Best Western Aberavon Beach Hotel

Lovely room with a sea view, comfortable bed, all staff were very friendly. Very happy.

Everything was good, specially the staffs.

My colleagues and I were booked in to the Aberavon Beach hotel for two week stay. The hotel itself is located on Aberafan seafront and not too far from a selection of bars, restaurants and a cinema. The hotel lobby and dining areas are a fantastic throwback to Late 60s/Early 70s design and are very nicely decorated and very clean. My room was also clean and the decor looked reasonably fresh. The major problems however are with the heating and plumbing system. While guests can turn off the radiator in the room, the way the heating system works means there's a continuous stream of hot water running through the supply pipes in the room, meaning that its impossible to turn the heating off completely. This leads to all the rooms cooking 24/7. This isn't "room with no A/C" hot, this is "getting in a car parked in 30C with the windows closed" hot. A knock-on effect of this problem is that every single window in the hotel is left open by both guests and staff for ventilation. This means that the wind noise in the hotel is something to behold, especially when the wind picks up off the sea. In my room I had to use the extra door lock/latch to stop the door being rattled all night by the wind in the corridor. You also couldn't leave the bathroom door and the room window open at the same time, otherwise the ceiling tiles in the bathroom would try and make a noisy bid for freedom. While the room itself was hot, unfortunately it was a 50/50 chance if your shower would be. The staff explained this was due to the hotel being fully booked and the infrastructure being unable to handle demand, however even when you got hot water the pressure and flow in my 3rd floor room was very poor. The only other issue I had with the room was that the electrics took a bit of working out. For example the bed had two reading lamps in the headboard with USB-A charging sockets, however the light switch that turned the reading lamps on/off would also turn the chargers off. If you wanted charger on and lights off, there was a second, smaller switch you had to use. As for the staff, they valiantly tried to keep everyone happy, and for things that they could control they did very well. The food was tasty and reasonably priced, however drinks were "hotel priced", but well served. In conclusion, if you're looking for an interesting hotel and aren't planning on visiting in Summer I'd recommend the Aberavon Beach, however until the heating is sorted it will be an absolute sweatbox in the summer months.

Well, on the plus side the staff are great, they clearly face many challenges as the hotel clearly needs some investment, especially with the aircon and to pay the staff more. Food…… avoid the rarebit not quite sure what it was, the fish and chips were great as was the steak. Rooms are comfy and clean but as hot as satans crotch, never had an experience when the room was hotter than the 30 degrees outside. Love the description of the decor from the 70s, it’s spot on, but it’s done so well. It’s a great hotel and location, but the staff make it. Well done to the team. Please add proper curry to the menu 😁

Avoid at all cost, it's dilapidated, despite the claims, which have been memlntioned for a long time, about renovations and repairs we found no evidence of any. The rooms are very hot and stuffy, it has an air of neglect throughout. Dirty blinds in dinng area with mould on window ledges, rusty ironwork on exterior. Many similar comments are responded with comments that they will be referred to the relevant team, but the comments still refer to the same complaints, so what happens to the referrals, nothing I suspect and are there really any teams? Overall a bad experience. Will BW take time to respond to these comments?

We came here for a day out and a cheap stop over. After reading the reviews I was a bit jubious about what I was going to find so we went to check in and investigate. Yes the building is tatty looking from the outside but when inside was clean and tidy. We checked in went to the lift which wouldn't close...issue soon resolved. Then we went to open door to our room and key card didn't work . We chuckled. A trip back to reception and resolved. On opening the door we were pleasantly surprised what the bad reviews were about. The room was fine. The only issue was that it was hot due to the extreme heat we are experiencing. Keep rooms cool shut windows and draw curtains like people living abroad during the day. The swimming facilities are currently closed but you can use the leisure centre next door.