We recently stayed at The Grand Hotel which in my opinion not so grand. The staff are trying hard to create an atmosphere of congeniality but in others ways it failed badly. We had dinner in the lounge on the first night and we found the food really not good. My son's hamburger was almost raw and we asked that the whole dinner be returned to the kitchen. The rest of us finished our meals and waited and waited for his meal to return. We finally gave up and proceeded to go to our room and were stopped at the last minute with the burger. I don't know what happened to the fries. He took it back to our room but the bun was so stale that he didn't eat it. We didn't eat there for the rest of our 4 day stay. As everyone else says on the site the lobby is very nice....but the rooms are very dated and tired. I took the stairs, no way was I chancing the elevator. We all joked about staying at "The Grand" which sounds so high faluting but it really needs some work! The prices are quite grand.

We booked last minute Easter week 2007 through a website and got a bargain! For ?50 we got a double room and breakfast! And we had a room at the front with the great view of Torquay. The pool was not in use (it was warm weather) as it was being cleaned or renovated. Positives The view and breakfast, which was good. Negatives The room was tired, plus had a connecting door to the next room and we could hear our neighbouring guests talking and using TV, bathroom etc - which meant they could hear US so we tiptoed around and whispered. They didn't and kept us awake. The window opened onto a tatty balcony which we didn't use but, hey, for that price, who is complaining? I have looked on the same Last Minute website since and have never seen as cheap a deal for this hotel but for a first visit to Torquay we thought we had a good deal but I would have been very disappointed if I had paid a more expensive rate. We were allowed to leave our car at the hotel parking area on our check out day until tea time and took the bus which goes around Torbay, it was something like ?2 for a hop on hop off arrangement so good value, but that was 15 months ago. I was interested in this hotel as Agatha Christie had spent her honeymoon night here but other than that it was not particularly interesting. As usual in the UK, (unlike the USA) the standards of hotels are low and the prices usually high, so we were not expecting too much and for that price it was a good deal.

Lets start from the begining...... Parking is a problem although the hotel does have a limited parking area which was full on our arrival. Reception suggested we park at the nearby rugby club..at ?6.50 for 24hr stay? tempting but no thankyou! so we risked on street parking some distance from the hotel. Arrived at the room (303) which wasn't a refurbished room but was ok. It was however hot so we opened the balcony doors to a filthy balcony with plastic patio chairs, nice view though. Now for the big problem! The din from the main road below was quite horrendous, ok not the Grands fault but i think i'd rather have overlooked the railway station to the rear of the hotel and got a good nights sleep! Breakfast... what a scrum we were left to find our own table which was fine but it was very difficult to find a clear and clean table along with quite a few other bedraggled breakfast hunters! And now for the real problem area................... THE BAR STAFF. We decided to have a evening meal in the Compass Lounge in great anticipation of some AA Rosette food, sadly we never did get to try any food! On entering the bar we ordered drinks and two dishes from the menu. 20 minutes later at which time we thought we might see our food we were told our choice was not available so could we re-order, with the waitress stood over us we hurried into a second choice. So we waited and waited and waited after an hour i thought it would not be unreasonable for us to enquire as to the whereabouts of our food. The waitress with a shocked look snapped at me saying the dishes were being prepared i dared to ask if this meant they were about to leave the kitchen, to which i recieved the same short sharp response " they are being prepared" by this time my girl friend was suffering the effects of her diabetes an hour and a half had now elapsed since ordering at this time we decicied to walk out. However this waiting period allowed me to observe just how rude and un-hygenic the bar staff were. for example the bar man drinking directly from an orange juice carton in full view of the guests, i also witnessed another guest enquiring after his long awaited drinks and being told by the bar man "i'm busy" Would i stay here again? NEVER Top tip! for good service and a nice meal go just up the road to the Pier Point Restaurant - we did!!

I arrived at the hotel, i did struggle to no where to park as i believed the carpark had a hotel, i ended up parking in the Railway station carpark, apparantley there are some reserved spaces in that car park for The Grand but they were full. I never did find out where there car park was. On entering the hotel, i though hey this isn't to bad, quite nice in fact, check in was smooth. I then went up in the lift to the second floor the lift door opened and i thought i had walked into another world, my first sight was of wires coiled up dangling from the ceiling, the hallway carpet and decoration were of a very poor state. I made my way to my room, having to walk past the service lift which had a very strong smell of diesel/oil. My room was next to this lift and you can quite clearly hear the noise the lift makes, which does start quite early in the morning. My room was clean, the bed was very soft, the bathroom wasn't really that nice, it is in need of refurbishment. I believe they are refurbishing the hotel, they look like they have completed the ground floor and the 1st floor, but i did not see any of the rooms on the 1st floor, the hall way was nice on the 1st floor. I used the gym which was adequate, machines a little dated but quite usable. The bar was lovely to sit in, wine was really nice, i enjoyed a lovely sandwich in the bar, the service staff were mainly english and really helpful and polite. I would not return to this hotel until all refurbishment works were complete, and i definatley would not stop in room 217.

My wife and I just return from the weekend break in Torquay celebrate our wedding anniversary. We booked The Grand Hotel from their website and got the good deal for 2 nights in Deluxe Selected Seaview Room (all this room type is located on 4th floor) nice sea view. We booked first night on Dinner & Breakfast Package and the second night on Bed & Breakfast (because their dining room is closed for private funtion on Saturday night). Let start with all the public rooms ec. Lobby,Reception Area,The Gainsborough (Main Dining Room),Compass Lounge Etc. was fantastic nice refurbished so that was a good start then we got the room number 404 so we got on to the lift which was very frighten because it looks like 50 years old lift anyway we arrived to our room open the door first thing we saw is the dressing room and the bathroom then seperate bedroom. I looked into the bathroom I saw some small spider alive..shocked.. then we walk in to the bedroom another surprised we booked Deluxe Double room and we got family room instead so it has one double bed and seperate single bed it seem waste the space for us because we didn't use the spare bed. Our room explore start we saw a lot of dust every corner of the room , by the window, especially the mirror on dressing table very thick dust on there. the table and chairs in the room need to change because it looks very tatty and old not in good condition. But we can't fault the sea view at all it was great view. The positive thing is about the food (Breakfast & Dinner) top class breakfast nice bacon & sausages and fresh baked bread only one negative for breakfast was an orange juice it was not fresh and no fresh fruit only from the can. The evening meal was great good selection and good taste make sure you ordered mushroom soup it was fantastic. On second day we went to Brixham Harbour very pretty and had some lunch at Annies Restaurant in Brixham nice fresh crab meat sandwich and reasonable in price . The parking by the hotel was free but difficult to find on Friday evening but Saturday & Sunday was fine. Overall we had a good time here the food & restaurant was great a little bit disappoint with the room and clealiness but the seaview was beautiful. Another tip is try Italian Restaurant call BIANCO not too far from the hotel if you take a taxi about ?4.50 per way very good food and nice atmosphere resonable in price. We recommend this hotel for the traveller who love traditional English Seaside resort this hotel is for you but if you look for modern hotel find elsewhere but can come for the restaurant at the Grand Hotel.