaited extension this week. First time in a ‘new style’ Hampton.

The negatives of the new design:
– TV is bigger but now wall mounted (not hinged); unfortunately no HDMI loop provided so getting Roku box plugged in is fiddly as heck.
– Desk is tucked under the TV and at the foot of the bed; not somewhere I’d want to spend any time working
– Hard floor, not as nice as the carpet of the old rooms in my opinion. Rug gives about 15cm of carpet immediately around the bed.

The positives of the new design:
– Bonkette seating is more useful than I expected it’d be – it acts as an extension to the bedside and a useful rest for a case (little chance of being able to put out more than a couple of days worth of clothes on the tiny rail and half drawer provided). An improvement on the crap sofas.
– Sliding door to ensuite is also a big improvement on the previous Hampton designs which didn’t properly seal.
– Loads of sockets provided – double + USB A/C either side of bed, another 3 + 3 USB A and 1 USB C under TV.
– Minifridge great to have (but see below!)

Notes about Blackpool HbH implementation:
– Unlike the old rooms which had lovely photography of Blackpool, in the new rooms all the artwork is the generic HbH shit, cartoon monkey on a bike etc – fine for a motorway or an airport but not what you want in a destination (cue some hilarious wise crack about Blackpool…)
– Blackpool are marketing these new rooms as Premium which in my view is not setting expectations correctly – the rooms are arguably less plush and more ‘Hampton’ than the original ones. Nothing wrong with Hampton rooms feeling ‘good but basic’ but wrong to try and sell that through as an enhancement.
– Minifridges only in sea view ‘premium’ rooms, apparently. These are priced the same as the King (old style) rooms despite having less than half the floor space, a smaller ensuite and a smaller bed. That’s a bit wild in my view. I hope they just add a little fridge to the King rooms (there’s only 3 of them).
– Breakfast quality has decreased. Waffle irons are gone, replaced with some rather sad chewy pancakes. Lack of fried eggs continues to frustrate.
– No extra breakfast serving area capacity has been added. I’ve been here for breakfast on a day the hotel pre extension was full and it was chaos, so I don’t understand how this is going to work. A bit of additional seating isn’t enough.
– No extra lifts have been added either, not convinced the 2 they have is enough.
– The air con in the new rooms is a bit hit and miss (probably a bit under-provisioned). Hopefully this is a teething issue.
– The access for non-lift users is a joke. Rather than using the main stairs behind the lift, keys cut for new rooms do not have access to that staircase. Instead you’re asked to either get a member of staff to let you through or walk the entire length of the hotel, use the new flight of stairs at the very end of the extension then walk back along to your room. I’m not sure if this was intended as a bit of traffic management but it just makes you feel like a second-class guest (having paid for ‘Premium’!). Not convinced this is adequate under the Equality Act either – my fiancée would have struggled with this a few years ago.

Overall, I’m a bit disappointed I have to say. I had high hopes as the original hotel exceeded my expectations; but I think in future I’ll be more keen to go the Boulevard hotel by the Pleasure Beach.

[NorthernLass]

Is a bonkette one of the acts at Funny Girls? 😂

[RussellH]

WillPS wrote:

cue some hilarious wise crack about Blackpool

M<uch to my surprise, I like Blackpool. But one does need to approach it on its own terms.
IMHO it is somewhere everyone should go at least once.

Sad to hear that Hampton seem to have got rid of the waffle irons – I assume that if they have gone from Blackpool they will have gone from everywhere else too. It was one of a number of little things that made Hampton so much better than HIE

[RussellH]

NorthernLass wrote:

Is a bonkette one of the acts at Funny Girls? 😂

Sounds to be bordering on the illegal to me. I hope they are not under 18

[John]

I don’t think Hamptons are meant to do fried eggs, or any eggs other than powdered

[Man of Kent]

Currently at The Hampton in High Wycombe which seems like a new build. Have got the cartoon monkey on a bike picture but pleased to report they have two waffle irons at breakfast.

[WillPS]

RussellH wrote:

Sad to hear that Hampton seem to have got rid of the waffle irons – I assume that if they have gone from Blackpool they will have gone from everywhere else too. It was one of a number of little things that made Hampton so much better than HIE

I think this is something to do with the extension. There was often a queue for it on busy days before, and they’ve not created any extra serving space now they’ve added 75% more rooms. Frankly I wouldn’t bother with breakfast at peak times at all any longer.

Not all Hamptons did them to start with either, Liverpool didn’t when I visited (although that could have been some Covid silliness).