A hotel that has been branded ‘disgusting, unclean and unsafe’ by guests, and was previously shut down by the Isle of Wight Council, has been put on the open market with a price tag of £1.7million.
The owners of Shanklin’s Melbourne Ardenlea Hotel, located on Queen’s Road, have put the 54-bedroom establishment up for sale.
Chartered surveyors and property consultants Graham & Sibbald currently have the seaside hotel listed on their website for offers in the region of £1,700,000, describing it as an ‘attractive 3 storey detached period property’. However, the agents note that someone may be interested in an alternative use – demolishing the hotel altogether and redeveloping the 0.75 acre site.
It’s said that the Melbourne Ardenlea was acquired by the current owners back in 2015 and has been open this year following a period of closure due to the COVID pandemic.
With an indoor swimming pool, a restaurant that can cater for around 80 covers and accommodation for on-site staff/owners, it sounds like a potentially lucrative purchase for someone. However, what the listing doesn’t detail is the hotel’s history and scathing Tripadvisor reviews.
In July 2021, the Isle of Wight Council shut the premises down due to the dangerous state of its utilities. Having been closed for some months, the prohibition notice was eventually lifted after regulatory checks to electric and gas supplies were conducted.
However, the disgruntlement of guests has continued with Tripadvisor reviews painting a picture of the Melbourne Ardenlea.
In September 2022, 1 guest stated that the hotel was in ‘terminal decline’ which was followed by a more damning review last December when a guest stated that the hotel was ‘not fit for a dog but fit for crackheads’. Many other reviews since have said the hotel is ‘filthy’, ‘disgusting’ and ‘disgraceful’.
It is understood the hotel has been closed since a fatal fire at a sister hotel in Scotland back in January.
The hotel listing can be found at https://www.g-s.co.uk/property/?property=51907.
This place is the most disgraceful place I have ever seen that is open to the public. It is unsafe and dangerous and the owners had no respect for the building, it’s staff or local residents. I was offered a job there, along with many others. We were taken on by the Manager but the owner had not authorised this, hence we never got paid. After leaving, I would not have set foot back in there. How there has not been a fatality, I do not know.
The refusal to pay sounds like a premeditated con to me. I have heard similar reports from other people.
£1,000,000.00 too much.
Its one point six million over priced !!!
Brown envelopes all round just in time for Christmas
The island is run by the Brown Envelope Brigade.
I doubt £1.7m would cover the cleaning bill