Room very basic not worth £200.00 a nite. The Bathroom was dirty and the bath had black hairs in it. There was no bedding provided for my sons cot he had to sleep on a bare matress.
View the rooms before booking to avoid disapointement. We asked for our money back but all we were offered was a free upgrade if we wanted to stay with them again.

Stayed for weekend and stayed in a suite which was lovely and had a view of the sea. Reception really good and concierge were great. Had dinner in the evening but didn't think it was that good for £200 that I spent and found some waiters dress looked like it had been slept in the night before and if your a 5 star hotel and spending lots of money I did not expect that and also I odd not expect my glass to be empty. May sound harsh but 5 star hotel needs to be faultless. Food was very good.

second day of our whistle stop tour over the bank holiday.
first impression of The Grand Hotel was WOW - what a fantastic building
The reception area was very calm - our room was not ready - so we were offered a complementary tea and sandwiches while we waited.
Our room was really very nice - the furniture was quality and the bed was comfy-the bathroom was well furnished with bath and shower although the bathroom was carpeted - nice one!
In the bar areas, we felt like we were the yougest ones there! The term "waiting for god" comes to mind.
Very attentive staff in all quarters - couldn't fault at all.
Breakfast was delicious - best one on our trip.
There is a spa, outside pool (which looked so inviting)
No fridge in the room but there was tea making facilities.
Dont think I would pay another £240 to stay at The Grand again

The grand hotel is full of oldy worldly charm without being too pretentious. We did a last minute holiday and stayed for one night. We have a dog and it is hard to find places near the sea that will take them. There were not many places inside the hotel where they would let the dogs hang out but directly across the road from the hotel was a huge grassy area for dogs to run around and the beach on the other side of the grassy area was okay for dogs too.

The hotel seemed to have lots of rules, you can't eat by the pool, no dogs by the pool, etc. but we found if you did it anyway, no one really complained. The staff were incredibly nice and very helpful, so I don't know why the hotel feels the need to be so strict about everything.

The rooms, food, etc were a little pricey for what it was but it was still acceptable. Overall it was a nice visit.

"Wonderful" is my answer when anyone asks how my holiday went at the Grand. We stayed 4 nights at the Grand and it was preferable to any 7 night holiday elsewhere, if that makes sense! Its the perfect place to relax as well has having plenty to keep you occupied in and around the hotel. It is a beautiful hotel in a wonderful setting with wonderful ambience, excellent food and, most importantly, consistently high quality service from helpful, friendly staff. What more could you ask? Looking forward to our next visit.

We stayed here recently just for one night when deciding to extend a visit in the area. The hotel was almost full, so our room, although perfectly nice (comfy, huge bed and a good sized room), was at the rear of the hotel overlooking a road. That said, it wasn't overly noisy, just not a great view. The rooms to the front would definitely have a better aspect, overlooking a quiet sea road and then the pebbly beach and sea. The hotel itself is as it's name suggests, very grand, with beautiful, luxury decor. The staff were all extremely polite and helpful. The indoor pool and spa were not huge, so choose a quiet time. The sauna was quite good, though very slightly dated with plastic seating rather than tiled. The outdoor pool was good with nice loungers surrounding it. Towels provided, and changing rooms well equipped with shower gel, shampoo, good hair dryer, etc. We didnt eat in the restaurant as my husband didn't have his jacket or tie with him but the breakfast was excellent, and lots of choice (smoked salmon, porridge, boiled eggs, etc.) and self selection of cooked items, fruit, cereals, pastries, meats, etc. The service was slightly erratic as so often seems the case in big hotels at breakfast. We'd definitely stay here again though.

Excellent service and ambiance. Efficient and kind staff. Curtains could do with a wash in our room though. No fridge in room. Noisy until after midnight in disabled room next to sitting room/ballroom.

Superb service with friendly and helpful staff who could not do enough for you. Brilliant food which you can taste. All amenities you require including indoor pool, heated outdoor pool, gym and spa. I defy anybody to find a better English hotel which comes up to the standards that the Grand offers. We will be back.

This is our third stay at the Grand and it is lovely that the exceptional service does not change.From the moment you arrive the attentive porters go out of their way to help you.The receptionists are friendly as are all the staff we have met ,The room for disabled residents is excellent just a shame their is only one as the facilities are extremely good.
Breakfast is a treat with very good quality food and attentive service.The ambiance and setting is superb.
Have booked again for next year what more can i say.

Here I am, once again, praising 'The Grand' at Eastbourne for providing all the facilities and amenities for yet another perfect week of opera at Glyndebourne.
It's staff who have remained in place for years and who welcome you like 'old friends' (which, of course, we have become by now) which indicate the hotel's ability to retain people who gain in experience and service-delivery.
It's the best 'Welcome' of any hotel I've booked into.
The front balcony suites are the next-best thing to a cruise-liner with magnificent views over the English Channel.
But there are difficult questions to have to answer .. which restaurant to dine in? swim indoors or out? .. tan in the Spa or on the balcony? .. the list goes on.
And the cocktail bar continues to enhance it's reputation for devising ever more exquisite offerings (you could say that I'm intoxicated with their success !).
Why, even the weather was 'grand' !

Our 6-night stay at The Grand in April was excellent in so many ways. Their welcome and hospitality make for a great start, with grand-children given special attention. The rooms, with traditional furnishings and decor, are really comfortable (particularly the bed), and the
housekeeping is of a high standard.

Room service was prompt and good quality. Breakfast was excellent.

The indoor swimming pool was popular with all of us, but only the younger generation braved the outdoor pool !

The abiding memory of The Grand is of being looked after. The word 'staff' does not do justice to all the individuals who try to anticipate your needs, always with a smile.

The Hotel lives up to it's name, and it's attention to detail in most parts of the hotel is exceptional. Room was very clean and turn-down service with water placed beside the bed is a nice touch. However, the service within the lounge was very poor; we had reserved a table for afternoon tea, which whilst was not the table location we had requested we were then proceeded to be ignored for 15 minutes. When we complained we were given a complimentary glass of Champagne, but this was not the point as it is not the service level expected within a 5* hotel. The selection of food was very poor based on other afternoon tea experiences, and we wished we had not had bothered. Evening drinks service was no better; such a shame as it really let the hotel down, and we were not alone with the experience as we heard others moaning, and one family left without being offered any drinks.

This was our first stay at the Grand and won't be our last. It's all done well - the concierges are very welcoming as are all the staff.

The rooms are very nice - but try to get one with as little road noise as possible. Some have got great sea views and will be worth paying for.

It's got indoor and outdoor heated pools, a spa and a great restaurant (bring jacket or ties chaps).

Breakfast is very tasty and there's a great selection too. Service is slightly haphazard (as it is with so many decent hotels) but it shouldn't put you off at all.

We stayed here the weekend of August 5th to celebrate our wedding anniversary. It was a short stay, but thanks to the very high quality of service and care from the staff it felt like a much longer stay. The facilities of the hotel were excellent, the restaurant was superb both at dinner and breakfast. We would heartily recommend the hotel and hope to revisit soon.

Stayed this last weekend 5th August. Having stayed several times over the past few years the Hotel changes very little and offers excellent standard of hospitality. Most of the staff have been here for years.The restaurant maintains its high standard of service and food. Hope to return before Christmas.

I went with my 91 year old father and a friend to stay for a few days. From the moment we arrived we were made to feel very welcome and nothing was too much trouble for the staff to help us. My father is not the easiest of guests, but the staff were helpful and kind to him. The bar staff helped my friend and me keep our sanity by mixing us excellent cocktails after he had gone to bed!
The food was delicious and well served.
A huge thank you to everyone there.

Had a day as a treat at The Grand. Spent time in the health club where the friendly, efficient staff were on hand to answer any queries. They were approachable and knowledgeable. The facilities were clean, tidy and as I expected. I left feeling relaxed and refreshed. An enjoyable day in lovely surroundings.

The comfiest bed EVER! Superb staff. Proper old fashioned palace by the sea---but not outdated!
From the greeting on arrival to the moment we left we were treated as "special"! The breakfast was delicious. It is everything we look for in a traditional, sumptuous, seafront hotel. soo pleased to fine this type of hotel still exists!
We will certainly return! Fabulous!

We stayed over the weekend and did not enjoy our stay.The hotel is grand in appearance but is certainly not five star.
The staff were helpful and efficient, the conceirge were excellent all of them.
The waitresses looked like they had all suffered a family bereavement.The room decor was dated and we had carpet! in our bathroom.The bed was a small double and the matress was ridiculously soft you lay on it and it just collapsed felt like i was sleeping on the floor.
The snooker room was ill equipped with one table having a repaired cloth and there was only one cue that had a tip on it.
If you wanted to eat or drink of an evening you wre required to wear a jacket or tie and take plenty of money coz cheap it isnt, really cmon what century are they in.

We stayed at this hotel for just one night, would loved to have stayed longer. The staff were very attentive and friendly. The hotel style and decor was beautiful, full of old world charm. Located on the sea front in a quiet position but a short walk to the centre of Eastbourne. Food was good. Good wedding venue. Don't hesitate you will not be disappointed.

Really enjoyed staying here. It is a beautiful hotel and the service was excellent from start to finish. It is a very classic, old style, 'grand' hotel with dancing on friday and saturday nights and there was even a live jazz band on the saturday afternoon with all the oldies dancing in between sumptuous afternoon tea. Made me wish I could dance like that.

We had several treatments as part of a spa break and they were fantastic and staff were very professional.

The breakfast, afternoon tea and evening meal in the Garden restaurant were all incredible.

Really amazing break and was lovely to be able to stroll along the promenade in the mild summer evenings after our evening meal.

we booked this hotel at the last minute and we were very happy with our entire experience. on arrival the doorman parked our car and our bags were carried inside. The service from the moment we arrived was impeccible and the staff were always on hand, friendly and eager to please.
the room was spotless, i guess the decor could be regarded as slighly old fashioned but I liked to think of it as 'classic'. The room facilities were top class and the room was spacious and comfortable.
Breakfast was first class for choice and quality and the dining room is very classy and run efficiently.
overall this hotel is a 'grand hotel' in the true sense of the word, and i would reccommend it for a short or even a long stay.

I would have given the Grand a rating of 4 were it not for the absence of a baby listening service which had been advertised on the Small Luxury Hotels website where we made our booking. To their credit once we pointed this out they did provide us with a baby sitter for one of our three nights at no charge, allowing us to have dinner in the hotel's Mirabelle restaurant. But as our aim had been to do this every night, this somewhat took the shine off our stay.

The hotel can arrange babysitters but obviously need notice for this and it clearly this is a much more expensive option than a baby listening service.

The food in the Mirabelle is excellent, albeit in a formal setting (men must wear jacket or tie). It is quite expensive, as you have to have three courses for £40 per person and any variations from the basic menu incur extra charges.

Breakfast is good and there are high chairs available. Children can use both the indoor and outdoor pools.

There isn't WiFi available except in the conference meeting rooms which is a pity, and the mobile reception was very patchy (on O2 and Vodafone) - meaning we couldn't use our mobiles to act as a makeshift baby monitor system.

From the minute you arrive at The Grand you receive 5* service. I booked a Spa break, and, given the price, it might appear a little extravagent, however it was worth every single penny! The service was excellent throughtout my stay. My sea view room (333) was very comfortable. My room was spotless, even the taps shone! I loved the Molton Brown bathroom goodies :-)

I ate in the Mirabelle restaurant in the evening and the food and service was fantastic. Breakfast was taken in The Garden restaurant. Again, the service was excellent and there is a great choice of food.

The decor of the hotel is very traditional and I didn't notice any shabbyness. If you want a very modern contemporary hotel than The Grand isn't for you. If you want comfortable tranqull surroundings, with excellent service that makes you feel liked your being 'being looked after', than book The Grand.

The health spa (gym, pool, steam room etc) is well maintained and clean. Towels and robes are provided.

My only little gripe is that the bedroom and communal doors don't appear to have those slow release mechanisms fitted so they bang quite loudly when closed. I found this quite disruptive, especially when I wanted an early night after all my exercise!

We are used to staying in good hotels but have never had such good service as The Grand. Everyone greets you with a smile and a word. They respond to all requests impeccably. Most hotels have caveats with a lot of their facilities such as keeping strictly to the room service menu, booking babysitting days in advance, reserving car parking, applying tray charges none of which was a problem for The Grand.

As with anything though an individual's experience is set by the level of expectation one has. One can not deny the things that are said by other reviews concerning the spa and certain other maintenance aspects. That said the hotel is very old and a refurb would be a colossal expense. Certainly if you are looking for a spa experience this is not the place for you, that said many spas do leave a lot to be desired. The only spa worth going to in our experience is Whatley Manor, just go there every time you have a bad spa experience as recompense (over 12s only mind). The spa suited us seeing we had a three year old in tow so we just wanted a quick splash.

We stayed in a suite which was massive and lovely and yes it was a shame that the bathroom had a carpet and that is was poorly fitted but this did not detract from the stay for us. The bed was massive and massively comfortable. As we have a three year old we had room service most of the time (for him they throw in milk and cookie at bedtime and a meal). We also had the restaurant food in the room which was brought course by course (in most places if you're lucky enough for them to do this it is brought grudglingly and in all in one go). They could not do enough for us. The food incidently from The Garden restaurant was superb, not modern but then their typical clientele are pensioners. Their breakfast can not be bettered either buffet or ordered freshly cooked.

Whilst we book five star hotels in the hope of perfection perfection in reality is rarely achieved. We all seek however "five star treatment" which is exactly what you get here from the staff. Too often at top hotels the staff are not warm and accomodating enough but not The Grand.

So all in all a five star experience. If you are looking for completely unfrayed carpets, upholstery unworn fittings no creaking floorboards etc etc then don't book a hotel that first opened in 1875 especially outside London because there's a pretty good chance you're going to find something wrong. Try instead The Aviator, perhaps, that's new and the website looks good, at least I am looking forward to trying that out. Or perhaps Brooklands that's also very new and great but is already showing wear. Or for as near perfection as possible there are the likes of Chewton and Whatley - at a price.

Perfection is great to aspire to but be prepared for disappointment.