I was here for the wedding of my godaughter, only 17 of us attended, due to the current situation. Everything was.perfect, just as the married couple had requested and social distancing was observed throughout the hotel at all times. Bedrooms were comfortable although very hot and stuffy but that was due to the lovely warm weather and table fans were in the rooms. The hotel was art deco in decoration, lovely building, the staff were very helpful, especially Julian who seemed to be always there when needed. Would recommend it and would love to stay there again and explore Eastbourne

Our 2nd visit to this lovely hotel, well positioned for town centre & staff & food are great

Lovely Hotel. Second time we have been there. Lovely grounds

Lovely but drinks expensive 1 pint & large Preseco £14.50p ! Only had 1 for obvious reasons.

Attentive service, although sometimes a little slow. A very traditional and relaxing atmosphere popular with mature customers. The food was good quality as usual although the meal and plate needed to be much hotter on this occasion. We will definitely eat here again

Great hotel and good COVID precautions

Great friendly service, efficient, comfortable, pool and facilities are great.

Having stayed here on numerous occasions we were surprised at the lack of information and provision of services that we would have expected. Even though we had read the details about the Covid policy online there was little information available upon entry or in our room. Not everyone has access to online information.
There was a male reception who we found to be very blunt and lacking in a welcoming attitude. He was more concerned about asking people to pay for rooms that were not even ready to be occupied. He insisted that it was the policy. We dealt with a different receptionist who was very helpful and we paid at the end of our stay as normal.
There was no information in the room about replenishing tea/ coffee or toiletries . What was put in the room was not sufficient for our stay. A disposable note could easily be put in the room to tell people how to get these items topped up. We completely understand the need for prevention of Covid but there was no information whatsoever.
We originally read somewhere that the buffet breakfast would be served to us by staff to prevent any contamination and that made sense. However there was no buffet and the breakfast choices were very much reduced. No fruit/ nuts/ ham/ pastries/bread etc. One lady asked for a banana to have with her porridge but was told no. The haddock and skippers however were very good.There was no dinner menu displayed at the restaurant so we had no idea what was available. We ate out instead.
The fire alarm went off in the night and it was pretty chaotic! Nobody knew what was happening or where to go. There were marshalls and a night porter who said nothing to anyone and gave no directions. There were people everywhere. The lady in the room next to us told us her husband had stayed in bed because the same thing happened the last time they stayed and he was sure it would be another false alarm. We read from.other reviews that this has happened before. The fireman spoke to a man who had some keys and who had opened the doors to let the fireman in, and said ' you need to get this sorted out mate as this keeps happening '. We eventually went back to bed and within 20 minutes it happened again. The alarm switched off quite quickly however the fire brigade had to return so we had blue flashing lights outside our room until they had given the all clear again.
All in all a poor experience.

The building is certainly imposing and well located (not central, but not inconvenient). Room a bit pokey for the money but acceptable. The building interior has been modernised, but not lavishly and there are a few tawdry shortcomings.

A major problem was that several members went out of their way to be rude to us, and to others. Indeed I overheard a most bizarre dialogue later when someone else arrived, not wearing his virus mask. We were there for a small family reuinon lunch and then DB&B. There were several mistakes and bloopers made over the lunch, which marred the occasion.

By contrast dinner service was excellent and breakfast (served by the dinner staff) was the best I have had in a long time. The dining room staff were wonderfully pleasant and efficient as compared with the lunchtime / bar / lounge staff.

Be aware: I phoned to make the reservation (in order to also book the dinner table) and the B&B rate quoted was £40 more than the hotel's own on-line price. This is apparently "to discourage people from making phone reservations", although of course you wouldn't know unless you checked both the website and phoned in. Incidentally the table reservation was not recorded, so my phone call was futile anyway.

For the price we paid there were just too many rudenesses and mistakes.

We spent two delightful days staying at the Hydro last week. Luckily for us the weather was perfect. What we really found exceptional was the attitude and attentiveness of the staff. We had one evening meal and two breakfasts during our stay and all three were delicious. The ingredients seemed to be carefully thought through and locally sourced. The service was excellent. The front lawn area has to be seen to be appreciated and it was a pleasure to see croquet being played overlooking the English Channel! All in all we highly recommend this hotel over all others on the South coast of England. We shall be back!

On Saturday 15th August my daughter and her friend made their First Holy Communion and we chose The Hydro to have their celebration lunch with our families.

Our waiter was amazing, very friendly and helpful and nothing was too much trouble for him. It must have been a nightmare because of covid as we were all on different tables, but he still stayed very cheerful!

Everyone said the food was fantastic and we would definitely come again!

We were so happy we were allowed this celebration to go ahead because of covid, and we all felt very safe and the hotel staff knew exactly what they were doing and were very professional and polite.

Also a massive thank you to Jonathan Owen, the General Manager for organising this meal and for staying so patient with me for all my emails and questions!

Thanks again Hyrdro staff, you were all brilliant!

Our stay at the Hydro was just what we needed after deciding not to head to Spain at the last minute.

I was rushing around looking for a Hotel, with a pool, near the beach. None seemed to be just right until i found the Hydro in my searches.

It ticked all the boxes but we were still nervous for our first proper venture out since Lockdown began. We were not disappointed.

From the temperature check upon arrival, till we'd packed our bags and were leaving, the staff at the Hydro made us feel welcome and safe.

Considering the current concerns with Covid and the hindrance of having many staff members furloughed, I found that the Hydro team never gave less than 110% and always managed to do their jobs with a smile. The Hydro is very lucky to have such exemplary and dedicated staff.

During our stay we ate at both Hydro restaurants and the food was exceptional (particularly the Lasagne). The Hotel itself reminded us of an Agatha Christie set and although i'm sure that's not everyones cup of tea, it suited us down to the ground.

The pool may have been too busy without the Covid restrictions but that also worked out well for the kids as it meant they could have a proper splash about in the heat.

My wife and i also booked a massage. I've never had a massage before but have been suffering with shoulder pain, so thought, what the hell.
We were fortunate to have Frank who seemed very knowledgable and gave me great advice about my shoulder and an exercise to do to improve it. I also enjoyed the massage and would definitely seek him out again if we lived closer to Eastbourne.

Overall, we had a wonderful stay at the Hydro and it really jump started our summer after such a long stint stuck indoors.

I would thoroughly recommend staying there and i hope, if you do, that your experience is as enjoyable as ours was.

Returned this week from a 3 night stay (wished I'd made it 4): had a really lovely visit and thoroughly enjoyed the old fashioned service, high quality food and relaxing ambience of the Hydro.

I was visiting a friend (who lives in Eastbourne) and the Hydro is a perfect place to meet up as there is enough parking (also some off road) and it's a nice stroll to the town. The location is far enough away to feel relaxed whilst being accessible. The grounds are fabulous and the view amazing: the pool was open and is a little sun trap.

When I first arrived, I did wonder if the hotel was a little snobby (it is an establishment with heritage): I don't think it is (maybe some of the clientele are!). There were some lovely fellow guests and this is a hotel that I would recommend to the lone traveller (of any age): it's a nice 'safe' environment and extremely relaxing.

A special mention to the staff (especially restaurant, housekeeping and duty manager - all three areas were efficient and welcoming); during this post lockdown world, they are working really hard to maintain the new procedures that they have put in place.

Stayed for just 1 night, booked with dinner, no issues at all, well organised for the meals,lovely location, would recommend and will return
Would have booked direct but the only option was 2 night stay
Service good, food very nice, we ate at another hotel on the way home, the Hydro food put theirs to shame

Beautiful lawn

It's Gin o clock for the recently retired.

As a family of 3, we found the room to be very compact. The additional single bed made up for our son was very uncomfortable. The mattress was very thin and he could feel the wooden slats underneath the mattress when he layed in the bed.
The shower in the room was a standard mixer shower, where the water pressure was very poor. We asked the hotel reception to send someone up to look at the shower as the water was trickling out but upon inspection we were informed that being on the 3rd floor the pressure wasn't going to get any better and this was the case the higher you went.
My wife had read that upon arrival we would be greeted with tea & lemon drizzle cake but this never materialised even though it was clearly displayed in the hotel reception notice case.
We ate in the hotel restaurant on two occasions and although the quality is very high the prices paid were very excessive. We paid £33 for a chicken ceased salad, cheese sandwich and a prawn sandwich.
Overall, we enjoyed our visit to Eastbourne but we will look at staying somewhere more modern upon our next visit.

Went for lunch. The food was excellent and freshly cooked to order

We went to the Hydro Hotel for afternoon tea which we booked a month ago.
There was plenty of space in the car park but I recommend not using the side entrance as no one was there to greet us or explain where to go. I ended up going to reception where I was told I should have had my temperature taken and be wearing a face mask. Not the warmest welcome.
We then had to wait at the bar before we were shown our table and our tea order was taken.
After 10 minutes our tea arrived and so did our afternoon tea. Unfortunately, despite ordering a vegan afternoon tea and stating this again when I booked, we were not given a vegan afternoon tea. Our waiter then told us that they were not currently doing vegan afternoon tea. We were furious. Despite having our details, no one has contacted us to tell us this or when we booked it.
Fortunately, the chef managed to put together an afternoon tea for us. It was not comparable to the non-vegan one but we were grateful that at least we had something.
Once we had this on our table, we received no further service, so trying to get a glass of water was out of the question.
I certainly think Hydro Hotel need more staff and better communication.

Fantastic afternoon tea in lovely surroundings.

Good food, friendly staff stunning views, disable friendly, just beautiful.

Service excellence in the reception and at the breakfast except our last day was something wrong ,short of stuff maybe which affect the service we been waiting for an hour for breakfast to arrive .this is the role of duty manager to give a hand in any outlet ? Hat to the Italian or spanish waiter sorry forgot his name he done everything he could to make it happened .also not forget the engenering man in charge to check our temperature ,top man .those people who makes us already to book again.

Cream tea ...... delicious

The Hydro a a old fashion hotel but it still an amazing place by the sea if you want some relaxation and quiet... nice food too, we had ours out in the terrace overlooking the sea,

Great views