Best Hotels near Minnis Bay, Birchington

Hotel was in a fantastic location, clean, modern and staff were extremely friendly. What sadly let it down was the awful mattress in the room. It was springy, lumpy, noisy and appeared to be sinking. Was extremely uncomfortable and me and my partner found it very difficult to sleep. Woke up with aches and stiffness every morning. The cooked breakfast also wasn’t great, although plenty of choice on the continental option. Such a shame for the bad experiences we had as the hotel was otherwise pleasant.

Great hotel, walking distance to Westwood cross shopping centre. Not too far for a drive to the beach. Restaurant opposite if do not want to go to far to find somewhere to eat.

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.

This was a short trip to Thanet, Kent. Our party was me, husband and friend. On checking in, staff informed us we had one double and a room for disabled guests (accessible I think the hotel's word was). This accessible room was not needed as we don't have disabilities - it was ordered by the booking company (not Holiday Inn direct) for some reason. Anyway, it had a wet room with all facilities and the staff were happy we were occupying and we said we agreed. Unfortunately the wet room smelt awful - a bit like sewage. The room was also cold (air conditioning not too good and very loud) so staff were happy to supply us with a portable radiator which warmed the room up very well. The smell in the bathroom was intermittent but the third morning it was bad so we complained and the maintenance man (unable to remember name) was more than helpful - he found a leakage behind the cistern so staff moved us to a ”normal” room on the next floor. The little radiator followed us upstairs too! Regarding meals: breakfast was completely self-service which is ok but hot food comprised of scrambled egg, bacon, sausages and baked beans only. On requesting a fried egg, the reply came that ”we don't do them”. How about being able to offer ”fried eggs available on request”? We decided to have dinner there one evening. No need to book a table, just walk in. We'd decided on our meal choices the night before. However, two starters plus one main course we had decided on were not available (groan)! Waitress/receptionist suggested a pub restaurant across the road and so we duly left the hotel and crossed the road and ate there. Whilst sitting in the lounge/reception area I was astounded to see pizzas being brought in by a group of people and being actually eaten there in the lounge. I didn't think that was permitted - maybe in rooms but not in the lounge with the dining area in the same room! One guest even asked the receptionist where to put his empty pizza box; she told him to leave it on the bar and she'd take care of it. Overall I can't fault the staff at all, they were most helpful with our problems. We have stayed in Holiday Inns before and this one wasn't the best I'm afraid.

This hotel has both good points and bad points.  I'll start with the good ones... The staff member we dealt with almost exclusively, called Justine, was absolutely charming, and made a real effort to welcome us.  She was also really helpful with advice about local restaurants and so on.  She is a real asset! The room was beautifully decorated, with a lovely sea view, a comfortable bed, nice sheets, lots of big towels, good quality bath products, and  well-stocked with facilities, like hair-dryer, iron, and safe. The tent in the garden, where we had our drinks on our first evening, was lovely, and would actually make a really nice venue, for something like a small, family party, or some such thing.  The basement bar itself, is also quite pleasant. However, a big issue for us was that we only discovered on arrival, that breakfast was not included in the price.  We're absolutely sure that it was mentioned in the website that we booked through, and we would never have booked the hotel, if it didn't include breakfast, as that's one of the main things that we enjoy about going away.  The website of the hotel apparently doesn't say breakfast is included, but we didn't actually look at that.  Also, the word ”restaurant” appears both outside and inside the hotel.  This meant that we ended up spending something in the region of £50 more than the cost of the room, having to eat elsewhere, which we haven't budgeted for.  I had actually spoken to a man the day before we arrived, because we were having trouble booking a restaurant for friends on the Monday night, and wondered if the hotel had a dining room.  He mentioned they didn't serve dinner, but did not take that opportunity to tell us that they didn't serve breakfast.  Whilst we understood the reasons explained to us, why they no longer serve breakfast, it would have been really helpful to know in advance.  They certainly need to sort out the information on booking company websites.  The bathroom initially looked spotlessly clean, but we had trouble with the sink, which drained really slowly, so we ended up actually having to just take out the whole plug mechanism; and when I had my shower on the first morning, the shower didn't drain at all, so I ended up pulling out the plug mechanism in the shower as well, and unfortunately, I found it absolutely clogged up with long, black hair, which was absolutely gross.    Overall, I would say that if breakfast isn't important toyou, then this is probably a decent place to stay, but we would certainly not go back there ourselves. 

Me & my Partner have Just enjoyed a 2 night stay at the Botany bay hotel. We were looking for a nice picturesque relaxing break by the sea & that's exactly what we had. Staff were very friendly & helpful. We ate there both nights & the food was lovely, breakfast was perfect. The restaurant staff were very friendly & professional in not treating you just like another customer. DJ & Tara both really stood out. The room was lovely, we had a beautiful Seaview. Housekeeper Amanda was very good & very helpful. Can't fault any of it & will almost definitely be returning. Thank you for making our stay just perfect. Recommend 100%.