Guest Reviews of Durley Dean

"from other reviews i read before going, i wasn't looking forward to staying, but what aload off rubish people commented. Overall the hotel was very clean the room was very clean the bed was comfortable.Really enjoyed my stay and would us hotel again"

over all it was a very nice hotel the room was lovely and hotel staff very helpfull

bad points are the hot water wasn't hot and parking

"Excellent will come again"

Resonable size room, good decor and facilities

"Would not stay again unless improved."

reception efficient - room good decor.

twin bedded room at back of hotel obviously over kitchen - hot and airless so had to keep windows open but this made us privy to the loud and informative conversations of the kitchen staff who congregated under our window for smoking and gossip purposes. Breakfast was quite frankly appalling and obviously geared to catering for the coach tours that were in residence at no doubt vastly reduced rates to what we paid. Limp cheap white or brown toast that you made yourself - small dishes of watery scrambled eggs and tired looking bacon - lone croissants and pan chocolate that looked uninteresting. I paid the extra £8 each for breakfast but wished that I had gone down the road where for £4.95 we could have had a full English Breakfast, toast, juice tea or coffee etc and it looked good enough to eat. I travel a great deal between UK, Ireland and Spain for work and leisure and you can forgive a great deal if your breakfast is spot on. This hotel was badly let down by poor management in the kitchens and this was probably reflected in the dreadful breakfast. Sorry for the negativity but if you don't hear you cannot improve.

"Generally good accommodation.Not enough quiet lounge area.The restaurant was unhappy about seating a solo female guest, as the tables were large and suggested I order room service instead."

Friendly, helpful staff.Nicely decorated bedrooms.

The twin room booked was a "family room" and had a metal Zbed for the use of a 6ft adult male - not good.There was no quiet lounge area in the hotel, the bar area was noisy with sky sports one night and around 30 loud golfers the other. Both nights I had to take a meal elswhere instead of in the hotel.The swimming pool was out of order.

"it was a fairly cheap hotel with overall a nice feel and friendly staff, however the working order of the facilities in the room was poor."

Breakfast was of a high standard. Staff were friendly.

Water pressure so bad that at busy times no water came out of the taps or shower. When staff were informed, was told it was because i was on the top floor and to wait ten minutes and try again! Although most of the hotel has been modernised, the top floor has not so it was not that nice. Room was very cramped.

"good hotel. friendly. pleasant stay overall."

Hotel was nice, modern, clean. room was a decent size but not huge. cannot fault any of the facilities. staff very friendly & helpful.

only thing to note is that some of the rooms can be noisy. but this is just luck i guess. i happened to get a room on the main road one side and by the lift on the other. kept getting woken up to the sound of cars going by or the lift saying "doors opening" & "doors closing". do we really need an announcement telling us this or does it need to be so loud. that said, the room / hotel was very nice and i would stay again. just hope to get a room in a different spot next time.

"Hotel very comfortable. Food excellent. Staff very helpful, polite and efficient."

"overall my wife and I had a very pleasant 2 nights at the Durley Dean. We had the midweek special half board for £55 per night which we think is very reasonable as the food was excellent. Plenty of storage space in the room though the room itself was not very big, but there was a good sized digital lcd tv on the wall. The shower wasn't up to much a bit weak and the third floor room was permanently hot with the heating off and the window open. Car park was for only 30 cars but we never had a problem. Staff were generally friendly and helpful and if we stay in Bournemouth again we would stay here. "

good food and comfortable clean room

room was very warm with window open

"Although the restaurant and food had a lot to be desired overall our stay was very good. We would stay again but this time possibly eat out."

pleasant and helpfull staff.

Bathroom very small. Restaurant service: Waited 20 mins for someone to ask if we wanted tea or coffee but no one to be seen. Finished breakfast minus beverage. Food: Pollock and chips drizzed in fat. We expected fresh fish but it was obviously frozen. 2nd night Pasta was curled up and cold.

"Hotel of a high standard, staff were friendly and accomodating. However, our booking was not correctly recieved by the hotel. Food was of a high standard. "

Overall a very good hotel.

Lack of co-ordination between on-line booking and hotel.

The receptionists and waitress are very friendly and nice.

The bathroom has a strong disgusting smell from the toilet pipe for whole night :-

"Staff's obviously a problem at breakfast and they're too involved in their own conversations to bother much about guests."

Reception, bar

Breakfast service and organisation

"did have problems with our room which was reported during our stay"

service at breakfast was really good, really friendly staff, and good selection even for young children

not enough parking for the size of the hotel

"A functional stay, but I wouldn't have wanted to spend any more time in the hotel. Luckily, my friends live close by."

The staff were efficent, the hotel had good facilities generally, having been undergoing a re-furb.

The room was very very small, the bathroom being the main issue. The room and bathroom were very tired, and taking into account the cost, this was just not good enough. Creaking floor boards, run down bathroom with broken extractor fan etc etc.. The stairs around the hotel were in the process of being painted etc, but there were nails and debries all over the place. Nails on the carpet, very poor.

"the hotel was a nice hotel and the staff in the restaurant where of a high standard. the food was good"

we thought the size of the room was lovely and the way it was set out. as it was our wedding night it was nice to have a four poster bed.

the carpets weren't that clean and there was hair in the bath and there was no hot water at nine at night and the water was only lukewarm in the morning.

"This was nostalgia leading me on... 27 years ago I spent a week in this hotel and it was marvelous, it was a nice hotel then, good food, good accomodation and lots to do. If I had not seen a plaque on the wall telling me it reopened in 1989 I would have thought that the last time the rooms were decorated was pre my last stay! Very, Very Poor! This hotel desperately needs some investment."

I thought that the staff were very kind and helpfull.

The decor was terrible and very shabby, I refused 2 rooms and just gave in on the 3rd.

"Very good value for money"

Good standard overall. Good location

"Late bar available. First class English breakfast in an attractive dining room and friendly courteous staff made for a pleasant short break."

clean,warm and comfortable and occupying an exellent central location clos to both the town and promenade.

not enough parking off road

"It was fine fot the purpose of our visit"

Staff friendly and helpful

Fabric of the building has seen better days

"veiw of the room on booking more bed covers would have helped"

food excellent staff very friendly and helpfull

room was clean but not very comfortable window was very draftey

"The overall quality of the rooms is extremely poor - VERY dirty. The staff however seem to put on a brave face and are generally very kind and helpful. 0 star hotel, 4 star staff....."

Dirty carpets, dirty walls, lumpy mattresses, creaky floor boards, no way to regulate temperature in the room. Terrible shower.

"Our stay was to celebrate a friend's stag night. The hotel was well situated kept to a good standard with friendly helpful staff. In total we probably spent no more than about 6 hours in the hotel including sleeping so this review is limited. The rooms were well priced to a good standard and to be honest a little more than was required for us. We did feel a little out of place as the average age of the average customer was probably up closer to the retirement age than 30 but I don't think we annoyed anyone. A good quality well priced hotel."

Convenient to the town centre, kept to a good standard and a good price.

"I felt this hotel was expensive for the standard we found. The best thing was the food which was excellent. The menu was good and the presentation beautiful. Also they had a good and informative wine list.This may be what gives it three stars because the rest of the hotel did not seem to be of this standard."

The hotel generally was rather tired and needs refurbishing.The room was not too bad but the bathroom was awful. They must have taken a bit of the room to ceate an en suite but it was far too small. The toilet was at the far end next to the bath but the space was no wider than my shoulders and I am very small and you also had to squeeze past the toilet roll holders! Also the non slip part of the bath was next to the toilet so you had to climb out on the slippery bit which would be quite dangerous for anyone older.

"I wasn't very happy about the Continental Breakfast, Getting up and helping youself, I Really, Really like Waitress Service, Maybe its the way I am I'm a bit old fashioned that way,"

My Room was lovely and Warm and Comfortable

The Hot Water wasn't very hot, Not hot enough to have a Shower or Bath

"Overall the hotel was average but the price did reflect this. It was cheap and cheerful!!"

Spacious hotel, with lots to offer, good cooked breakfast

decor dated inside, csrpets needed replacing and beds and bedding was old and very uncomfortable

Bathroom not clean

location

a bit run down. not finished to a high spec

"Was very pleased. Good value for money and got a good sized room."

Late night bar, friendly staff and breakfast was awesome

The hotel was too warm, kept getting a sweat on.

We liked the position of the hotel in relation to the facilities nearby, the exterior of the hotel is very attractive. Reception staff very helpful. Rooms adequate for a weekend stay. Food very good.

Despite the elegant facade of the hotel, the inside needs a makeover. The gym was not fit for purpose, no treadmill and two of the machines out of order. Rooms scruffy and needed painting - ripped curtain and broken suit press not impressive. Hotel very hot all the time.

Nice location and not too fare from the sea side.

Car park very small

everything

The staff were friendly and helpful and the breakfast was excellent.

bedroom was not the best I have ever stayed in, slightly grubby.

"good value for money in a middle range hotel comfortable"