The Grand Hotel

Vegan and gluten free cream tea on offer. Very accommodating, patient and communicative staff!

I had high expectations of this hotel based on the website photos and location. From afar in real life the hotel does look grand. However on closer inspection the outside needs a good clean and fresh paint job. The lobby area is nice, but once we got to the room... such a disappointment. Scuff marks on the walls, broken toilet seat, dirty bathroom tiles, splattered windows, view of a decrepit stairwell, No fridge in the room, no way to contact reception without calling from your mobile, no room service. I ordered champagne and strawberries and asked for a card if not a note saying happy anniversary, unfortunately no note was left. Each day someone knocked on the door offering to clean/top up. The job was always half done. Either rubbish bin emptied and nothing else or bed made and rubbish left. Tea and biscuits not refilled and left with one toilet roll. The hotel staff are quite young which is great, give young people work, but please train them. Some of them just chat with each other and don’t offer any service, others walk around looking super bored. The breakfast is from decades ago. There are no gluten free, dairy free or vegan options. Just a fry up and cereals. The dinner menu was the same everyday, again no vegan options. Asking for alternative milk at the cafe seemed confusing for staff and my coffee with soy milk was curdled. The bike in the gym didn’t work and the treadmill was out of order. The jacuzzi was out of order too! Finding a parking spot was a nightmare. Don’t advertise free parking if it is limited to a small percentage of guests. I will say that the salmon bilini and fish dish were nice. Some of the staff, such as concierge were fantastic. The breakfast host was lovely. Small positives. This hotel could do so much better. For the price that we paid to celebrate our anniversary we feel let down.