It was my friends birthday and she wanted a weekend away, so I booked us in at the Bay Burlington Hotel. Well, where do I start ? When we arrived, I had to park up the road on a meter as there was nowhere to park outside the Hotel, all the spaces had been taken. We checked in and I was asked if I would like to open a Room A/C. Good idea I thought. " How much credit would you like " ? £50 should see us over the weekend. So £50 was charged to my Credit Card, funny way of doing it I thought, but Hey Ho. I told Reception that I had paid for Parking, but my car was on a Meter. " O.K. I,ll see you at the Car Park to let you in. Came around the Rear of the Hotel and the Chain was dropped so we could drive into the Car Park. We went up to Room 405. The Room was Clean & Tidy, but, the Paper was Peeling Off the Wall and also the Ceiling. Went into the Bathroom / Toilet, well, when you stand by the Sink, the Floorboards Creek like an Old Sailing Ship, the Sink, how Old is that ? The Taps on the Sink are of different manufacture and the Shower seems to Dribble out ?
So, we go down stairs to have a drink in the Bar, I hand over my Room A/C Card, after a while they ask me to sign a Hand Written piece of Paper with the drinks wrote down on it. Apparently the Machine is Not Working. We go into Dinner, the Wine Waiter comes around, we order another 2 drinks. As we are finishing our Desert our Drinks turn up with a Print Out for the 4 Drinks. " Could you pay this at the Bar please " ? When we finished, we went to the Bar & Paid £14.60. For the rest of the stay, I paid Cash for our Drinks. We sat down for the Evenings Entertainment and the Entertainments Manager said " Now if there is anything wrong, don,t go home and put it on Trip Advisor, tell us now so we can sort it for you " Friday night we had a Comedian ? Funny, I thought they were supposed to make you Laugh ?
I went back to Reception and told them about the Room A/C and they said " No Mr Smith your A/C is Clear.
Saturday, we were a bit late in getting up, went downstairs for Breakfast, Too Late, the Vultures had already been there. There was No Fruit Juice left. We went to get our Full English Breakfast, but had to wait for more Fried Eggs, so I went for Scrambled ? Managed to cut a Slice of Scrambled Egg ? Not Fluffy like I make at home. Toast, I thought. Too Late, the Vultures had been there as well. Shall I have the last 2 Slices of White or Brown ? We sat at our Table, the Waiter came over. " Tea or Coffee " ? He returned with 2 Metal Jugs, poured out our Tea & Coffee and went. It seems for Breakfast, you just get 1 Mug of Tea or Coffee and that,s it ? Oh, the Sausages, is there any Meat Content ? or Just Sawdust ?
Sunday after Breakfast and my 1 Mug of Coffee ( I think that is why there is a Coffee Shop just outside the Restaurant ) we Checked Out. Handed over my Room A/C Card," Oh that will be £14.60 please " NO, I said, I paid this Friday Evening at the Bar as I was asked." Oh don,t worry then " one of the Reception Staff was told.
So, was this a Genuine Mistake, or is there a Scam being Worked ?
I have now had my Credit Card Bill come through and there is NO £50 charge on it.

Obliged to pay a single supplement for my stay, AND was given a single room, are Bay hotels aware that this practice is not likely to get repeat visits! However, the room given to me, although small was newly refurbished, pleasant furniture/curtains/lighting etc with a comfortable single bed with nice linens. Flat screen tv and tea/coffee unit, the remote control had not had a clean in a long time. New bathroom but no toiletries and the smallest bar of soap I'd ever seen. Gymnastîc attributes ñeeded to access the bath/shower, so if not firm of foot this may be a problem. Hairdryer in bedroom drawer. Restaurant bustling with many folk using a buffet style breakfast, though evening service is to the table, food was good choices and very well presented. Plenty of seating areas, nightly bingo and entertainment. Lifts a bit chaotic at meal times and arrivals and departures, one rather like a coffin, supposedly for four persons, the other lift padded with destroyed carpet!
Was rather aghast at the access process to the BskyB/cloud wi-fi, functions in lobby area, but it is efficient. Staff pleasant and attentive.
Leisureplex and hallmark as well as many other groups give a twin or double room for their single supplement charges, I will be inclined to use them instead of this Bay chain. Other than that a pleasant stay.

Myself,Wife and four year old came to the Burlington hotel for a five day break, Everyone was very helpful ,our coach driver Kevin was really informative and good knowledge locally. Our waitress Maria was really helpful indeed and deserves a mention, nothing was to much trouble for her. The food was really nice but the sausages needed to be hotter. I am sure the management is aware of the rooms needing upgrading. We paid for a sea view which was great ,on the down side we had a geriatric t.v with 6 channels that were fuzzy . The decor of the room really needs attention sooner rather than later. There were issues with damp above the t.v. We reported a loose wall light at the beginning of our holiday and it hadn't been fixed during our stay ( I assume it's still the same ) But overall we enjoyed our stay , And if improvements are made we will visit again.

We have just got back from a break here 2 adults and 1 child, we paid extra for a Seaview room which did av a lovely Seaview looking at the pier, unfortunately this was spoilt by having a old box tv with 6 fuzzy channels then above where tv was paint was peeling off wall which to us looked like it was damp. When u get out lift the paint work on corridors is chipped in places. The restaurant and food were very nice we had a waitress called Maria who was very nice and couldn't do enough to help us. We went for 5 days on coach Kevin was our driver who was also very helpful and informative.

My husband and I visited this hotel at the end of September on a 8 day coach trip.We thoroughly enjoyed our stay and really liked the hotel, just as we had done on our first visit about 4 years ago.
We were in a 4th floor room (which we thought being in the roof would be small)but it was a quite large room and the bathroom, whilst not being as modern as some we have had, was kept nice and clean and had bath and shower and always plenty of hot water.
The bed was comfortable and we had two nice chairs in our room. There was a good supply of beverages on our hospitality tray.
The food was good and the waiters we had were extremely efficient and friendly. We enjoyed the entertainment although we didnt go back to the hotel till later in the evening.
Our coach driver, Kevin was very helpful and informative and friendly.

We stayed at the Burlington Hotel on a Shearings five day holiday and were very pleased with our room (which we payed extra for) as the view from our window was looking towards the pier, (room 111). The only problem was in the evening this room was not very warm but I informed reception and they supplied us with a plug in heater. They said the heating for the hotel was on but people at the back of the hotel complained there rooms were too hot and ours was cooler because of the wind from over the sea!
The hotel was very full and the breakfast was buffet style but it was regularly replenished. The meals were good and they did very nice vegetarian meals which I liked. The excursions that were for Shearings customers were not really very interesting.

I took my 89 year old mother to the Eastbourne Burlington hotel with Shearings last week. Got a very good room on first floor with a walk in shower, and plenty of room in bedroom, comfy bed, excellent TV. Only 2 steps to the lift. Only 20 steps to ground floor.

Plus points, all staff accommodating and very polite. Lovely large lounge, neat little bar. Nice lounge seats overlooking sea front, only 4 steps to enter hotel. So in fact on quibbles about the hotel itself, would recommend.

Breakfast however is done buffet style, and you have to make your own toast. Well, I can do a fry up at home and make my toast too. Often the cooked food at breakfast was half cold. I asked for a poached egg and it was more like a hard boiled egg! So I lived on Frosties all week. Shearings have lost the 'personal touch' for me. You don't get a pot of tea or coffee, but it is a mug which the waiter fills up on request. Just don't like this American style canteen service.

On the Wednesday night the restaurant manager served us, he dibn't offer us water, so we helped ourselves, he didn't offer us bread either? Anyway we got starter then main. Then we waited 25 minutes to get a dessert!

Fine Shearings are obviously cutting back on staff, but it seems that you are also cutting back on customer service too! Very disappointed, have travelled with Shearings for over 20 years. Things change I suppose.

The hotel is probably the biggest in Eastbourne with an excellent location on the seafront, almost opposite the pier. The shopping centre is only a short level walk away and so the hotel could not be better placed. The 5 day break was by coach. The hotel is clean and bright. The food is of good quality considering the price paid. We had a sea facing bedroom which we paid a small surcharge for and the bedroom was spacious and clean. All the staff at the hotel were friendly, courteous and very hard working. Entertainment was provided every night , the in house entertainer being spot on.

We booked into this Hotel on the 30th September for a long weekend, having previously stayed there in 2012 and again two years ago. Firstly it should be stated that with out exception the staff work hard, and are friendly and helpful but, it is now looking very tired, with chipped paintwork, the stair carpet repaired with gaffer tape, and lounge furniture which is worn and tatty.
The bedroom we had, was very neat,Clean, and with nice decor, but we had updated to a standard plus, and I guess you gets what you pays for.
The real downside for us though was the food, which was very samey with chicken and frozen fish seeming to predominate, and with vegetables which were considerably overcooked, and chips which were anaemic,and undercooked.The breakfasts, which have always been a strength in all their hotels, were self service, under Stainless steel tureens which were heated with some form of burner. Mostly the eggs were hard, and other items either soggy or overcooked.We have of late been staying in Coast & Country, and the standard there is much better food wise, but with in some cases brought directly from the Kitchen, or cooked and bought in at proper service bars.
We have stayed in a number of Bays, where the food was indifferent, but until now, this was not the case with the Burlington.
This Hotel is in a wonderful position, central to all amenities and the pier (directly opposite).
Although we were mainly out to shows at the bandstand, Eastbourne theatre, and the Cinema, we did get back for some Dancing on their very good dance floor, with a very good host in Mark, who played a splendid and varied choice of music.Judging from comments from other guests, he was also very good at keeping them entertained.
So, come on Bay Burlington, do some decorating, replace some tatty furniture, and above all get your food back to where it was on out last visit.
We had room 2223, and this was facing Harry Ramsdens, and we managed to get free Wi-Fi from there, so never actually used The Hotels (Which was only available downstairs anyway)

great hotel, really friendly and helpful staff,great room lovely sea view, the problems we had soon solved by hotel manageress,DOWNSIDE not a fan of buffet breakfast don't need the hastle first thing in the morning, shearings should reconsider this aspect of the holiday, and finally you should not have to breathe the nicotine laden air when entering and leaving the hotel courtesy of the smoking brigade.

Hotel it self is very tired looking rooms the same. Odd taps sink different color to rest of bathroom suite. Poor pressure on shower. Reception settees in serious need of recovering. Staff all outstanding all very helpful. Food great value you for money. Entertainment in all my year's I have never heard someone call bingo on both nights we were there sound so suicidal the man just had no go in him and he is meant to be the resident host. Maybe he was having a couple of bad nights who can tell.

Having been here a couple of times before we booked a seaview as a birthday treat
the room was very small , we booked a sea view as we like to watch the world go by but we had to take turns because there was only room for one chair by the window..
the bathroom was small, shower gel shampoo etc had to be stored on the shower floor as there was only a soapdish and if you were a plus size you wouldnt have got in the shower it had a door that folded inwards ... the rest of the toiletries were left outside the bathroom as there was just a tiny shelf .
.the wardrobe had unfinished wood on the inside ..a coat of paint or varnish would have been good...
All in all the break was spoiled by the small room/window ..looking on the advert it said upgrade and showed a lovely room with a large window and two chairs and a table .. we upgraded as we booked...other rooms we saw were bigger than ours maybe because we were independant travellers and not Shearings
the whole fourth floor smelled smokey..and the fire doors could do with a wipe down.
th meals were OK most times you have to wait between courses ..one night we had our starter and the waitress gave our main course to someone else meaning we were forgotten till we called her over and asked what was happening ..we had to re order.. Cant blame the staff though because they are very overworked ..Not too keen on the tea and coffee brought to you ..if you want another cup you have to find the server ..same with the water ..would be better with a jug on the table I liked it better when breakfast was served I only had toast because my partner had to wait each day for something to be refiled
Entertainment wasnt bad but one night the room emptied quite early!!
Needless to say we wont be visiting the Burlington again

Visited on a 4 day break with Shearings. Impressive looking building which as many have stated could hardly be better positioned, ideal for the pier, shopping areas and the cosmopolitan eaterie area of Terminus Street. Public areas well kept and comfortable.

Room tired and in need of a revamp but clean and adequate.In retrospect a sea view may have been worth the additional cost. Room seemed very hot even with the window open but reception provided a fan with the minimum of fuss.Very good buffet breakfast with a good choice, evening meals pretty good (you get what you pay for!) service and staff carried out their duties efficiently and politely.

The beautiful South Downs are an often forgotton area of England, the area is equally as spectacular as many national parks, with many local beauty spots and classical English villages.

As usual a good value break with Shearings.

Just completed a weeks coaching with shearings sun sea and close to the pier and town center all around fairly flat for strolling .Rooms very good well attended .BUFFET breakfast ample choice waiter service evening meal,Reception very helpful, evening entertainment very good. A holiday being well looked after.

We travelled to this hotel with two friends for a mid week break and was glad we did. We found the food was to our liking, the entertainment was good, The rooms were clean and comfortable. All the staff were helpful and good at there jobs, Ivana our waitress was great. It was a bit hot in the rooms and the TV needs upgrading but these are minor things.

The Burlington Hotel Eastbourne is an excellent position overlooking the Pier with glorious views over the sea front. We paid an extra £98 for a sea view and we experienced some incredible sunrises and glorious colours in the evening. We stayed 7 nights and paid an additional £70.00 for a standard plus room, the total cost for the week was £956.00. The room was spacious, the bed comfortable and both bedroom and bathroom very clean. The young lady who cleaned our room was very conscientious, I saw her on several occasions cleaning other rooms and she really cleaned them thoroughly, towels, tea/coffee were replaced without asking. As with most of the rooms that Shearings 'update' they seem not to finish properly i.e the hair dryer should have been wall mounted but I suspect the stud wall wouldn't have supported it so it was left in the drawer, I found it impossible to manage so I had to buy a hand held one, additionally only one bedside lamp and no light over the dressing table. Because it's an old building the windows do 'rattle' in the night and you do have to be careful how wide you open the windows as we returned on the first night to find a pigeon had flown into the bathroom and it took some persuading to leave! The dining room although it needs refurbishing does have a faded charm, it is however like most of the hotel very hot with little ventilation. Beatrice(?) was our waitress for the first two nights followed by George both of whom worked very hard in a friendly and efficient way. Breakfast is self service with plenty of choice and on the whole works very well, except for the toasters, you see numerous piles of burnt toast! and having your tea or coffee poured into a mug on your table from flasks is not good. The evening meals can be 'hit and miss' sometimes the kitchens appear to struggle and the waiters apologise for often long delays. On a couple of occasions the vegetables were cooked to pulp whilst the guests on the next table complained their meal was completely cold. Reception staff are very helpful and friendly and the bar staff are incredible, one tall fair haired young man was so cheerful and helpful to guests who struggled to carry their drinks. Because it was so hot in the hotel we would have preferred after our evening meal to have sat in the seats close to the main doors(which were mostly open) with glass of wine but it was impossible to enjoy because just outside the doors was a partially enclosed 'balcony' which was used by the smoking guests.I completely respect that some guests enjoy smoking but with little ventilation the entrance area smelled like an ashtray, one guest even smoked in the toilet of the ballroom, this was picked up by the entertainment lady but the following night when she was not on the duty the smell of cigarette smoke was apparent again. Even during the day leaving the hotel you had to push your way through the smokers, on one occasion I counted over 12 guests and as one guest was in a wheelchair it wasn't even easy to get out. The steps and outside the hotel are quite disgusting with discarded cigarette ends etc and really do need a good clean. However, on the whole we did enjoy our holiday

we had a 4 night at the Burlington hotel a very hot week we arrived in the afternoon by shearings coach our room was on the 2nd floor nice large room very good reception breakfast was self service very nice evening meal was waiter service was ok The entertainment was very very good Thursday night the best of all ..All the staff were very friendly good service

A good old-fashioned sea front hotel - in a grade II* listed building, mentioned and praised by Pevsner no less!

Everywhere looking a little bit tired, but all public areas clean and tidy.

We had a seaview room - it was huge, clean, very comfortable and for the class of hotel, well equipped. The bathroom was a good size, if a bit tired with flaws in the floor covered with gaffer tape, and the shower dripped constantly.

Food was included in our deal and was good.

A decent choice, for dinner, including vegetarian options, starter main and desert. Food imaginative, well cooked and nicely presented. Portions were not huge, but with 3 courses we found them perfectly adequate.

Drink was exorbitantly priced, but tap water provided cheerfully and without question for meals

Breakfast was excellent too - plenty of choice of well cooked hot food, replaced regularly to prevent drying out. Only downside was the rather nasty plastic bread - just about OK for toast, but it would have been nice to have had something a bit less synthetic.

The highlight was the staff. Restaurant staff in particular were delightful - attentive, friendly, very efficient and very hard working. With a full dining room and some of the hottest days of the year they kept going with a smile and a friendly world. Can't praise them enough

Other staff also very good, both housekeeping, who cleaned thoroughly, and front of house who were very helpful when needed.

All in all a hotel I'd recommend with only minor reservations - surely it wouldn't be THAT difficult to fix a dripping shower and mend floors properly - gaffer tape does spoil the effect!

The Sea View is well worth the upgrade, spectacular views to the pier and Beachy Head. However, the weather was very warm during our visit and we had to have the bedroom windows open (no air con of course) and this let in a lot of noise from traffic along the coast road from quite early in the morning.

We stayed for a week at this hotel with Shearings. We were very glad we had paid extra for a room upgrade with a sea view. Our twin room was quite spacious with comfortable beds. The room faced the beach and the pier so we had good views. The bathroom was adequate with a shower over the bath though it was quite small.We were pleased to be on the second floor and able to use the stairs as the lifts are dreadful. The room was very clean and the Portugese lady who cleaned it daily was excellent. We appreciated the supply of clean towels every day and the supply of tea coffee and milk. Many hotels stint on these but this one is very generous.
The dining room was like a canteen and was very full with tables rather close together. It was also very warm and not a place to linger! The food served was good on the whole and our waitress was excellent
The hotel badly needs refurbishing but the staff are an asset.

Typical Shearings hotel, but the staffing levels in the restaurant were so poor that on some nights the service came to a standstill. On 1st September we entered the restaurant at 6.36 pm for our three course evening meal and didn't get our third course until 8.05 pm! Apparently some staff were off and Shearings didn't bring any staff in to cover these shortages. I felt sorry for the few staff that were on (mainly from the EU) who were driven to despair dashing about.

In addition they introduced something called 'Light Service' in the bedrooms on one day. This seemed to consist of folding (not replacing) towels and making the bed, nothing else.

The sound system was poor and unless you are sitting directly around the entertainment you couldn't hear too clearly what anyone was saying.

All seemed a bit penny pinching for a week that cost well over £1,000.

Shall not return.

Just returned from a 5 day holiday with Shearings to this hotel. We have visited quite a few Shearings hotels, we find the holidays good value for money, this hotel was probably not the best for us but it was good enough. We upgraded our room, have found that its the best thing to do. Our room was small but clean, well decorated, the furniture seemed new, the TV was fine and the cleaning staff did a very good job. We found the food to be good, we liked the buffet breakfast, much quicker if you are leaving early for a trip. On the whole the staff were efficient and friendly. Now for the negatives, the entertainment we thought was pretty poor, out of the four nights there was just one good act, the rest was a bit average, I am comparing this with about 6 other Shearings hotels we have visited, although the entertainments manager did seem to work hard it was not for us. The other negative was the first impression of the hotel, the outside needs sweeping regularly, it is littered with cigarette ends and looks dirty, can't a member of staff clean up and what about providing ash trays for smokers ? There are more positives than negatives for this hotel, we did enjoy our stay and the weather was beautiful.

We ahve just returned from an 8 day Shearings tour to Eastbourne staying at the Bay Burlington. From the moment we were greeted and welcomed by the manageress we knew that this was going to be a friendly hotel. The staff were helpful,courteous and friendly especially our chambermaid (did not catch her name) Joao who served my wine with such efficiency, Francesco always helpful and charming and the trainee Rubin polite, courteous and willing even if a little too pressured.
The entertainment was very good on the 2 nights we decided to watch. Mark the entertainments manager tried to please everyone with his humour and his selection of dance music - a charming man
Bar service was efficient and friendly with average price structure
Food was adequate. We never had a reason to complain and for what we paid, it was value for money. Breakfast was my favourite - buffet service with an excellent choice. Dinner was a 3 course waiter served meal. Portion size was a little small on some days. Nothing to complain about yet nothing to rave over
Hotel / room 214, was comfortable and spacious if a little tired in certain areas it was always kept clean with plenty of seating area. Our room had the most wonderful view of the sea, the pier and the carpet bedding. Only 2 small complaints about our room was it was too hot even with 2 windows left open and the floorboards creaked quite badly.
Would I be pleased to stay again - Yes I would. Remember that its not a five star hotel and they dont charge five star prices but in our opinion the have five star staff

Booked a long weekend at the Burlington and paid extra for a front room with a great view of the pier and beach. Not sure of the four poster, which was more of a hindrance than a useful addition. Lovely spacious room only spoiled by the rather drab lighting, which was also the only downside of a large well appointed bathroom. Food was fine, other than the battered fish which was well and truely battered to about about a quarter of an inch thickness.Speedy check in, and very good staff, so would return. Just felt sorry for the people below us, as the floor was seriously creaky.

Me and my mum stayed saturday to saturday nice room on 4th floor very good driver called peter good trips out very good entertainment on a night mark was very good and funny food was nice . Waitresses 1st two nights was quick rest of week the next lady was very slow.

We have just returned from another great holiday with shearings and the trips were excellent but unfortunately I cannot say the same for the hotel I am glad that we upgraded to a premier as it was vey nice clean and comfortable. We have stayed in lots of Shearings hotels over the years and yes some do look a bit tired but there is a difference between tired and dirty. The wallpaper in the dining room where we sat was peeling off and in the lounge area cobwebs were all over. The food was okay but it would have been once to have a jug of water on the table and not have to ask the waitress every time you wanted a drink.
I did not mind self service breakfast but I did not like mugs on the table and no tea pot.
The staff were very pleasant throughout the hotel and it is in the perfect location right on the sea front all it needs is a little updating and you would have a great hotel in a great location.