lovely historic hotel. elegant service

My husband, baby and I stayed for two nights and staff could not have done more for us. Our every need was catered for and we felt that all staff were genuine and warm, everyone from the cleaners to the management. The hotel is beautiful in an old-world way and retains some of the nice perks of an old hotel experience such as fancy toiletries, coffee or a newspaper if you wanted. We enjoyed watching some regulars ballroom dancing on Saturday night in the bar and brought our daughter for a swim in the heated pool. The hotel is located centrally and on the seafront which is perfect for walks. I heard a lot of couples say they had been there before and we definitely plan on returning.

We stayed here with our 2 dogs for one night. This is a period hotel & the interior is in keeping with this. The staff attire is very smart & everyone was extremely friendly. The location is opposite the beach & there is a great little cafe by the sea that we found. Whilst the hotel is dog friendly, they are not allowed in the bar or restuarant, so your only option for food in the hotel is room service which is little dissapointing.

Arrived windswept and I mean windswept at the most beautiful frontage a hotel could have after walking and finishing the South Downs way - and I am in the midst of a most glamorous wedding shoot absolutely surreal !!

Very grand on entering, lots of staff, room most pleasant with the appreciated bath - a must for a walker who has just walked the seven sisters and more!!

I should have had dinner there but not being in the mood to dress up in the one item of clothing brought solely for this final destination - I returned to walking attire and proceeded to walk round my final destination of the walk- and discover 2 sides to this interesting final destination! Quite a contrast but interesting.

Great weekend at the Grand. The staff at this hotel are fabulous and the dinner experience in the Garden Restaurant is superb. Only area for improvement is the prices and service levels in the Cocktail Bar. Will definitely be returning.

Our beautifully refurbished room wasn’t quite ready in time for us to get ready for a family wedding, so the receptionist very kindly gave us the use of another room to get showered & changed...
Food was exceptional throughout the stay.

Small car park making it impossible to make use of car after finding a space as there was no guarantee of returning.

Unknown to us there was a wedding which was situated directly under our room, once the festivity started we were subjected to all the noise and celebrations of the event.

Why, with such a huge and beautiful hotel with hundreds of rooms available would you place guests directly above the festivities, UNBELIEVABLE.

The hotel and all the staff were first class , however check before you book that you will not be placed above a function room.
We were booked for 2 days but left after 1 night. The hotel apologised and refunded us for 1night for the inconvenience.
Will not be returning because a hotel like this should have known better.

We had a three night stay and everything was excellent. My wife said it was the best hotel we have ever stayed in. The staff were really good. We had dinner in the Garden Restaurant one evening, and both the service and food were top-class. We hope that we will stay again in the very near future.

From the moment you arrive and are greeted in the car park till the moment you leave every member of staff goes the 'extra mile'. Nothing seems to be to much to ask for. Superb choices at breakfast and the staff are always ready if you need anything. The building itself is olde world just what we like- its like stepping back in time but with a modern take.

We stayed her Sunday to Monday and had the most beautiful stay. The rooms are all lovely. The lounge, bar and special dining rooms are all well maintained with beautiful period furniture and fittings. The afternoon tea looked delightful but as we didn't like the choice of sandwiches on that (a bit bland and boring) we decided to order our own sandwiches. These were expensive, but came with a small bowl of crisps which were deliciously salty and a very small amount of salad. Added as a surprise was an amuse bouche which was a tiny cup and saucer of homemade mushroom soup which was lovely. Sandwich over £9.50, and latte was £5.50 . unfortunately the drink came long before the sandwich and there was about another 40 mins wait, by which time the drink would have been cold had I not drank it! in the evening the meal was delicious . cost for table d'hote was approx. £84 for two persons without wine or any drinks at all. everything well cooked and service excellent and professional in every manner. The lunch the following day was beautiful, well presented, wedding style food and fabulous service again from warm friendly staff. I cannot fault this hotel. Our bedroom was beautiful and elegant, some would say 'old fashioned' but for me it's in keeping with the style of hotel i.e. elegant! slept very well on the massive bed and had a lovely relaxing bath in the huge bathroom. overall a fabulous stay and can't wait to go back.

The Grand is a charming hotel on the seafront at Eastbourne. It really is like the locations you see in the Hercule Poirot films. We were away for a much needed week of pampering and that is just what we got. The staff are friendly and jolly, nothing is too much. They have mastered the trick of being there when you want something but leaving you in peace when you don't.
I even liked the indoor pool complex.

Was given a voucher by our son and daughter-in-law to celebrate our 50th.
Booked for a Monday and amazed lounges were busy-then realised 1/2 term holiday period-people of all ages visible.
Shown to our reserved table by the fireside-very smart comfortable furniture-very attentive staff.
ordered our tea &coffee variety from huge choice available.
Cake stand duly arrived(but no cakes-touch odd) with 4 warmed scones;4 various choices of delicate pastries and some dainty filled sandwiches.
Oh dear -only 1 pat of butter to deal with the 4 scones-plus some jam and cream-with no spoons-whoops.
All very pleasant BUT never worth the £26 charge each.
leading off from the lounges are several corridors with display cabinets-one that caught our eye was the one with some excellent quality handbags all at competitive pricing..
Was able to park just outside the main entrance which was a treat-what with all the heavy rain/wind.

Superb size room with jacuzzi bath and comfy bed.
Free car parking out front.

Breakfast - White linen and silver.
A grand style dining room.
Mainly a buffet although when it's quiet the hot foods are not on the buffet but cooked to order.
Perfect juice, pastry, eggs to order.
All foods of great quality.

Service - we must have suffered from QHS(Quiet Hotel Syndrome).
Sunday the hotel was quiet - but service seems to disappear as staff do other jobs.
We wanted a drink from the bar, so we're told to go into the lounge and the order would be taken. Not many people about but not any staff either. Went back to the bar for an apology - we were forgotten.
Monday morning the dining hall is quiet for breakfast. Nobody to take the order - or rather, they were all doing other things. We had to go and get the waiter from laying up for lunch.
Shame really - I have always had good service but with just a few guests about, service goes into snooze mode.

From the moment we drove into the hotel to the moment we left we had nothing but a positive professional experience. Every member of staff were delightful. All the food and drink we had was of the highest quality. Our room was beautiful and as clean as could be. The temperature in the room was spot on and all the little extras in the room were a lovely treat. We had the best day & night away at The Grand & I would recommend it to anybody. I will try & stay there as often as I can now it was pure luxury thanks so much!

Staff very polite and welcoming. Traditional style hotel where nothing was too much trouble. Food in the Garden restaurant was first class. Some areas could do with updating as looking tired in places. However this wouldn't stop us going back for another visit.

Champagne afternoon tea in the resplendent and atmospheric Grand Hall the day after Valentine's day was delightful with impeccable service. Tea was replenished without prompting as would have any of the food, but we found there to be sufficient. A glass of champagne per person, nice selection of sandwiches, a quiche, scones and pastries at a price of £34.50 was quite reasonable.

Excellent and attentive service in a friendly hotel.

I booked a stay to have some soul nurturing time out on the eve of my 50th birthday. I had never stayed in such a grand hotel so l had high expectations. Wow....l had the most amazing experience, from the parking lot through checking In, the spa, the most delicious room service dinner served beautifully, my room was very comfortable with everything l needed to recharge my batteries including a lovely sea view. All staff were friendly, helpful and professional, l couldn't have asked for more. Thank you.

This is the 2nd time we have stayed at the Grand. We were so excited as it's a really lovely old hotel with fabulous staff and it's like stepping into an Agatha Christie play. We booked a junior suite the 1st visit but as we were out at the theatre for most of the evening, on this occasion, we booked their deluxe room. Beware future guests of booking room 16 or any rooms near that one as this is near the main function room. The Grand is a luxury hotel, therefore the cost to stay is quite pricey and the least you would expect in a hotel of this standard, is a good nights sleep!
We always thought it was worth paying the price of a room at The Grand but this visit was truly disappointing. There was a function going on in the evening and when we returned to our room, the music boomed away until midnight. We thought that was bad enough but the clearing up of the venue continued until 1am in the morning with banging, crashing, people running up and down metal steps outside ( that's what it sounded like ) it really was awful and not being able to sleep was not what I'd paid my hard earned money for. Such a shame and most disappointing. Perhaps guests attending Weddings/ parties could be allocated rooms near the venue room in future and not allow couples like us to endure such a poor nights sleep.

Visited Sunday 11th of February 2018. I visit venues in and around the south coast for afternoon tea a fair amount,and my mother used to have her own cupcake and cake business so I think I am a fairly good judge when it comes to afternoon tea/cake. I have been to many venues including Chewton Glen, Reubens At The Palace, Limewood Hotel and Harrods to name a few. Afternoon Tea tends to range in price from around £25 to £35 per head and The Grand Hotel fitted in this bracket.

Overall for my review I have decided to give four stars.

No one likes a long review so the reasons why are outlined below:-

The good points:-
1) friendly front of house
2) beautiful building
3) lovely area at the rear of the entrance hall to enjoy the afternoon tea
4) chef accommodated my request for no egg sandwiches and substituted them for chicken instead with no questions asked
5) lovely tea with a good selection to choose from
6) sandwiches moist and well filled
7) both butter and clotted cream offered with the scones with lovely jam and plenty of all three.
8) that quiche was the best I have ever eaten. It was buttery and delicious.

The points I feel need to be worked on and are slightly negative are as follows:-
1) only plain scones given. No fruit.
2) only 4 cakes were presented to us and we were to share between the two of us. This meant that we had to cut them in half or have two each which meant we only got to taste half the amount on offer. In all the venues I have previously taken afternoon tea in I have never had to cut and share cakes and I have always been offered at least 4 cakes to enjoy on my own. I think The Grand were a bit tight on the cake front.
3) the toilets had no hand towels in them. So when I used them between the savoury and sweet course I had to come out with wet hands and dry them on my napkin that I was using for my afternoon tea
4) although beautiful the chairs were old and uncomfortable. The sofas were very low and the arm chairs had seen better days. Although the venue is trying to keep in keeping with the feel of the place
the hotel needs to get the balance right between comfort and style.
5) The servers need somone to pay attention to their appearance. One ladys pencil skirt was two tight and short and it didnt look proffesional. Another younger servers hair was put up in a bun in a half hearted fashion. Bits of hair hung out the back and she had clips stuck in and around it. The attention to detail just wasn't there.
6) two families enjoying afternoon tea had their pots of tea mixed up so when the first family started pouring their tea they noticed that it was the incorrect colour. They worked out they the two tables order had been mixed up but this isn't great service.
7) of the 4 cakes offered 3 were pastry based (egg tart, lemon tart and fruit tart). A better balance is needed. Instead of 3 pastry cakes (bearing in mind we also had quiche) other sweet treats could have been offered. For example:- jelly, home made marshmallow, brownie, a cupcake, macaroon or a biscuit.

So overall the afternoon tea was nice, but the portions need to be bigger because we all know that the mark up on afternoon tea is huge. For this I expect one cake per person. Tweaks could be made to help push the experience from a 4 to a 5 star. I hope that my comments are taken into account and you find them fair. I think constructive criticism is a good thing as it only makes us get better. Thank you for looking after us last weekend. Emma.

Excellent hotel for young families. Great service as well

We were married on Wednesday ( Valentine’s Day ). We had dinner and stayed over night. Everything and everyone made it a truly wonderful wedding day for us. The welcome, service, music/band, meals, sauna and swimming and a lovely room with very comfortable bed. Thank you

Everything about The Grand is excellent. Old world service from delightful staff where nothing is too much trouble, the food is fabulous and the rooms are comfy with glorious sea views. The breakfast is exceptional, afternoon tea is a delight and dinner offers a nice choice beautifully cooked and presented.
Highly recommended.

Friendly faces on arrival . Lovely room and excellent meal in the garden restaurant. Lovely swimming pool and everyone so helpful. Nothing was too much trouble and a wonderful breakfast after a comfortable nights sleep. There was some renovations happening that did wake us up But not too early.

Took my in-laws to celebrate their diamond wedding anniversary. Could not have been better. Booked the winer warmer break and everything was perfect from provision of accessible room to a magnificat dinner in the garden resturant. Would definately receommend and stay again.