We had afternoon tea here booked by my boyfriend for my Birthday, and it was delightful, the staff were very courteous and helpful and attentive, and a lovely ambience, was quiet when we first arrived so took lots of pitcures, it was very posh, the food, was very nice too, the sandwiches could of been a little better but all in all very nice, the scones were very light and the cakes also very very good, there was even eton mess in small shot glasses, was a lovely experience and the staff checked on you tea or coffe if you had enough or wanted more. Would highly recommend for a special occassion.

My husband and I stayed at the grand hotel in Eastbourne expecting a five star experience, the décor and paintings are beautiful. Other than that we were very disappointed we had a spa treatment each which was meant to last 25mins, it did not we were finished within 20mins. The beautician rushed us out and we were not relaxed at all. The food and drink which we asked for while we were in the health spa was delivered to us late and the coffee was cold. The next morning we had breakfast delivered to our room for a small fortune(£6.50 each) and the person who bought the breakfast demanded the cash immediately for the delivery of the breakfast. We told her she could wait and we would settle what we owed before we checked out. We will not be returning there again

Having spent the morning with my niece in the leisure club, we went to the main lounge and thoroughly enjoyed sandwiches, which were complemented by a delightful side salad, together with a soupçon of pea soup. If you like to occasionally be in grand and beautiful surroundings, treat yourself for a special occasion. You won't be disappointed. They also have free parking. I have also experienced a birthday afternoon tea, which is very special.

We have just returned from a 5 day break at The Grand.We had no idea it was Tennis Week at Eastbourne,so the
Hotel was nearly full.The staff in the dining room really had their work cut out for them at breakfast time.200 odd tennis supporters,mainly 'Ladies' all wanting breakfast at roughly the same time put a strain on the staff,but they coped admirably .We just sat back and enjoyed 'people watching'!We think this is our favourite South Coast hotel.We enjoy the service,food and the seafront location.We will return once the summer rush is over!

We booked a table for 12 a few weeks ago,(not under my name) for a Sunday lunch. Having never dined at The Grand, I expected something a little different and classy to be offered for our Sunday Roast. Unfortunately, although perfectly edible, it was just the standard of any reasonable Cafe in a good High Street!!
Although we had lovely heavy china plates and good cutlery.
The amount of meat on the plate was a little (let's say lightweight). But the second course of Crumble and custard was lovely. We could have had a starter instead.
I feel for £15.95 we were paying a premium for the location, not for a value for money lunch!
To give them credit, we had been given permission to bring our own specially worded Birthday Cake for my Wife ( plus candles ) and the manager offered to cut up the cake and serve it to us on individual small plates, which I thought was a nice touch. All the staff were very polite, discrete and did not hover. I would dine there again, if only for the nice sea view tables ( which, I presume have to be reserved!

I stayed Wed and Thurs of the same week and I am staggered to hear the car was not parked. The doorman took my keys, parked the car and returned the key. On previous visits the car has been taken care of in a similar manner and collected for us at the end of our stay. The cases were held for us whist we were at the tennis tournament and were put in our room ready for us on our return. The staff are always friendly and helpful. The dining room staff are particularly helpful. On this visit the hotel was full and yet I would not have known this from the excellent service we received.
The hotel is a little less modern than some, but that is part of its charm. You can indulge yourself in the imagination of past English glories. You can dream of the opulence of the large rooms and of sitting in the lounge having afternoon tea and cakes. You can almost see the ladies in their grand dresses and hats.
The venison for my evening meal was worth every penny. The setting, service and ambience was delightful; the bed was amongst the most comfortable I have slept in; and the spa and pool facilities well worth a visit.

Just got back from a trip to the The Grand hotel in Eastbourne. The staff my be plentifully but no one talk to each other, First I ask for a disable parking space but each time I left the hotel, they ask if I was coming back, why did not the reception staff tell the doorman how long I was staying at the hotel. Next was breakfast, I know it was very busy at the hotel, but the food was always running low, the bacon was so crispy it was hard to cut, the staff had no fix tables to covers so you at to ask lots of different staff for tea, coffee etc. and wait a long time for it to arrive. This is the first time I have written a reviews but I was so shock at the claim of a five star hotel which should be a three stars. Much better hotels in Eastbourne at half the cost.

It was my first stay at a five-star hotel and if this is five-star then I am deeply disappointed. Mould on the window frames and a tick layer of dust awaited us in the room, not to mention the wallpaper falling down the walls. The worst was however when our children had to wait for 20 minutes to have fried eggs at breakfast when there were not more than 15 people in the restaurant at the time.

This hotel seems to be stuck in the 80s. Having said that, its not necessarily a bad thing. The service from all staff was excellent. The room was spacious and the bathroom more than adequately appointed. All in all, very comfortable. We were advised that WIFI was available throughout the hotel, but we were at the end of a (very long) corridor and the signal didn't reach us.
There was the standard buffet breakfast was served in the morning. It was fine. We didn't eat dinner here, so I can't comment on the evening service. However, I did see a sign that men dining were required to wear jacket and tie. Very pretentious!

Generally in need of a refurbishment. Agree that lack of fridge is annoying and no internet access in room was also poor. Also broken deckchairs by pool. Door staff very well organised with so many cars.

From the moment you drive up to the door and the Concierge takes your car away, you feel special here, the reception staff, the bar staff, the waitiers, all are a credit to the manager, and make The Grand a caut above the seaside type Hotels that Eastbourne has to offer. The building and Interior have been preserved to a very high standard, Our room was large and airy with a nice spacious bathroom, the sofa was comfy, the decor was dated, not tatty, just enough to keep that olde worlde ambience this hotel provides. We loved it so much,
The Food was of a very high standard, and the cocktails were as expected....brilliant!
We were fortunate enough for our room to be upgraded, which was very kind of them, and the flowers and Chocolates I had prearranged were fantastic, my wife was so impressed with them.

I wish Trip Advisor had an extra star for special places like this, we have been fortunate to have travelled and stayed at some wonderful places, but this place topped them all, The Grand takes you back in time, back to when Great Britian was Great!

We only live in Worthing but had never been to this hotel at all until a year ago.... since then we have stayed four times. three of those times we have stayed in an executive seaview room... well worth the money especially if going in the summer as the view is fantastic. You are met at the door and your car is parked for you... nothing is too much trouble her unlike some places we have stayed at. The rooms are sumptious the bathrooms modern... yes carpet on the floor but everything is spotless. tea making facilities in the room which is always welcome.
The bed are really comfortable and we always have a good nights sleep when here.
We have eaten in both the Garden restaurant and the Mirabelle. Both are very good... the Mirabelle being our favorite and at £25 for a 3 course lunch do not think this is too pricy at all. all staff are very curtious, and we love the chatsworth lounge... so comfortable... lots of sofas and chairs and staff always on hand for yiur every need.
three nights a week they have a small band plus singer from 9.30pm for those who wish to dance,,, it is all very relaxing and we have a wonderful time when here... we will be back.

Booked a champagne tea to honour some special guests. Well the service lef much to be desired. Actually had a waiter listen in on our private conversation and then interject! Other members of waiting team also lacked training. It is apparent that the Grand is using casual labour or foreign interns to staff. Being friendly is not an excuse for mediocre service. I actually had to chase down a waiter in order to settle my bill.Quality of food and tea was quite good but not copious. Nothing special and a little overpriced considering the pathetic service. Clearly standards are slipping. Nice setting let down by poorly supervised staff.

When we arrived at the hotel, we were met by the doorman who parked my car. The entrance and the whole hotel is very grand as the name describes. All the stuff from check in to taking our bags to our room were excellent, polite and genuine. We got into our room, the first thing you see is the bathroom. It's very modern and spacious, but then you walk into the bedroom and it's like something out of the 50's. It reminded me of my Nan's house. We did with it as it's not all about the room. Then we spent the evening out, came back and got to bed. The bed was really really soft, and we both had a bad nights sleep. My wife is pregnant which didn't help! In the morning we had breakfast, good choice, smoked salmon, full English, almost everything you'd want. The only thing they didn't have is hash browns, something i love with breakfast, but you can't have it all! Upon check out, i expressed me concerns, the manager was duly called, and i explained my concerns. He was again very apologetic and genuine, and gave us a discount on our stay. Our room with the discount was still £125, which i still think is a lot, but i am happy that he did that as he didn't need to. He also offered us a free upgrade next time, which i think we will probably take him up on some time soon.

I suspect that one of the reasons this hotel has a 5 star rating is because it has a spa, although not too many of the guests would be young enough to be interested! Some of the public rooms are tatty as was our bedroom. The bathroom was in desperate need of renovation and updating. The food in the restaurants was OK but certainly not worth writing home about. All in all, we found the whole stay disappointing. There are many many better hotels than this

I did an overnight stay at the grand. First time I had been there. It was very impressive the staff were excellent. My room was a deluxe room and very comfortable. Breakfast excellent plenty of choice. Facilities were great lovely indoor swimming pool and spa. Outdoor pool was also open.
Public rooms were very grand. Will definitely revisit

Jean G

I have friends over from CapeTown and as they have" The Mount Nelson", I took them for Champagne Tea at The Grand. We had a super time and "Tea" was superb, as was the service.I could not fault it and would highly recommend it to anyone visiting down here. We felt totally comfortable, whilst surrounded by the splendour of the beautiful hotel, on a lovely sunny day by the sea.

I've travelled to Eastbourne on business many times over the last three years and have stayed at the Grand Hotel as often as I could. It has become a second home to me. The hotel is a spectacular example of old world grandeur. It’s conveniently located right on the sea shore and within walking distance to some very good restaurants. But what makes the Grand stand out, however is the quality of the staff. From the front desk to the concierge to the bar tenders and the dining room and housekeeping staff, they all are friendly, courteous and go the extra mile to try to make your stay a better experience. For me, I’m away from home, family and friends, so these extra touches make the difference. It’s a bit more expensive, but well worth it.

I organised a large conference at the Grand and also visited on two other occasions for overnight stays. Overall, the Grand is an impressive venue, with very good staff and truly lovely public rooms and bedrooms. The location isn't central , but on the front and it's a lovely walk into town if the weather is good; the beach is right outside of course. The indoor pool is small but there's a nicer, heated, outdoor pool - but not open all year. As you would expect, most of those staying are wealthy and older than average. The hotel catered well with our conference, though didn't always come up with solutions to problems if it didn't fit their model. The food is good on the whole and our conference guests were very pleased. If staying as a private guest, I would be a bit choosy on the menu (there are two restaurants), as not every dish is wonderful; for example, you could choose to have meat carved at your table, but ultimately that's just a marketing gimmick as we all know. There's valet parking and the hotel will reserve a parking space for you by name. The nightly turn-down service is also a pleasing touch. The hotel rooms do not have refridgerators, but the hotel will provide a small one at no charge for medicines or bottled water if needed. So, all in all you'll have a great stay due to the lovely interior and excellent service. The staff always have the ability to make a trip special and the Grand hasn't forgotten that, in marked contrast to many of the bland and equally as expensive experiences elsewhere.

Spent Saturday night in May 2013. Myself, friend, my mum and hers. From when we arrived to when we left, the doorman, the receptionists, the concierge, the bar staff were simply amazing. Cannot fault the hospitality. Our rooms 324 and 326 were clean and tidy including bathroom.
Dinner was expensive but good. Breakfast was in abundance from full english, selection of cereal and pastries, with fresh juice not concentrate. (Lolo a pet peeve of mine). All buffet style.

My only criticism is that there is carpet in the bathroom. But spotless.
The spa area became noisy as family groups were treating it like a public pool. Best time is early morning or last thing (worth asking opening times)

We have just returned from an over night visit to the Grand Hotel. The room was good with lovely views over the sea. I have to say this was not worth the £255.00 we paid for it. The balcony needed painting as the metal was very rusty. The floor tiles on the balcony needed power washing. The bathroom was dated with carpet on the floor!!!!!
The meal at the Garden Restaurant was indifferent. We booked for 8pm and went into the restaurant at 7.40pm after ordering our meal in the lounge bar. We waited a considerable amount of time until the first course arrived, and the meal on the whole was disappointing. It certainly was not worth the money we paid.
We have to say that the breakfast was excellent - we did not order anything from the kitchen but used the self service amenities.
This hotel is living off its past reputation. We travel a lot and have dined in Michelin starred restaurants but this whole experience was not what we both expected.
Please, please upgrade this hotel and you will have a winning establishment.

My Husband and I wanted to take a break away as we have a very stressful job and on the weekend had our biggest event of the year. But instead of going away we thought we would try the famous Grand Hotel In our home town. The so called sheek and glamorous hotel The Grand Hotel.

We decided to go for the Spring Package, so 2 days.

DAY 1
We had a great start to our trip with easy parking and a lovely greeting. We were told we were entitled to a complimentary upgrade. We were obviously very happy for that.

We then were showed to our room in which we were very underwhelmed and thought to ourselves if this was the upgrade what would the room before have been like. The double bed was very small ( I have a bigger bed at home), the floor was uneven and the décor was more dated then sheek or to a certain décor. We understood though that this was just obviously the theme of the hotel and were fine to continue.
We then went to the spa, the inside pool is nice but very small and as it is open to the general public gets very busy very quickly. My husband and I felt as it was a relaxing pool having gym goers doing splash laps made it feel like we were in the Olympics pool but saw it as quite humorous rather than annoying.

We headed to the Garden Restaurant for dinner. We were very much looking forward to the 5 star restaurant and we were even more underwhelmed. We had to mix both our starters to make them remotely edible. My Garlic Brushetta was literally dry bread with tomatoes and Balsamic Vinegar. The best part of the whole meal was the appetizer and the wine as the main dishes were dry and no better than a cheap pub lunch.

Now for time to sleep and in the middle of the night I had a glass bottle hit me in my face due to the uneven floor and cabinet by the bed being uneven due to this leaving me shocked. Our room was right next to a water tank which woke my husband and I up repeatedly throughout the night as soon as anyone on our floor used the bathroom. The worst night’s sleep I have ever had in a supposed 5 star hotel.
DAY 2
After an awful night’s sleep and my husband I feeling very tired and agitated we went down to breakfast in which were seated quickly but waited over 2o minutes for our tea and coffee after I had to approach staff twice about it. We also had to wait 50 minutes just for me to actually get my order. So stressful and actually made me and my husband decide to end our break short.

The management came to deal with our complaint and was very nice but he discounted our room £100 so under 50% off. We were upgraded to an Executive Room with Sea View. It was nice of them to upgrade us and we decided to stay but unfortunately we were underwhelmed and could not really understand how this hotel as classed as a 5 star even down to their main lounge with dated and off colour and dirty looking furniture. Our second meal in the Mrrabelle restraint was better but my Fillet Steak was over cooked and dry and the sauce tasteless. my husband’s main was better the Scallops were lovely but the haddock pastry was not to my taste no fault of the chef. Deserts were quite boring mainly ice creams. No wine included in the meal even with or previous horrendous night. We ordered room service which was a club sandwich and by far my favorite meal. We had two £10 vouchers for each day for lunch in which we did not use and actually only ordered the one lot of room service which we were charged full price and our vouchers were just invalid very irritating and just showed the Grand just doesn't go the extra mile. I have stayed in 5 star hotels and restaurants and I personally would rate this as a 3 star and although they have door men and silver service does not make this a 5 star. I would not return to this hotel and actually came away wanting to go home and feeling quite irritated and stressed. I believe the Cavendish is much better regarding food and a better price.

Went here for dinner while staying in Brighton. Arrived around 7.45 for 8pm . Met at the door by a very smart Concierge helped the ladies out of the car ,asked for the keys to park the car ,sorry even my wife doesn't drive my car ( but that's me) . Shown to the lounge for pre dinner drinks all very pleasent and peaceful . Orders taken ,the table was laid with fine white linen ,cutlery and glass wear shining. The food was presented and cooked very well . The staff were very helpfull and not over powering. We enjoyed our meal here. Thank you.

It a must to go!!! The best hotel in Eastbourne. The staff was lovely beside for the young maids need bit more training. The bar staff was so nice they made me feel so comfortable. The door man was a delight to talk to while you waited for your taxi. Breakfast was great. The rooms are big and the bed was so comfortable that I did not like getting out. The only down fall in room was rust on central heater. The both pool was lovely but the gym needs to be redone. When one morin stay for 30 mins due to none work machine. Its was old and out dated. Cannot wait to return with my daughter.

WE have just returned yet again from this wonderful hotel. The experience from the moment the Concierge parks your car until the time it is returned to you is amazing. The lounges are light, airy and numerous. The food in the restaurants are superb and beautufully served.

The health club is more than adequate, the only comment is thatthe outdoor pool is minute

We will continue to returen to this hotel