Let me preface by saying this hotel probably was Grand in its hay day but that was many years ago. I overall rated the hotel a 4 because the service is a 5 but the hotel rooms are a 3.
Let's start with service. Every employees is very friendly and attentive to your needs. I stayed here with my husband in one room, my mother in law in another room and my sister and law and her family in one of the family rooms. Every morning we would go and order our made to order breakfast of bacon, toast, beans, sausage, full English, cheeses and hams, cereal, fruits etc... while at breakfast almost everyday, our room we be made up for the day. Fresh towels if we wanted and re-stocking of tea and biscuits in room. The bar staff were great and the one night we had dinner on site was great as well!
The rooms... from what I've read the third floor was remodeled and those are the photos they use for the advertisements. We all had rooms on the second floor. Rooms 207, 208 and 209 to be exact. The furniture and decor is outdated and the bed was rather u comfortable to sleep on. The bathroom in 207 was very old and the shower was almost like a cave and had mold in it. I know it was clean but still is much to be desired. It was very hot for England last week when we were in Swanage and it was nice that the hotel provided fans in each room to get through the night.
Room 208 was a family room and had a double bed and a single bead well as a larger updated bathroom.
The big positive of this hotel is the views of the beach and town. It's a great location where you can walk down about 80 steps to the beach where there is nice sandy areas to lay out and there are two beach restaurants very close by for food and chair rentals. It only takes about 10 minutes to get into the center of town if walking as well! You cannot beat the location!
Other amenities of the hotel include a small but old gym (don't expect top of the line machines here), a small pool and hot tub as well as a sauna on the bottom floor that walks out to the back garden and beach area.
Overall even though it needs updated, the hotel was a nice and the service made up for the lack of remodeling. read more