EUROPES DIRTIEST HOTEL: Grosvenor, Blackpool

This Blackpool hotel has been named and shamed as the dirtiest hotel in Europe.

The decision was made by voters who had stayed at the hotel, and could leave reviews via website Trip Advisor.

After it was speculated about in the media i decided to take a look at the reviews myself.

One of the hotel rooms ceilings (picture taken by someone who stayed at the hotel)

Ratings were as low as 1 out of 5 and peoples comments and concerns were flooded with remarks like dirty rooms, unsafe electricity outlets and wiring, furniture falling apart, filthy windows, heating permanently on, noise pollution, unfriendly staff and alot more!

There were that many bad reviews, where a massive 31 out of 38 rated the hotel as terrible.

Dirty Windows (picture taken by someone who stayed at the hotel)

The hotel didn't seem to be doing itself any favours by having the numbers of the room written in biro on the doors, dated decor, stained mattresses and furniture that was falling apart.

Hotel owner Chirag Khajura who charges £25pp per night for his rooms, has tried to defend the bad reports by saying 'I wouldn't say this is a perfect hotel. We have issues. I have only had it 6 months and there are many improvements to make'

He then went on to say that the Trip Advisor reviews were malicious .

Unsafe Sockets (picture taken by someone who stayed at the hotel)

My questions are how is this hotel still in operation if it has received so many bad ratings? I am very surprised a health and safety inspector hasn't stepped in by now. Maybe they have by the time i have wrote this hopefully!

From the pictures shown here in the post taken by people who have stayed there, it leaves alot to be desired.

A representation of one of the hotels bedrooms on the Grosvenor Hotel website

FUNNY SUPERHERO TO YOUR VACATION RESCUE!

If there was a way to getting people to notice your product with some humour thrown in, the
vacation rental Superhero Unitard is one of them!

The vacation rental commercial definitely makes you think about how we would usually organize and plan for a holiday.

Do you usually book a room for instance? Yet for a reasonable price you could rent out an actual home instead from Vacation Rental.org

I think we could all do with the crazy Unitard Superhero - who funnily enough does makes alot of sense, warning us about our holiday mistakes about to happen!

I know i would rather holiday in an actual home than a small room. How about you?

SAFE PET TRAVEL: Dog Booster Car Seat

When taking your dog with you on a car journey, alot of us probably forget that our animals should have the same safety measures that we have, and not just sit freely on the seats.

This Sovit Standard Dog Booster Seat easily straps onto a car seat, and is positioned high enough so your dog can still see out the window.

You can fit it in a front or rear seat if you prefer. It will hold a dog up to 20 pounds in weight, so it's suitable for small dogs like in the picture really.

The removable sheepskin interior is padded so your dog can feel comfortable.

It's just like a portable pet bed but alot safer!

SAFE STORAGE WHILST TRAVELLING

If your thinking of going travelling for while, you may feel uneasy about leaving all your belongings in an empty house that may attract squatters or burglars even.

If your from the area of Minnesota, you could try a storage Minneapolis service called Smart Box.

At their facility there are different sized temperature controlled containers, where you can store your items there for however long you like.

Once you have packed everything up, Smart Box will collect from your home and take to their Storage st paul center, or you can have it delivered to another address if you prefer.

LIE FLAT BEDS ON ECONOMY FLIGHTS INTRODUCED

Wouldn't you just love to be able to afford the luxury of business class seats on flights?, but the reality for most of us is that we can't and opt for Economy instead.

Well in order to help passengers have a more comfortable journey, after two years of secret research the Skycouch has been introduced in prototype.

This will make it the first lie flat bed for economy passengers, so that people can actually get a good nights sleep on long haul flights instead of sleeping sitting up.

Tests will begin to put the prototype into action in April. But it will just be people flying from London Heathrow UK to Auckland On Air New Zealand to start off with, as passengers commence on a 26 hour journey.

This is so good for couples or young families travelling together - and especially for the kids who like to have a nap in the day.

The seats have been designed on rows of 3, and you are able to adjust them with a button that removes arm rests and raises mattress panelling.

You can then lie sideways, rather than a reclining seat that would take up too much space (see picture for example).

This is good to hear as as an economy passenger myself, i always felt i was in the bottom of the pile seats! Nice to see they are thinking of new ideas to improve economy instead of business class for a change.

But will the prices be the same or higher? And if so i wonder how they will compare to the business class prices. It should be considerably less really or no-one will bother, but we shall see.

CHEAPER PRESCRIPTION SUNGLASSES

As someone who needs to wear glasses from time to time, i was worried how this would affect me when i was on holiday.

It definitely wasn't practical to wear sunglasses on top of my own, so i looked into prescription sunglasses instead.

The prices seemed to be even more expensive than normal eyeglasses, then i took a look at the Zenni Optical site.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that the prices are alot cheaper. I then thought whats the catch?

Well the reason the prices are lower than your own optician would be, is that the eyeglasses come directly from the factory to you. Meaning no retail costs, no middlemen involved and it means there is no need for Zenni Optical to have massive advertising budget either.

This way you still get the quality and comfort your looking for, but at a much cheaper price.

There are different types and styles of sunglasses available, as well as normal eyeglasses to suit all tastes.

You even have the option to choose frame colours, extra sunshade, tinted lenses and of course add your own eye prescription to your order.

Buying online is alot more convenient than travelling to your optician and waiting around.

Click the link above to find out more. Also you might be interested to read this Zenni Optical article too.

DRE WAPENAAR'S TREE TENT

There was me thinking that the Camping Pod was an unusual modern camping invention, then i saw this tree tent.

It's been created by a Dutch sculptor called Dre Wapennar, and as you can see it has been designed to hang in a tree instead of on the ground.

If you love this you can pick it up for small price of just $50,000! Inside there is 9 foot diameter hardwood floor, round matress and it can sleep 2 adults.

I think i would be cholstophobic with just me in there never mind two people!

I wonder what he was thinking when he designed this. Was it the usual camping fears of bears, bugs, critters or something else creeping up on you in the night!?

Would you like to sleep in one of these yourself?