Ullswater Hotel

We stayed at Ullswater Hotel as a family, in a large family room just a short walk from Bournemouth’s lovely West Cliff zig-zag path. The hotel is in an older building and recently came under new ownership – only around two months in when we visited. The new owners live on-site and are clearly working hard to bring fresh life into the place with warmth and care. From the start, they were very helpful. When the TV remote didn’t work, they replaced it by the next day. We were given extra towels without even asking. Nothing was too much trouble. The atmosphere was relaxed and friendly – even other guests we met were kind and cheerful, which added to the homely feel. While breakfast wasn’t available during our stay, the breakfast room itself is bright and spacious. There’s a shared kitchen with an oven, microwave, kettle, and fridge – great if you're staying longer or want to keep things flexible. The large lounge is another bonus – comfy sofas, space for the kids, and even board games to enjoy. The building is old, and it does show in places – the bathroom locks, windows, carpets, and furniture could all use some attention. There’s no air conditioning in the rooms and only one main ceiling light, but for us, that was absolutely fine. We just needed a clean, quiet place to rest – and that’s exactly what we got. They also kindly allowed us to check out at 11am instead of 10am, which gave us more time to pack calmly. After that, we left our luggage with them and went to try the zipline at Bournemouth Pier – a brilliant experience. When we returned around 2:30pm, they welcomed us back into the lounge until our 3:30pm taxi to the train station. So thoughtful and accommodating. If you're looking for a budget-friendly, honest place to stay in Bournemouth that’s close to the beach, run by kind people who genuinely care, this is a great choice. It’s not luxurious, but it’s full of heart. We slept well, felt safe, and were made to feel welcome. We wish the new owners all the best – they deserve support as they improve things bit by bit.

So outdated, cobwebs in the bathroom, dirty door and horrible floor of the shower. The light looks like it is hang off and could fall, Ceiling is old and patch. Bed is uncomfortable and hard. Through out the night the toilet continues to make sounds and the walls must be so thin, you can hear everything from outside your room.

We booked this as an overnight stop on the way home from Devon. With our 2 young daughters we planned on having a late afternoon on the beach followed by a family meal before staying at the hotel for the night then carrying on home the following morning. So where do I start. Parking was hit and miss, it took the foreign owners nearly 5 minutes to answer the door and let us in. We got the keys to the room passing a couple of dodgy suspects on the stairs. The room itself was a family size but that’s where the niceties end. The net curtain was on the floor, the drawer was hanging of the chest of drawers, the front door of the room didn’t shut and a sharp screw was sticking out where they’ve tried to repair it, the handle on the toilet/shower room door was broken -didn’t fit, there was a hole in the singe chair, a hole in the wall where I’d guess someone had an argument with it, the toilet roll holder was broken, the beds were nearly as thick and as comfy as a Jacob’s cracker, the pillows stunk, in fact overall I wouldn’t even let the illegal asylum seekers sleep there, it was foul and disgusting. 🤢🤢🤢 we ended up driving home which spoilt the end of our family break, English isn’t the first language of the hotel and it should be delisted as a hotel. ABSOLUTELY SHOCKING.

This hotel is absolutely disgusting the bed had no covers on, the beds were ripped and dirty, the windows were held shut by cable ties and only half a curtain at them, 3 cups in a room for 4 which was a joke as the 4th bed was a camp bed in the corner. It was an absolute nitemare and we left a day early as couldn't stand to be there any longer.

Absolutely rubbish hotel with rude and impolite staff who did lots of harassment for homeless people who settled by council .They put out of date breakfast stuff for homeless people and homeless people couldn't said anything because of their situation and staff of hotel were abusing their power to homeless people and there is no one to support them

This hotel was absolutely horrendous, disgusting, dirty and unsafe. We arrived myself, my sister and three children under 5 and given a room at the top of the building, we could barely fit the buggy into the lift but managed, we got upstairs to our room which didn’t have the required amount of beds we had paid for, the fire alarm was hanging off the ceiling, there was water damage and damp, there was no handle to our bathroom door so my children could have been locked in. The beds were ripped, the carpet stained and damaged. We were offered to be moved however would need to “split the party” however they didn’t even have suitable rooms for this to happen. When looking for an alternative I was taken downstairs so inaccessible with the buggy to a corridor with no light and the room they offer me was dirty and had items in it and the door had a faulty lock so wouldn’t open and the gentleman snapped the key into the lock of the door trying to force it open whilst telling me it was safe. The next room smelt like a public toilet, the next didn’t have enough beds. We ended up in a room with two beds for 5 of us, with a mouldy dirty shower we were too cautious to even use, no refund despite several time requesting and no apologise.