Royal Bath Hotel

, Bournemouth, United Kingdom
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Royal Bath Hotel

, Bournemouth
4 star

Rooms: 140

Bath Road - Bournemouth - England - BH1 2EW - United Kingdom Hotel Website | | 44 01202555555
643 Traveller

Reviews - Royal Bath Hotel

1/10
disgrace
Submitted by: dave in 13/03/10
  • Age Group: 3140
  • From: United Kingdom
  • Traveller type: Adventurer
no staff to help us check in,after waiting on main road in busy traffic,room keys never worked after waiting 3 hours,cold food,pool closed,3 hr room service wait,vallet scratched my car,then denied it,no manager to talk to when leaving,scruffy talentless staff.no one spoke english on arrival or check in,the one who did was pathetic.
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1/10
Not Worth 4 stars
Submitted by: Paul in 14/11/06
  • Age Group: 26 - 30
  • From: United Kingdom
  • Traveller type: Business Traveller
I started off looking forward to my visit to the Royal Bath Hotel. My first impression as I walked up was good until I was met in the door way by an arrogant and mistrusting doorman. The hallways were extremely warm and stuffy. The food was good and presentation excellent although the portions were a little lacking.

After being charged £13 for a bottle of beer and a glass of wine I beginning to get frustrated with the service and felt the hotel was trying to hard to live up to yester years. Back in the bedroom I barely managed to sleep due to the incompetent positioning of my room directly behind the function hall where I was kept awake until 3am by loud music and kitchen staff chatting outside when putting bins out. The floor boards in the hotel badly need replacing and creaked worse then a tall ship. I was woken up on plenty of occasions by the room above as early as 7am! Constant floor creaking prompted me to get out ASAP and vacate without breakfast back to my car which I have to add I had to park in a pay and display public car park due to the hotels lack of parking for customers. I would not recommend the Royal Bath Hotel to anyone looking for a relaxing, worthwhile weekend away. Don't be fooled by the name or past reputation. Stay well clear.

Historical Traveller Reviews of Royal Bath Hotel

Excellent Staff

from TWR01
Had an exceptionally pleasant stay at this hotel between Christmas and New Year. The staff and service they provide are excellent. I recommend that anyone staying here pay the extra £10 for the parking service, it was quite busy when we arrived and just being able to give the keys to the concierge was such an added bonus.
The Royal Bath is a 4 star hotel, but please bare in mind that it's quite a large, old hotel and has a lot of people going through it, therefore I felt the decor to be a little tired (chipped doors, paintwork etc).
The room itself was adequate, but again, the bathroom was in need of a freshen up and also quite small. We paid for a seaview and was rewarded with one, that was definitely worth that little bit extra. One slight quibble was that the radiator wasn't working and therefore the room was a little "chill".
We purchased a package with food included on the first night and ate in "Oscar's". The food was excellent and again the service was exemplary. Be warned that there is a "No jeans, T-shirt or trainers" dress code in both restaurants, but this does add to the ambience of the establishment, which does feel very British and very Middle/Upper Class.
The attached Health Spa has gym, steam room, sauna and pool. Health Treatments are also available (e.g. Massage, Aromatherapy etc) and we certainly recommend them to anyone who stays.
For variety there is an excellent restaurant opposite "Sixty-One", which is moderately priced (expect £40+/head for dinner) and the quality of food is amongst the finest I have sampled in this country.
As stated before, the hotel does require a little "freshening up", and is definitely at the lower end of other 4 star hotels I have stayed in, but the quality of staff here far outweigh any disappointments that the physical characteristics of the hotel may bring.

terrible hotel

from A TripAdvisor Member
just returned from two nights at this dump!!!!!! This hotel is old smelly and stuffy, we checked out imediately and would not recommend it even to our worst enemy.

The food tasted like cardboard and all four in our party left with upset stomachs after dinner, the star rating is wrong this can't be a four star hotel, i have stayed in better F-1 hotels and travel lodges, infact I'd rather have slept in a trench on the front line!!!!

hotel appeared on skeleton staff and dinner served was left over from xmas lunch, better food at the pig farm

This hotel needs renovation and a complete revamp, both food service and quality of room (apparently an executive suite) were very much lower than that of a travelodge.
dvandoesburgh@yahoo.co.uk

Ignore the bad reviews..... it was brilliant!!

from A TripAdvisor Member
Just returned from our 4th or 5th stay at the Royal Bath hotel. The only complaint I had was the room being slightly too hot! The food in the pool bar is soooo delicious, the other restaurants are also brilliant. We used the gym equipment everyday and the gym has great views over the gardens. The pool is very clean and well maintained, so is the hot tub, sauna and steam room and I recommend a visit to each!! The shopping in Bournemouth is also good (althought might not seem so great if you live somewhere big like London!). The staff are all much more friendly and helpful than anywhere else you could find. The room had a lovely view of the gardens and sea and had a Christmas tree with lights! - a nice thought i felt.
As i think my review shows there was nothing wrong with the hotel and i definately recommend it.. go as soon as you possibly can!!

Good for a weekend away!

from enyce085
My girlfriend and I travelled to the De Vere Royal Bath in April 2005 for my birthday treat.

Upon arrival to the hotel were were greeted by the warm friendly staff, and a posh reception area. After a quick check in, we made our way to our room. This is a large hotel, and has lifts for those who are unable to use stairs.

Room - Large and spacious for a standard double room. Comes equipped with satelite TV, tea and coffe making facilities and plenty of wardrobe space with an iron and ironing board.

Restaurant - Our stay at the De Vere included a free three course meal. Please note that this is a smart dress restaurant for fine dining (No Jeans and T-shirts) Although one of the meals was cold, the staff were quick to change the meal.

Swimming Pool - The pool was quite small, yet it never got really busy. It was kept clean, and complimentary towels were also avaliable. There is a massage room, sauna, steam room, jacuzzi and changing room facilities. The pool overlooked the gardens to the rear of the hotel.

Location - The hotel is in an excellent location i relation to Bournemouth town centre, Its is less than a 5 minute walk to the pier and town centre.

Parking - Not avaliable at this hotel, although there are various carparks located within close vicinity.The hotel located next to the hotel can be quite expensive in peak season. We would therefore recommend parking in the BIC (Bournemouth International Centre) car park - baring in mind its a short stroll!

Staff - Helpful and friendly.

Additional Charges - BE AWARE!!! Upon checkout, we were charged for our "Complimentary breakfast". It was agreed by the staff it was their mistake, and any charges were waived. Be aware that if you decide to flick through any of the the premium channels on your TV (Even if you dont watch them!!!) you will be charged!!

Overall, the hotel was in an ideal location although maybe a little expensive for a young couples weekend break!!

If you have any questions, please email us.

One to miss at this price

from GavStrad
We stayed here for my sisters wedding and what a complete let down...

All the rooms with my family were like Turkish baths and very small at that for £150 per night! So hot and you could only open the vent window to get a change of air. Hey, but they supplied a very small fan to circulate the hot air… How they can get away with this price, I just don't know.

My sister stopped in one of the executive suites... Because it was her day I didn't say a word, but I've stayed in better Travel Lodge's than this place! Great view, but that was it. She had air conditioning units that looked liked they were from the 70’s and sounded like they were as well! They couldn’t sleep with them on, because they were so noisy. And they don't even have a mini bar in the rooms, just an empty fridge!

I'm sorry to say that I really do not recommend this place and would advise looking else where in Bournemouth... Too expensive for what you get and they’re just trading on the name ‘De Vere Royal Bath Hotel’. If only it was as good as it sounds!

Lacks class

from RPM3
I've just returned from a 2 night stay with my wife + 2 young children, mother and brother during October Half Term. I was very disappointed.
The food was poor - we had poor quality sandwiches made with cheap supermarket bread accompanied by stale crisps for lunch one day. Dinner in the evening was distinctly average - it seems they get help from Bernard Matthews given the look of my wife's turkey. Breakfast was a scrum -it's completely self service, with all the food laid out in a cramped area behind a screen.
I was surprised at the type of guests the hotel attracts - based on a trip a couple of years ago you should stay at the Marriott if you want to be with nice people. I do not want to spend time with people who leave their kids unsupervised to run riot in the pool or ride around the lounge on a micro scooter! The smoking policy in the lounge was unclear - smoking was allowed at certain tables, but these were spread all over the lounge - so the chances were you ended up next to a smoker, particularly given the nature of a lot of the guests.
On the positive side, our room was clean and spacious and the staff were friendly.
Stay at the Marriott instead.

Phew pass the fan

from wingate
This is supposedly a 4/5 star hotel,well you could have fooled me.I had the misfortune to stay in this hotel some years ago.Whenever i go back to Bournemouth i look in to see if it has had a much needed facelit,but no it is still just the same.Dark walls and despite large communal rooms,generally airless.The worst part of staying here in the summer is trying to sleep.Our room was on the first floor.I remember it getting warmer and warmer as we climbed the stairs.Then entering into a stiffling bedroom.If we were to open the window we would get a blast from whichever pub was having a disco.Why dont they put in air conditioning and refurbish the place.Then people might just want to go back there again.

t get the detail right

from pjt05
The hotel is on the main road leading down to Bournemouth Pier, in particular the entrance is actually off a pretty busy roundabout. The single rooms and standard doubles seem to be on this side of the building and with no aircon, opening windows just lets in a lot of noise.

The other side, sea facing, is quite nice. Seems to consist of the superior doubles and the suites. My wife, 4 mth old baby, 2 year old toddler and nanny stayed here for 2 nights on the bank holiday weekend. The superior double was defnitely too small and narrow. One window looked out over the sea and that was nice. I'd recommend the suites - most seem to have balconys and certainly had more space. The single room the nanny had was tiny - only in England would it be termed a single room as opposed to a closet!

The hotel seems to cater for a large number of older guests and lots of big functions - wedddings, birthday discos etc.

The decor generally needs updating. Lots of old carpet and wall paper. Service is ok. The dinner in the evening is actually quite nice. A pretty good childrens buffet is avail (veg as well as the usual fish finger / chip fayre). There's also a rather formal looking french place called Oscars. Indoor swimming pool good, though needing some updating. Large kiddy pool which is 80cm high in terms of the water. My 2 year-old, who is quite tall, loved it.

For families I'd definitely recommend the suite.

The hotel is 5-10 mins walking from pretty much e/thing in Bournemouth - beach, park, amusements etc. For the beach, I'd recommend driving east for 20 minutes to the Southborne area - much quieter and still very nice

Tough steak at Wilde restaurant

from A TripAdvisor Member
We just ate at the Hotel having chosen the restaurant from an internet hotel review. For Friday lunch they only had 2 parties - 2 of us and a party of 3 who left quickly. I can't understand how the chef could miss the quality of product leaving the kitchen when there were so few diners. A poor effort.

t always believe what you read.

from A TripAdvisor Member
After booking this hotel for the beginning of August 2005 I was concerned about some of the reviews that I had read on the internet. Our party consisted of myself and my father, my sister, her husband and her two teenage sons. I had read that the staff could be rude...This was far from what we experienced. The staff went out of their way to be helpful and polite.
I also read that the rooms fronting the main road could be very noisy but this was not the case.
The food was magnificent, both at breakfast and dinner, although I have to add here that my father is 80 years old and on occasion requested food from the children's menu which caused no problem at all for the staff. They were very glad to be of service.
I was very concerned about the valet car parking service before I arrived and have to say that I did think £10 a day was rather expensive, as other hotels I have stayed in have all had free car parking but on reflection I think this service was excellent and worth the money. The cars were always there ready for us to use whenever we wanted them and on returning to the hotel they were quickly moved to the parking area.
The pool was very good with a nice seating area looking overlooking the beach for drinks and snacks.
There were of course some problems. We had a flash flood one day, which could not have been anticipated and water did seep through parts of the hotel roof which meant that some of the corridors had a musky smell and it also caused problems with the computers and lighting for a short period of time.
On a couple of occasions after ordering drinks and snacks from the bar, the bill was not always accurate but was always ammended so be careful of that.
There was a change over of staff in the restaurant mid week which caused a delay in service at dinner which I did find very frustrating.
I have to add here that there were two Bulgarian waiters who were fantastic.
On the whole we found the staff to be most helpful and very cheerful which could not be said of some of the guests who in my opinion went out of their way to complain about everything.....some coming from their rooms and expecting breakfast at 10 a.m. midweek.
I would definitely stay at this hotel again but would ignore some of the guests and the head waiter with a welsh twang in his voice.

Top Local Tips for Bournemouth

Late night revelling Living in Bournemouth we try not to get involved in any of the night scene on a Friday or Saturday night. The town is then filled with students and youngish people as well as loads of stags and hens. It is not worth it for locals such as me to go to these places. There are lots of nice restaurants around the suburbs ie Boscombe, Poole, Christchurch and Southbourne where you can have a much better evening on these nights. Check out cinema listings and events at the BIC and Lighthouse in Poole if you like shows - they are often on and tickets are usually available until quite late. The Russell Cotes Museum is a real gem that is overlooked, it has an amazing samurai exhibition as well as many touring ones. Also dont miss Compton Acres gardens where you can get stunning views and meals and snacks overlooking Poole bay, dont think this is just for geriatrics it is truly beautiful!! Bournemouth square and gardens are always worth a walk through as there is usually a lot to see too.

children visit monkeyworld

Good value Taxis are very reasonable being under £5 from the railway station to the hotel.

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Other names for Royal Bath Hotel

  • royal bath hotel bournemouth
  • Address: Bath Road - Bournemouth - England - BH1 2EW - United Kingdom
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