The Sandringham Hotel

Breakfast is pricey at 18 per person (9 children), Rooms are a decent size although water is not very hot. Any room cleaning is only available on request first thing in the morning. Location is nice and pool and spa are decent.

- Great location, in front of the beach. - Decor and vibe very dated. It is like you time travelled to the 80s. It is not a bad thing. Can be fun. - The room was reasonably clean. There were two smalls soap bars and two shampoo/body gel bottles, two clean sets of towels, a hair dryer and complimentary kettle with few coffee sachets, tea bags and milk. - The bathroom was refurbished and clean.

Shower with plenty of hot water. - The TV was on the sidewall not in front of the bed. Odd position but watchable. - Bed and mattress were very old but ok. Linen was clean. There was a duvet cover and heating in the room but not a fan or air conditioning. There is an option to open the doors to the balcony if you have one. Bear in mind that there is not privacy or barrier between balconies. - There is free WiFi.

It is an open unsecure connection so bear that in mind when accessing sensitive info online. - Some rooms called balcony seaview have a nice view (second and third floor). The ones on the first floor are called balcony and superior balcony and you can view part of the sea. It is not worth the price difference from the superior balcony to the balcony but I recommend the balcony seaview room if you can afford.

Avoid the back rooms of the hotel and the basement ones. - The existing free parking spaces in front of the hotel have an odd layout so you can get boxed in if another guest park in front of you car. You have to display a sign with your room number provided by the hotel visibly on the dashboard. Tip: they have another car park 200ft away from the hotel where you can park without being boxed in.

Just ask the reception for a display card. You can also park on the esplanade by the beach along the coastline for free from 6pm to 10am next day but if you need to park during the day it will be expensive. - They sell a package including breakfast and dinner. You are better off eating out. There are few good restaurants near the hotel, like the Ocean Deck Bar, The reef and Bellamy's Bistro.

I recommend you to book in advance. For breakfast there are a good selection of cafes on the road at the back of the hotel and around it, but I liked the Beach Cafe just opposite Sandsdown Pier. - The old curtains don't block the sunlight properly, see pics. Then, be prepared if you like to sleep until late. - On room 46 (Superior balcony), the pipework sometimes make strange and loud noises and banging! - There are not much acoustic isolation between rooms so if the next door guest is noise it could be a problem.

The old floorboard creaks and makes some noise. - The check in time is 4:30pm and check out time is 10:30am which I found unusual. - There majority of the guests at the hotel were indian people. Nothing against, just mentioning it out of curiosity. - If you have a disability or mobility problems just look for another alternative/hotel because the lift is on the first floor and one needs to climb around 25 steps before reaching it. - I recommend you book direct with the hotel by phone as they can get ferry tickets for half price when you book the room. - I have laughed a lot when I was doing check-in and the receptionist told me the porters would help me with my luggage but when they showed up they were two kids.

One had like 14-15 years the other one was around 12 I guess! I thanked them and carry myself. - Overall I will give four stars for location and the effort put by staff despite of all the problems and shortcomings. It looks like a family run business and they tried to accommodate as much as possible but it is difficult due to the hotel condition. If they lower the prices a bit it can be a good value for money due to location if you don't mind the few shortcomings and nuisances.

There are lots of abondoned/derelict hotels and properties in Sandsdown and hope this hotel can survive and that they manage to improve the place. Despite of everything I have really enjoyed the time I spent on the island.

The room we stayed in was overlooking the high street opposite the library and was very noisy with cars etc, especially when the bin lorry came past and stopped directly under our window and the dray man delivering the kegs of beer, quite a hive of activity! The whole hotel is very dated, tired and run down and there are derelict hotels all the way along the back street and sea front.

The meals i.e. breakfast and dinner were very over priced at 15.00 per person, the breakfast was average and the dinners (of which we only had once) was horrible like meals wheels food! Overall very disappointing and not worth the money we paid-in fact I was glad to go home!

Good seaside location. Room size and facilities adequate. Note: Street noise intrusive for rooms to the rear of the hotel - thankfully relocated after polite request to reception. Staff helpful but stressed. Swimming pool onsite for guests (included in price). Bar and social area lack character and atmosphere. Interior of hotel appears tired and drab (has the faint smell and look of an old museum). Numerous, oddly placed stairs and wending corridors make room access difficult for the mobility challenged. (I have the impression the stair planning committee and the lift planning committee never went to the same meetings.) Breakfast - extortionately overpriced! Better, cheaper alternatives nearby. PARKING!

Very small parking area in front of hotel. - Guests are required to double park and if blocking someone's car in, requested to stay local in order to let them out. Very stressful for all concerned. Final verdict - Fair but overpriced.

Unfortunately it is a tired building, not buggy or wheelchair friendly, you need to climb a flight of stairs to get to the lift. The reception have no clue of their surroundings ( i.e we asked for somewhere to eat just after 9pm the receptionist just shrugged and said there isn't anywhere). we found a kebab shop literally 2 mins away. The rooms are tired and need a refurb. Couldn't booked dinner even though the restaurant was empty. Its a tad expensive for what it is.

Beautiful hotel very well run. Wonderful night's sleep on a very comfortable bed. Worth every penny.

Perfect location for the beach, cafes, restaurants and shops. Very helpful, welcoming and friendly staff. Someone helped us take bags up to the room when we checked in and when checking out. Initial problem with TV and shower which was promptly attended to. Clean, spacious ( but dated) rooms. Housekeeping cleaned the rooms daily and changed towels every day. Bedsheets were changed upon request. Lovely swimming pool and jacuzzi although water was cold. Would definitely come back. A lovely few days away

The "budget" bedroom showed up on the website was seaview, once we arrived in the bedroom 113 all you can see from the window was a busy road, shops and load of cars running trough and obviously lot of noises. You can actually have a guest coming through the window from the road. Toilet is in really bud condition and al most impossible to mix the water. Also it was not clean. See so, we asked to change a room paying extra money and they asked 600 pound more: The area around? Speachless

Great location and room was good for wife and kids, clean rooms. Swimming pool is cold but good size, jacuzzi warm. Snooker table pool table only. Expect cueing. . Very nice.

Extremely outdated decor and facilities. Food taste ready meal type and simply ordinary. Nothing special - mostly tinned and warmed from frozen. No cleaning of rooms done due to CV19 even after 19/7/21. Neither any sighting of disinfected cleaning going around the general areas. The bed is uncomfortable for a good night sleep. The reception has no user friendly approach.

The asset of the hotel is that it is situated just on sea front and has sea view rooms. May be a cheap option for family with young children who would like to spend all day in the beach. Room view: 4 Cleaning: 0 Facilities : 1 Food quality: 2 Overall 2/5

Visited last week. All the staff help full and friendly. What could be better than pulling the curtains and looking at the sea. We'll be back next summer

Thoroughly enjoyed our stay at this hotel. The room was spotless as were the public areas of the hotel. The menu was quite limited though the food was excellent and healthy with plenty of fresh vegetables. A pasta dish was offered between the starter and main course. Would definitely stay there again