Holidaymakers booking a sunny week away in Benidorm would usually look forward to boozy nights out with the lads, questionable ping-pong shows and a fry up washed down with a pint of lager.
But the sunshine trip for one Brit abroad became more horror show than holiday hotspot when he found himself in a hotel resembling a high-security prison.
His experience in a grubby apartment on the Costa Blanca that was billed as ‘fantastic for families’ featured broken blinds, cramped rooms and interior balconies reminiscent of one of Europe’s less-salubrious jails.
Grumet, an influencer who shares videos of his antics in Alicante, booked himself into serviced apartments which promise families, ‘sunshine terraces, a rooftop pool, gym, hot tub and sauna’ just moments from Levante Beach and Benidorm’s Old Town.
Dubbed ‘HMP Benidorm’, the clip shows the entrance with parallel white indoor balconies – complete with metal bars on the rooms.
The hotel, Apartamentos Avenida, costs around £50 a night in the winter for a four-person room, going up to £116 in August. It is advertised as ‘fantastic for families with small children’ and ‘comfortable’ on Booking.com.
In the video he shows the entrance, which features parallel white indoor balconies – complete with metal bars in front of the rooms.
The entrance, which featured parallel white indoor balconies with metal bars in front of the rooms, is reminiscent of a prison wing
The accommodation nicknamed HMP Benidorm in the video (pictured) is described as ‘comfortable’ and ‘fantastic for families with small children’
The influencer who goes by the name Grumet filmed guests standing on the indoor balconies jokingly asking them ‘what you in prison for?’
The TikToker joked the accommodation bore a more than passing resemblance to a prison Pictured: HMP Wandsworth
Grumet said: ‘I wouldn’t stay here again. I’ve not been to prison, but I’ve seen TV programmes and this was no different.
He filmed guests standing on the indoor balconies jokingly asking them ‘what you in prison for?’
One man responded ‘for using a Fire Stick and watching the football.’
The influencer who calls himself Grumet and has 316,000 followers, jokingly sighed: ‘The system’s a joke.’
The video also featured his dimly-lit room, which he referred to as a ‘cell’, which had broken blinds, a ’47-year-old’ landline and no ‘old town’ view.
He also claimed to have a panic alarm in his room, which he set off to trigger an apparently building-wide alert. It is unclear if the alarm was real.
‘The landing stood out the most. As soon as I saw it, I said this isn’t a apartment, it’s a prison.
‘I nicknamed it HMP Benidorm.
‘I mean it’s not a bad place to stay if you got a room looking at the old town of Benidorm – it would be ideal.
‘But ours was so bad. Our view literally a prison wall.’
The popular TikTok account, which often features the antics of ‘Dazza’, above, offers off-beat highlights of Benidorm life
The bedrooms inside ‘HMS Benidorm’ appear to be clean and spacious when advertised online (pictured) but in Grumet’s viral TikTok video seem grubby and cramped
The ‘panic alarm’ that Grumet set off triggering warning alarms in the building
The ’47-year-old’ landline inside the hotel room, which was dimly lit and described by Grumet as a ‘cell’
His TikTok page, which features the ups and downs of life in Benidorm (pictured) has 316,000 followers
Brits’ long-held love affair with the Costa Blanca hotspot was the subject of hit ITV show Benidorm (pictured)
The video, posted on his TikTok page @benidorm_grumet, has received 2.1million views and 159,000 likes.
One social media user said: ‘Even sounds like a jail.’
Another person joked: ‘My grandad got remanded there for TV license.’
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
