OYO Little Emily - Great Yarmouth

Z9285TSkimd

I left a review on booking.com only for them to cut my review and post the only good thing about this hotel which was the location. Anyway. I wasn't expecting much from this room for the price but I did expect a clean bed, which I didn't get. On arrival it's a digital lock, you enter your code on the main door and again to the door to your room. When you first walk in the smell of Asian cooking hits hard. Everybody has to eat so I'm not saying this as a negative, it's just an honest review. The room was possibly the dirtiest room I've ever stayed in, in my whole life and I'm 42. My bf is allergic to bedbugs so I ALWAYS check for them. There were none thank God. But what I did find was grim. The bed linen looked okay. But once I pulled the sheet back we were met with a matress topper covered in sweat or urine stains, dry blood, pubic hair, bits of biscuit etc. Obviously doesn't get washed with the bed linen which it should. The curtains were dirty. The walls were dirty. In fact the walls were splatted with all sorts of dried brown splatters. The skirtings were dirty. There were cobwebs hanging from the walls. The little bathroom however WAS much cleaner. The shower was dated but clean. No room to shower comfortably. To wash my hair I kept banging my elbows on the walls. The location was lovely and the young lad who came to help us get in was pleasant. I could have forgave everything else that was bad in the room IF the bed was clean. Little Emily, if your reading this, please give those rooms some TLC. They need a good deep clean and a fresh coat of paint. Also the pipes for the heating clonked and banged all night. One last thing. We parked directly out the front of the hotel. We received a parking ticket. So apparently the parking on that road is for resident permit holders only.

V8109VJgeorgef

We stay in a lot of guesthouses as we move around. We don’t leave many public reviews on tripadvisor & google because of what we now do, but every now and then a place does deserve a bit of a constructive writeup. ||||We ran a guest house for over ten years. Negative reviews are something to take seriously and often highlight ‘little’ problems that the operators overlook or where they have let a standard drop. Other negative reviews can simply be someone with an axe to grind to get a part refund but should still be taken seriously and if its legitimate then always give some money back otherwise if they complain to their bank or credit card company and exercise their rights, you’ll end up with the entire fee taken from you by the bank under the credit card agreements. ||||What we’re saying is we’re not easily put off by a few negative reviews. Keep a balance and open mind.||||We have stayed at other guest houses in the same road and know some of the other owners , therefore through talking to them we had prior knowledge that the Little Emily has recently changed hands and potentially going through a few changes and thats why it ended up on our list of places to visit.||||We had another business need to be in the area and at short notice at the height of the season finding somewhere starting midweek extending across a bank holiday was near impossible. Most owners want Monday to Friday, Friday to Sunday or Saturday to Saturday. ||||The Little Emily was very accommodating with our dates.||||This is intended both for the guest that may visit but also constructive suggestion for the owners. It is lengthy though, so stick with it and as a guest you might learn something.||||Our experience||||The booking was done direct by phone, no actual problems noted other than the price we were quoted was £5 higher than the booking dot com website, which in our opinion and experience that site should be avoided but that’s another story. ||||We didn’t receive any email or texts confirming our booking, normally something would arrive explaining check in/out times and a bit of info, but not an issue.||||We arrived at around 2:30pm, front door locked no-one apparently on site. Another family had been there a while and mentioned that they’d been calling the numbers but no answer. Omar I believe his name was, (if it wasn’t then we apologise we were given the wrong name by someone else) appeared a while later announcing he’s the manager and told us all to come back at 3pm for check-in. ||||We came back later, check in was okay conducted in the hallway. The owner isn’t a very chatty person so it was a little awkward but that could be shyness or experience if he’s a new owner and not used to dealing with the public. ||||It really does take a while to build confidence. We had to ask for info rather than it being volunteered, as an owner you get asked the same questions over and over and become very well-rehearsed, another reason for a good booking confirmation document as this is a good place to explain some of the common info needed such as parking which was sorted easly and quickly.||||We were shown to our room and left too it. ||||First impressions, tricks of the trade. Take a deep smell of the room, if the door has been closed for a while, you’ll pickup on cleaning smells, linen, carpet etc. those few seconds can tell you a lot about the cleanliness of the room. Has it been overloaded with air freshener, that’s a sign of a cover up. ||||Then stand and look, is it dusty, are their stains on the furniture, carpets, or walls, if there are bedside lamps, look at the bulb, its amazing how many cleaners overlook the bedside lamp, look under the bed, these can be dusty places if the cleaners are just doing the top side of what they can see. All these things are a good indication of cleanliness. No problems seen here, all looking good.||||Don’t look at the décor too deeply as long as it’s clean with nothing too majorly broken accept it, many owners work long hours and fitting in maintenance time or booking tradespersons around guest visits it a challenge or costly especially at the hight of the season. ||||Keep in mind that the last guest moved out at 10am and the next one arrives as 3pm, its not long to do a proper clean , linen change and fix any minor problems and of course get arround all the other rooms on changeover day as well. ||||Most owners will do the bulk of their maintenance and decorating during the quiet periods from November to March. If you really want to see a place at its best or worse visit in March just before the season gets going.||||Another thing we do is turn all the lights on, better to find out during daylight which lights are not working, again its amazing how many owners don’t have this on their checklist. ||||It all looked and smelt very good, ||||The ensuite, again all very good and clean. ||||So looking harder for things, pet peeve is always the kettle, stale water left in the bottom. Nope not here. ||||OK the bed, there are legal requirements of how often the mattress is to be replaced whether its at its end of life or not. People do things on mattresses, body fluids, smoke (even though they are not meant too) e-cigarette smoke is vial to those who do not smoke and it gets into the fabric, bugs etc. ||||Different local councils have different laws but in general five years is the considered norm and to be honest after five years the mattress is past its best anyway. One council has the rule that as soon as there is visible sign of wear then a paying guest can no longer use it and will impose heavy fines or even closure if they find the rule violated so it’s something to take this seriously. Always use mattress protectors and vaper protectors on the mattresses under the bed sheet and change them for every guest rotation. ||||Mattress and bedding clean, again other tick. Slight observation here the bedding which was a beautiful white set hadn’t been ironed and it let down an otherwise nicely prepared room. We’d suggest not having white at its harder to maintain and people do eat and drink in the rooms and a little splash of wine or something else can ruin a set and give someone something to complain about if you miss it and they wind up back on a bed with a mark on them.||||So far we’re not finding anything fundamentally negative, looking even harder and most wouldn’t bother looking this far. Look for test labels on the appliances, law says these must be tested as often as reasonably practical connected with their use. Most testers will say every twelve months but that’s wrong. The bedside lamp never moves and is only touched when turned on or off, the wear level is extremely low, every twelve months when everything else is being done is reasonable. The kettle or hairdryer that is touched much more frequently needs to be tested far more often. Everything we viewed had been tested in recent months. We spotted a fridge, that too was clean. ||||Now we’re really digging, we found several extensions leads around the room, this is largely because the sockets on the wall are located in different places than where they need to be used, it’s entirely related to the age of the building and now the modern use. In our opinion a couple of them were too short and could have been better routed but that’s just being picky. ||||All round its reasonably good so far. Off for food and back at bedtime..||||We had problems getting in the front door from the street, it’s a door code, it was making all the right noises but hard to open the door. Another couple were on their way out as we were on our way in and said it needs a firm hand. This should be looked at as someone will break the door at some point and turn a small problem into a large problem.||||Even though the location is one street away from the main pedestrian route through town, its noticeably quiet. ||||The bed is very firm, it’s not lumpy or worn where you can feel the springs its just very very firm. More akin to the type of beds we slept in when in Europe where they seem to like firm beds there. Us softy Brits prefer a softer bed. Theres nothing wrong with the bed if you like a vey firm bed but something that needs more thought when the mattresses are due for a change, or it will generate complaints. Our experience is people complain less about an overly soft mattress than they do about a very hard mattress. Pillows are also a bit flimsy, but you are provided with four of them so no problem here to stack them up. ||||Following day tried the wifi, in a word terrible. Another side of our company is internet security and networking. There is no management on the network, it’s a free for all and whoever is hogging it will make for a bad experience for everyone else. They’re also using wifi repeaters which are a major no-no they only take a bad signal and make it worse, constant drop offs and reconnects, another source of grumbles from people and another easily fixed problem (contact us if you need help)||||Overall, nothing here would stop us coming back, its mid-priced for the location, reasonably tidy and comfortable, it could do with some logistical and practical refinement to make the owners and the guests lives a little easier and more comfortable but overall it was a positive experience.||||Message to the owners, if you need some further help please do get in touch, especially about the wifi, you’ll be amazed at how many people will grumble about such a minor thing and easily solved problem.||||We wish you well and intend to come back.

Joanna W.

Excellent location, very close to the seafront and other attractions. Our room wasn't too big but was enough for our stay. Tiny bathroom but again was enough for my daughter and myself. Very friendly staff, very helpful and accommodating, lovely people. Room very clean, beds comfy. A bit loud from the outside and inconsiderate neighbours but if you're tired after the whole day out, it doesn't matter too much. I'd definitely stay there again!

G F.

We stay in a lot of guesthouses as we move around. We don’t leave many public reviews on tripadvisor & google because of what we now do, but every now and then a place does deserve a bit of a constructive writeup.

We ran a guest house for over ten years. Negative reviews are something to take seriously and often highlight ‘little’ problems that the operators overlook or where they have let a standard drop. Other negative reviews can simply be someone with an axe to grind to get a part refund but should still be taken seriously and if its legitimate then always give some money back otherwise if they complain to their bank or credit card company and exercise their rights, you’ll end up with the entire fee taken from you by the bank under the credit card agreements.

What we’re saying is we’re not easily put off by a few negative reviews. Keep a balance and open mind.

See a more detailed review on another trip related site..

Our experience

The booking was done direct by phone, no actual problems noted other than the price we were quoted was £5 higher than the booking dot com website, which in our opinion and experience that site should be avoided but that’s another story.

We didn’t receive any email or texts confirming our booking, normally something would arrive explaining check in/out times and a bit of info, but not an issue.

We arrived at around 2:30pm, The owner isn’t a very chatty person so it was a little awkward but that could be shyness or experience if he’s a new owner and not used to dealing with the public.

It really does take a while to build confidence. We had to ask for info rather than it being volunteered, as an owner you get asked the same questions over and over and become very well-rehearsed, another reason for a good booking confirmation document.

First impressions, tricks of the trade. Take a deep smell of the room, if the door has been closed for a while, you’ll pickup on cleaning smells, linen, carpet etc. those few seconds can tell you a lot about the cleanliness of the room. Has it been overloaded with air freshener, that’s a sign of a cover up.

Then stand and look, is it dusty, are their stains on the furniture, carpets, or walls, if there are bedside lamps, look at the bulb, its amazing how many cleaners overlook the bedside lamp, look under the bed, these can be dusty places if the cleaners are just doing the top side of what they can see. All these things are a good indication of cleanliness. No problems seen here, all looking good.

Don’t look at the décor too deeply as long as it’s clean with nothing too majorly broken accept it, many owners work long hours and fitting in maintenance time or booking tradespersons around guest visits it a challenge or costly especially at the hight of the season.

Keep in mind that the last guest moved out at 10am and the next one arrives as 3pm, its not long to do a proper clean , linen change and fix any minor problems and of course get arround all the other rooms on changeover day as well.

Most owners will do the bulk of their maintenance and decorating during the quiet periods from November to March. If you really want to see a place at its best or worse visit in March just before the season gets going.

It all looked and smelt very good,

The ensuite, again all very good and clean.

There are legal requirements of how often the mattress is to be replaced whether its at its end of life or not. People do things on mattresses, body fluids, smoke (even though they are not meant too) e-cigarette smoke is vial to those who do not smoke and it gets into the fabric, bugs etc.

Mattress and bedding clean, again other tick.

So far we’re not finding anything fundamentally negative,

Even though the location is one street away from the main pedestrian route through town, its noticeably quiet.

The bed is very firm, it’s not lumpy or worn just very very firm. More akin to a European bed. Us softy Brits prefer a softer bed. Theres nothing wrong with the bed if you like a vey firm.

Wifi terrible, we manage wifi, problems are easyly fixed.

Nwandison's N.

The good thing is that the hotel is close to the seafront. The rooms are so tiny, we stayed in a family room which barely allowed you to shower or do anything. The rooms are not cleaned regularly or not at all unless you call them to do so. Very poor cleaning hygiene in place. I felt they where just after the money without thinking about their customers. I had to argue with the owner as the bedsheets had stains, sink had hairs and towel was wet on our first day of arrival.

petina2015

Stayed here for a long weekend, good points, location to Yarmouth centre and sea a few mins walk away, room itself was very clean. ||Bad points, bed mattress springs crunched and clonked with every move, so uncomfortable we couldn't sleep, noisy pipes all night that also added to discomfort, old bedding with ripped duvet cover and pillow cases, that didn't smell Freshly laundered, also stained bottom sheet, I personally would have thrown them away, dismal view from window, old dirty roofing unswept with a pair of trainers full of cigarette butt's. ||There is no disabled access to building at all, my husband had to leave his wheelchair downstairs, and struggle up a steep stairway to room. ||Was sad to see downstairs past dining room locked off, with the tables and chairs still in there, as breakfast is not provided, also sad on arrival to see pots full of weeds, and dead flowers outside, other guest houses have nice seating areas. ||To sum it up won't be returning, only interaction with owner is check in, if he passes you in the street not even a smile or hello, or is everything ok|||||

Rhi B.

Having read the previous reviews was dreading staying here.

First of all we were not communicated to about the parking situation. Trying to get hold of the man was terrible. You need the code to get in the building and phone not answered. Eventually a family went in so managed to slip in behind them and speak with them. They said you can pay for a temporary permit to park outside. We eventually got hold of the bloke to pay for this.

We were allocated the too floor room. As someone with mobility issues this was not accessible AT ALL. The stairs are very steep, narrow, no lift, lose handrail and no help to get items up to top floor. When we eventually got to the top the door lock code wasn’t working!!!

Eventually got in the room and must say it was very clean. The “family room” was the size of a normal bedroom with a bunk bed, wardrobe and small twin bed squished in. Again not accessible but clean at least. The “en-suite” was simply a converted cupboard. Again was clean.

The beds were not comfy AT ALL.

When we went to take a shower at the end of the day there was no water pressure to the shower and so was a small “drip drip” from the shower head. At least the drips were hot! (Sink washes in worlds smallest sink was not the one!!) could not report you this as he seemed to have gone home!

In the evening the noise was HORRENDOUS with people and children bombing up and down the alley on a quad bike. We had to close the windows. One good point was that there was a fan provided in the room.

Although checkout was 10am-11am we had our items packed and loaded for 9am. The man wasn’t there to officially check us out. We needed to ask about the another day parking but he did give us complimentary parking (usually £3) so we had until mid afternoon anyway. This was communicated via text.

There’s no breakfast, lunch or dinner provided in the hotel. The check in process seemed like a “chore” for the bloke although he was polite in talking to us.

Overall I would not recommend this hotel. Honestly pay the extra to stay somewhere more comfy and with a working shower!

vennessajaynec

Had a family member stay here for the week. There’s no staff in the property - you have to ring them if you need anything. Mattress was super springy and uncomfortable. No house keeping during the week, had to use one towel for the whole week. She was also told by the manager the rooms aren’t always cleaned after people leave.