Sandbanks Hotel

I recently stayed at The Sandbanks Hotel for three nights with friends. Unfortunately, despite its 4-star rating along with the very high prices, the experience was mediocre at best. I travel frequently and stay in many hotels of similar grade at a much lower cost with better service. I’ve never experienced service quite like you get at Sandbanks Hotel. This was not our first visit, fourth or fifth in fact, and sadly, another year has brought another round of similar shortcomings. It seems that with such limited choice of beachside hotels in the area, this might simply be the best of a bad bunch, which is why we keep returning despite the frustrations. Service remains inconsistent as ever. The terrace bar, even when it is busy with customers enjoying the good weather, it closes early without warning. One afternoon when the heavens opened, we found the inside bar unmanned and were surprisingly told by reception to go back outside to be served there, unbelievable. Breakfast. Although the actual breakfast is good, there was a slight issue. Paper coffee cups were available for takeaway for the first two days, only to be abruptly removed on the third day, with staff insisting they were “not allowed.” Odd, given we had been using them without an issue the previous two days. Staff in general seem young, inexperienced, and not particularly friendly, more as if they are reluctantly filling a summer job than genuinely engaged in hospitality. Such a shame. Overall, while the hotel’s location is unquestionably good, the service, atmosphere, and value for money leave a lot to be desired. Until better options appear in Sandbanks, this may remain the only fitting choice, but it’s far from the standard one would expect from a true 4-star property with high end pricing.

I've got a photo of my family and I only a family holiday here in 1999. So when my partner decided to take me to bournemouth for the weekend, I just had to pop in here! We arrived on the Sunday afternoon, parked up and were rudely told by the receptionist we couldn't park outside as we weren't staying the night - despite the numberplate option on the car booking system saying 'bar & restaurant guests'. She informed us there was a huge sign out the front informing guests of this policy (there wasn't....!). So we got in the car and managed to find some other parking. We returned after about 20 minutes, only to find about 10 spaces available in the car park. I understand the parking in the sandbanks is tricky, but there was no need to be so rude. Regardless of this lady, we decided to eat in the bar. I had the same thing I had back in 1999 - a prawn sandwich with chips. My partner had a pizza, freshly made. The food took a while, but we were visiting in the middle of a heatwave - so this was to be expected. All the food was lovely. And the condiments were branded (Heinz). They also had a good selection of drinks - which could have been a bit colder! What we failed to understand is why haven't the owners of the hotel pumped some money into the outside area. It's an absolute gem of an area - yet the place is really worn down. The chairs had bird poo on and it just all felt really broken. The place has so much potential - I hope to see improvements on our next visit.

Fantastic hotel room, very clean , well equipped , with lovely views , friendly attentive staff, lovely relaxing stay , nice outdoor bar area where you can get pizzas too , resturant serves great Italian food too