In a bright, modern hotel room with sweeping sea views and blazing sunshine pouring through the window, I might be in the south of Spain. Somewhere chic near Malaga perhaps, down the coast towards Portugal.
But I’m not. I’m in the UK – in Bognor Regis, ignominiously dubbed the country’s worst seaside town by consumer group Which? last year.
I’m here to see how this seaside spot could possibly deserve that dreary title.
It seems especially puzzling at the Navigator Hotel.
Tonight, this pleasant little boutique hideaway, I’ve learnt, is about to star in the next episode of The Hotel Inspector, the Channel 5 TV show in which Alex Polizzi helps ambitious, entrepreneurial hoteliers transform their businesses.
I’ve been invited down by Alex, the ‘Inspector’ herself, to explore this 12-room beach-front property to see the revamp.
The Daily Mail’s deputy travel editor Hayley Minn headed down to Bognor Regis
She met with Alex Polizzi, the Hotel Inspector, and Kathleen Lamb, the Navigator Hotel owner
Early signs are promising. Despite it being Wednesday lunchtime, almost every table is full. There’s a warm, bustling atmosphere – locals chatting over plates with generous portions of freshly battered fish and chips, while owner Kathleen Lamb’s young daughters serve customers and her son covers the reception.
It’s slick and well-run, although I’m told the turnaround has been far from plain sailing. Since purchasing the hotel from its previous owners of 22 years in September 2024, Kathleen, a former design and technology teacher, has been tirelessly refurbishing the place, pouring her energy, heart and savings into it.
‘I called on Alex because I was getting a little bit out of my depth,’ Kathleen admits.
‘While I had the creative ability and a clear vision of what I wanted, I was spending a lot of money and it was not coming back in. I was running myself ragged. It was a case of recognising there were certain things I was not doing right and needed guidance.
‘She’s [Alex] been absolutely fantastic and set me on the straight and narrow.’
Kathleen also admits that when she bought The Navigator it was ‘a little tired, dated and old-fashioned’.
She adds: ‘Everything was dark green and brown – it felt very unloved. I’ve been working hard to put the love back into it.’
With Alex’s help, the first space Kathleen tackled was the restaurant – now freshly painted in crisp white and blue to echo the sea outside.
‘We took down the curtains, gave it a brand-new paint job and laid new carpet,’ Kathleen says. ‘A lot of the windows had been jammed shut, so we opened those up and fixed the fans.’
Upstairs, improvements include newly made-over sea-view suites.
As Kathleen and Alex show me around, I’m blown away by the transformation. Everywhere is freshly painted with nice nautical touches and light flooding in from uninterrupted Channel views.
Hayley and Alex at the Navigator Hotel
Hayley takes a look around the hotel, examining the transformation of the suites
Kathleen plans to extend the property and ‘maybe add two floors’
Kathleen’s choice to increase the price of the seaview rooms from £110 to £135 appears fully justified, with guests heaping praise on the changes (and the hotel’s finances improving).
As far as I’m concerned, it’s easy to see why Kathleen – originally from London, although she has lived in the US, Hertfordshire, Bristol, Reading and Crawley – chose to settle in the seaside town. And she makes a great local ambassador. ‘Why wouldn’t you come to Bognor?’ she laughs. ‘It’s got such a lovely feel.’
She’s quick to defend her adopted hometown from its critics.
‘It’s a little bubble here. Everyone’s friendly and community-based. Locals actually talk to you – they don’t just sit there thinking: “Who’s this stranger?”’
What was her reaction when Which? named Bognor the UK’s worst seaside town last year (just months after she’d bought the hotel)?
‘I was horrified,’ she admits. ‘I thought: “That’s so unfair! How can this be the worst seaside town?”
‘Before I moved here, I’ll admit, I thought: “Bognor? That’s just Butlin’s, isn’t it?” But once you come down, you get it. It’s beautiful.’
The weather is not, Kathleen concedes, always so great. You can get ‘classic British seaside miserable, grey weather’.
But couldn’t that be said of anywhere in Britain?
As for what’s next for the Navigator Hotel, Kathleen’s not slowing down any time soon. She would like to expand the property – ‘maybe add two more floors’ – and intends to introduce craft workshops including painting and sketching by the seaside.
Which brings me back to the vista which so captivated me when I first arrived. Kathleen gazes out across the water and a look of contentment spreads across her face, just as it does mine.
‘There’s nothing like this view,’ she says quietly. ‘Just sea as far as the eye can see.’
The Navigator Hotel, featuring a cameo appearance by our writer, can be seen on The Hotel Inspector on Channel 5, March 5, at 9pm.
