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4/10 Poor
4 January 2024
Five star views but three star accommodation.
We first stayed at Surfside over New Year 09/10 and were absolutely blown away by the property and the views. In the years since we've stayed there many times and this New Year we decided to return. Incredibly, all of the furniture, fixtures and fittings are exactly the same as they were 14 years ago, and that's not necessarily a good thing.
The time we stayed prior to this, we had to call out the caretakers (who had to call out a local odd job man) as we had leaking pipes outside and no power in the kitchen. This year, within hours of being in the property, I had to contact them again as the latch on the door had locked us in, although thankfully family arrived afterwards and we were able to pass the key under the door to unlock it from the outside to escape.
After a quick nostalgic look around we were saddened to see the state of the place. Ceiling lights hanging down, damp patches on ceilings, toilet seats held together with brackets and glue and old tattered outdoor furniture heaped outside. Comfort-wise, the master bed has clearly been repaired many times (a slat fell out the first time I sat on it) and is a little lumpy in places. The sofa suite in the front room has weather surprisingly well but are not terribly convenient to sit in (we had to bring down pillows as back supports). The oven (for which there were no instructions that we could find) doesn't heat to the appropriate temperature probably because the door doesn't close properly. There's also very little room to store food in the kitchen (although one cupboard houses approximately 30 champagne flutes which could be thinned out a bit to make room).
As for cleanliness, it was fair, although we did find crumbs under the tatty plastic tablecloth, a bottle of water under the bed and an open packet of M&Ms in one of the cupboards. We also couldn't find a hoover anywhere!
Porth will always have a special place in our hearts, as will this property, but we can't ignore the fact that it is utterly heartbreaking that it has been neglected in such a way. It deserves better and so do you.
