Rainbow International Hotel

My room was a disgrace. The loose wallpaper had been stuck back on the wall using adhesive that left horrible brown stains along the joins. The toilet seat was loose. The hidden areas (e.g. tops of cupboards) had several months (years?) muck on them. The dining tables had a unique non-slip surface made which, I can only assume, was due to the table tops being wiped with unclean cloths. After two days I has spent ten hours away from the hotel to find there was only cold water available for a shower (acceptable at Sam's place in Kanchanaburi, Thailand, but not Torquay, England). When I enquired as to why I was told that a 'techncian' was 'on his way'. I then asked that ths problem had occurred many times according to Internet reports and that one person I met in Torquay had the problem FOUR years ago. I said that I thought I was being told lies and left to stay in the Grosvenor, 100yds down the road. If you care for your family and frends, I suggest you do not use the Rainbow International, Torquay.

there were so many problems i dont know where to start the rooms we were first given were a very long way from reception impossible for elderly parents this was because hotel was really two with a long corridor connecting them we were moved nearer but rooms were up two flights of stairs with no lift again impossible for elderly people the rooms were dirty especially the toilet and the shower was cracked and still had the soap suds from previous occupant on it the toilet would not flush and had to be repaired leaving a mess windows were dirty lampshade stained etc radiators extremely noisy food was very basic and a cooked dinner every night the starter was soup or soup the entertainment was the bingo caller singing she didnt even do the bingo well as people checked their own tickets self service not what you want on a holiday all the queuing for food is not on other people also were complaining in front of me about lots of things one woman said that she had never been to such a dirty hotel and i agree another woman had cut her foot on glass that had not been cleared up and lots of people said things did not work etc i would never return to this hotel there was not even a welcome it was a really bad experience

I have just returned from a 4 night coach trip which stayed at this hotel. I had read the other reviews, so wasn't expecting too much. The hotel is in need of TLC and my room was in need of redocoration and modernisation. The ceiling leaked on a wet and windy night. I had to put a spare blanket on the matress to make it more comfortable. However, generally the room was clean though. The hotel staff were friendly and helpful. The breakfasts were generally good. The evening meals were usually roast meats of good quantity and quality, but it was let down by frozen vegetables. Restaurant staff were helpful and they even made me some gluten-free gravy. There was entertainment every night, but I didn't partake. It was ok for what they were charging

I had the misfortune of being booked into this hotel and stayed for two nights. I arrived on 31 October to find the hotel decorated for Christmas with carols playing, even at breakfast. Surreal or what? The room was dirty, with peeling wall paper and red wires hanging from the ceiling. My room was full of flies - disgusting. I complained and the room was sprayed and then cleaned. Awoken in the morning by coaches reving their engines in the car park. The breakfast was basic and plastic. This hotel brings British seaside hotels into disrepute.

1st complaint we had requested that all rooms to be as near to each other as possible, yes all rooms where apart from ONE room and you couldn’t have got this room further away from the rest of the group. We where at one end of the hotel and the other room was at the other end of the hotel. (See enclosed photos had to take a few as couldn’t get the whole hotel in one photo!) 2nd complaint was the state of this room that the couple had been put into. Raggy and ripped curtains, wall paper peeling off the wall, dirty draws, balcony that was dirty with cigarette ends (see enclosed photos), room was meant to have iron or trouser press all that it had was a block of wood with 2 screws sticking out (see enclosed photo) 3rd complaint I will put these all together……some of the room didn’t have an iron or trouser press, which in the brochure states ALL rooms have either an iron or trouser press, some hair dryers not working, dirty draws, shower head in one room would not stay up (see enclosed photo), towels with holes in (see enclosed photo) lights not working in rooms. Now all these things are small things but you would have thought that before they allow a guest to move in to their room for the start of their holiday that EVERYTHING was in working order and clean. 4th complaint toilets not working!!! Yes in 2 bedrooms guest had to use the waste paper bin to fill up the cistern of the toilet so it would flush properly. This was reported about 6+ times over 3 days and on the day we left the guest where still having to use a bin to fill up the cistern. 5th complaint the staff on reception just didn’t seem to care they where very keen to pass the buck over to someone else and say oh that was their fault I wasn’t on yesterday it had nothing to do with me. I can’t recall how many times we where told that!! 6th complaint the air conditioning in the hotel…the restaurant was so hot you could barely even stand to stay in the restaurant for your meal, as few of our party would go out side for some air between courses, it was the same in the entertainment room. We could have understood if it was hot outside but it wasn’t!!! 7th complaint the swimming pool, the outside swimming pool was so so dirty it was a health hazard (see enclosed photo) their excuse was because of the bad weather they had had but how come all the other hotels in the same area (we looked and at least 4) their out door pool was clean!!! 8th complaint the indoor pool again this was a health hazard, the bottom of the pool was very slippey. Now I know that if a pool is slippey on the bottom this is because it had NOT been cleaned. 9th complaint the cleanliness of the hotel…for example on one evening there where pompadoms with the evening meal and the next morning crumbs and NOT small crumbs where still on the floor. So that meant they hadn’t even hovered the restaurant floor after the evening meal and before breakfast. This together with the cleanliness of the pool and some of the draws in the bedrooms left you wondering about the whole hotel and its hygiene!! 10th complaint the hotel has booked us in for the latest breakfast they could give us 9am and the earliest breakfast they could have given us 6pm. Now this meant our coach drive was not going to be able to leave till 10am for our day out and then would have had to cut our day trips out short to get us back in time to get changed and ready for our evening meal at 6pm. 2 of us went to speak to the restaurant manager about this (after the manager of reception told us it had nothing to do with him!!!) and eventually we got this changed after about an hour of trying to explain that in most hotels if a coach group had a late breakfast then they normally have a late dinner or if they have an early breakfast they have an early dinner to make it fair on all. They had 5 coach parties in where this had been done but NOT for us it was as though we where given what was left and that was a late breakfast and an early dinner. All these complaints where fed to the hotel reception but they just didn’t seem bothered.

We stayed at the Rainbow International hotel for a 4 night break.I can honestly say the hotel was the worst experience you could imagine in hotel service. The staff behind the bar were extremely rude and did not have any idea about customer care.I complained to the reception about their attitude and was told the manager would be informed and contact me ....no he did not. The room was very much in need of new furniture,a lick of paint and someone to remove the mold off the window ledges.I had to wipe the ledges and bedside cabinets with toilet paper to remove the bed of dust. We were on the fifth floor and on the last day the one lift broke.The hallways smell foisty and the windows were boarded up with wood so no light could come in. The restraunt staff were slightly more polite than the bar staff but unfortunetly the food was not fit for pigs. If you enjoy staning in queues for your breakfast,dinner and a pint you will love it. The entertainment is provided by a lady who does the bingo,quiz then puts on a posh frock and makes some strangled notes which i think was singing.the sound system was also defective and kept crackling . On the third and fourth night we ate out at the Inn On The Green in Paignton....first class.The staff at the Rainbow hotel should be frogmarched to the Inn On The Green to learn about the methods of customer satisfaction. To sum up ......like to go somewhere nice, best to go somewhere else.avoid like the plague..

Stayed at the Rainbow International Hotel for a 2 night break and had a great time. Our room was clean and very comfortable even though it did have a groovy yellow bathroom suite. The hotel had nice decor throughout and the staff were very friendly and helpful. We made use of the swimming pool which we had to ourselves but the steam room was not working. The Rainbow club had a singles night on the Friday which my husband and myself had a brilliant time laughing at the middle aged men trying their dance moves out on the dance floor (John Travolta eat your heart out). We were staying bed and breakfast and the breakfast was good. The hotel is ideally situated in Torquay being close to the sea front and not too far from town. We would recommend this hotel to anyone!

When we arrived at the hotel we were greeted by the receptionist who promptly issued us our key to the room with the barest of directions to our room. We did eventually found the room after following the sign boards on the wall which led us down stairs along passages with fire doors up stairs etc. The room was clean and tidy with maid service every day and clean towels when required. The meals were very good with an excellent range of cold meats and salads and if you wanted hot meals they had 2 waiters serving you. The only problem we found that when you settled down for the evening entertainment, which may I say was good, both myself and my partner had to go to the "free bar" together to get our individual drinks which caused a line of people across the dance floor. We were issued seperate key cards and even though I had taken them both to the bar I was told I could only have 1 drink. You were expected to take back a glass every time you wanted a refill even thogh you were changing from beer to short drinks, they were served in the same glass which in my part of the country is against trading standards. Leisure facilities were good with an indoor swimming pool and steam room and gym for the energetic. We settled for a stroll down to the seafront which was about 250 meters away.

Mankind and fellow TripAdvisors - pay attention! Here is the true location of Bates Motel of Hicthcock fame. The only thing ''International'' in the name is that it this hotel should be internationally known not to stay here. My advice? To bulldoze it and give Torquay a Travelodge as a benchmark for basic hostelry standards. Ten minutes into my arrival at reception I was barked at by the non-English speaking (and why should I?) staff turning from her paper strewn desks that my double room was in fact 'a chalet' at the rear far end of the hotel facing some gardens. No, not theirs she growled. With little eye contact and vague instructions some 10mins later outside and some distance away I found myself passing through a gate right next to the closed outdoor pool complex. Luckily I am able bodied and I feel for others who are not should they stay here. Hopefully if you read on you will not choose to as this involved some considerable walking down steep slopes through the coach/car park nor are there ramps for the steps for wheelchair access despite the age group of the guests. None of the room numbers were visible so I eventually discovered my chalet by trying all the wonky door handle keyholes of the four in my midst. Once inside it was huge - if I knew anyone I could have invited lots of friends to stay over. Spacious, with two double beds the chalet boasted a huge bathroom and was entirely out of view from reception or security for just £55 quid. If they cared the hotel could have cashed in and let a whole family stay there. But (and you could feel this 'but' coming) I would not wish for my friends to see such a rancid, tatty, unkempt place that had clearly not been cleaned or dusted for my arrival or in fact decorated since J R had been shot in the early 80's. Very poor with a dirty floor and ceiling, dusty surfaces, fusty broken lampshades, switches and a phone that did not work. Handles missing, tiny tv, no remote control, out of date milk etc, bars on windows and wait for it.... human stained walls so thin you could hear the next guests 'sigh' I kid you not. On closer inspection the shower did not work and the tap water pressure was appalling. Took an entire tv episode of Emmerdale to fill halfway with tepid water. I received some very distressing news during my nights stay so of course the prisoners next door heard the lot and what had happened previously at the Woolpak with the Dingles! In typical British fashion I put up with it such was the more important nature of my visit. Breakfast at 8.00am involved the trek round the hotel (what if it was raining or frosty underfoot???) and back up the slopes and through reception. I was plonked down on a single table amongst the Russian shop style queues for the buffet breakfast and advised to join them. Each of my fellow pensioner guests were down as early as me (Why are you up this early???!!! You are on holiday!! I thought) but this I later learned from affable Stan and Dora from Doncaster - who I donated my sealed jam portion to was so that they could grab, push and shove their way to the buffet grabbing cereal bowls, yoghurts, juices and the main cooked all at once for fear of the non replenishment in time before they left armed with pillaged bread rolls, spare yoghurts and cheeses for the lunch on the planned excursions. I’ve read about friendlier Vikings. The fayre? Awful luke warm tea /coffee, powderey-made-from-concentrate-glow-in-the-dark- fruitjuices, solid unspreadable I-cant-believe-they-still-serve-it-like-this-butter for the limp damp toast, cold plates and warm cooked breakfasts - pah! Deep fried sausages, fried bread you could hold up banks with, fried eggs that shone a batterycage orange. I left it and refused to join in with this. To summarise breakfast in that place mirrored a mock up D-day landing! No wonder we won the war!!! I paid (certainly a lesson is to pay more else where next time no matter the rush) and advised the receptionist about the state of the room but in true fashion like her employers who paid her wages, with cash stripped from unsuspecting, cuddly pensioners who still book coach holidays from the back of the tabloids to get a good deal out of season - she just did not care one bit.

We recently stayed at Rainbow International Hotel in Torquay. I would say the name was why I booked this hotel, plus the photos to show what the facilities the hotel had, however we were soon to find out that the photos were probably taken in the 1970's when the hotel was built. We arrived and checked in, with the woman telling us our room was 'just down the hallway, and down a couple of stairs'. What a joke, - it took at least 5 minutes to reach our room after navigating a rabbit warren of stairs with our suitcases. I would like to advise, if you are disabled in any way then this hotel definately wouldn't suit you! God knows how the bus loads of geriatric visitors managed the stairs, as some had walkers or sticks, and some were at least 80 years old and up. We are half that age, but still found it extremely exhausting. On reaching our room, we found the T.V never had a remote. When I went to enquire about this, I was told, you have to change it manually, as some guests steal the remotes. MY god, haven't they heard o f insurance? Or what about the large amount of money they collect for a nights stay. With the amount of guests, you would think they would be able to afford this small luxury which guests expect in a 'International' Hotel. When people check in, they want to rest, especially after travelling for so long. On explaining that to the porter, he said to me, there are alot more older people than you, and you don't hear them complaining. I was appalled by this comment, especially only coming out of plaster after breaking my leg again in 6 months, and having screws and plates inserted. What right did he have to think I didn't have a disability, and I wasn't in any pain. We eventually got a remote, but that was after my husband went and had words with them. I definately will not be recommending this hotel to anyoneand will never stay there with my family again. We were given another room after complaining - oh yeah, did I mention the bathroom door that didn't close, or if you did attempt it, you could put your back out. I suppose Basil and Cybil were hiding when we were staying there, but if you do decide to stay there, say hello from us.