When you stay at a place called The Grand, and it is the ONLY five star hotel remaining on the British coastline, you expect the best. At The Grand in Eastbourne, you get it. The staff all greet you with smiles and "Good morning" or "Good afternoon", and the place is steeped in history and tradition. Sure, it has an "old-fashioned" feel to it, with lots of brown furniture, but it is also first-rate modern - although, as yet, no wi-fi. The Sunday breakfast was worth travelling miles for - a vast plate of just about everything that is good about the "Full English" - who wanted lunch after that one? There are a few "downs" however, because at a five-star there is an inevitable tendency to nit-pick. First - the "oil paintings" on the walls aren't - they are rather bad reproductions. Please get something more authentic and in line with the age of this beautiful building. Secondly, on my ample terrace, someone had been smoking, and the discarded tab ends were still there, lodged in the crevices between the paving stones, and third, a picture on one wall had slipped from its mount and - horrors - the nail on which it was hung was clearly visible. Niggles, yes, but still valid, I think.

Staff, unfaultable. Comfort of bedrooms, up there with the very best. Attention to the tiny details, a little off-kilter. This is the hotel from whence came the BBC's Palm Court Orchestra programmes of yesteryear - where is the attempt to market that part of the heritage? Wake up, this is part of British history here! There's some tweaking to be done (the doormen need to smile a bit more and be somewhat mkore approachable), and little details need to be looked at, but, well, whow....what a brillaint place. The right hand side of The White Palace needs a new lick of paint, I could have done without the dint in the plaster of the wall of my room, but I forgive you unreservedly for every little tiny impediment for that superb breakfast and your wonderful staff. They are a credit to the hotel. The Grand is (cliche alert!) a national treasure, and the mild negative comments here are only so that it can get better - and better...... just a pleasure to have stayed there.

This was our first time in Eastbourne, and was recommended by friends to stay at the Grand. Well what a Fantastic time we had, and a real 5* experience. We arrived at the hotel after not the best of journeys only to find the car park was solid with cars, and within moments a top hatted gentleman appeared at the window and was ever so polite. He said he would escort us to the hotel and assist us with our luggage and valet park the car ! Wow what a welcome. We were treated with such honest genuine service by all, reception were very friendly and we were taken to our room by a porter who knew the whole history of the hotel and Eastbourne it seemed, very charming man. The room was spacious and not a disappointment. We felt really at ease and relaxed, we did not eat at the hotel, just took breakfast in the morning which was fantastic, good service friendly staff and a real delight. If I had to say what really made our stay was the atmosphere created by all the staff and the beautiful surroundings.
But one negative no wy fi !!!!! We left the hotel as we came with a wow factor ! Our car was at the steps of the hotel with the doorman waiting to open the door ???? How did he know we were about to leave ????? We will be back !!!

A truly five star hotel with fantastic staff, from the moment we drove into the hotel till the moment we checked out. I`d booked a mini moon as a surprise for my husband, and it didn`t dissapoint. The view from the room we had was fantastic with double windows on two sides of the room. We had room service twice witch was great and lunch on the veranda witch was also very nice. I`ve stayed in 5 star hotels around the world and The Grand competes very well.

We have stayed here on numerous occasions as love the hotel location and setting and live locally It is very rare to get the spacious bars and restaurants which have a very 1920 feel to it. Have eaten in the Garden Restaurant as the Mirabelle is closed on Sunday and Monday evenings and the food is not great and over priced so if you can I can definately rate the Mirabelle and promise that you will get excellent service from Ben the manager who has worked there years.

If you stay outside school holidays yes there are alot of elderly in residence which doesn't bother me and can't see why mentioned in so many reviews as we all get old however if you are looking for a young hip hotel this is not the place to stay.

Rooms most of the standard rooms area good size and have a view of the sea and could probably do with a refurb shortly. I have stayed in a couple of the suites which have fantastic sea views and extremely large balconies but again are slightly dated.

The facilities are good with indoor and outdoor pools, spa etc which are never over busy and all have low turnover of staff.

In summary nice hotel with friendly staff, great Mirbabelle restaurant , seafront location in a sleepy town. Perfect for a relaxing weekend away

Sometime since we last stayed here and it is still as good as it always was.
The Staff are excellent--the Concierge & Reception team & many of the Staff have been at The Grand for a long time.
The bedrooms are quiet & well looked after by the efficient Chambermaids.
The Buffet Breakfast is still excellent with top quality food including freshly squeexed orange juice,smoked salmon & croissants.The fried & poached eggs are cooked to order & served on hot plates covered with a silver dome!
The outdoor pool is a good size & there is also an indoor pool, steam ,sauna & a gym in addition to the treatments that can be booked.
--- a very enjoyable four night stay.

From the moment the conciergetakesyour keys to park your car, nothing is too much trouble for the staff. Check in is fast and efficient and your luggage is portered to your room. The rooms are large and very clean. Huge beds with lovely feather pillows and duvets. Huge bath towels and bath goodies. We ate in the Garden restaurant which is not the most expensive (but expensive enough!). Nice touches with 'amuse bouches' and refreshing sorbets. Wine is very, very expensive. Men need to wear a tie or jacket to enter the restaurant in the evening.
There is an excellent breakfast with a great choice of foods.
There is a good mix of clients from families with youn g children to older couples and singletons.
We stayed on a 3 nights for 2 and ate in the restaurant every evening. Worth splashing out for such good, old fashioned service.

good service and room (slightly dated) but disappointed by the main restaurant. their bread reminded me of the airplane bread and chocolate tart was too hard to cut.

We regularly stay at this hotel, which we consider to be the very best in Eastbourne. The Service, Staff, and Facilities are all excellent, and we are always welcomed as friends on our return visits....nothing seems too much trouble.
Our hotel room is always spotlessly clean, and well attended during our stay,
The location of the Grand is perfect, - overlooking the sea, yet easy to get to the town , theatres, and other attractions.
We are partially disabled and have to hire mobility scooters to get around, and the
staff always ensure that we are charged up and ready to go whenever we want.
We will always return again and again.

We only stopped off, with family, for tea. Usually I would not write a review having only been for tea, however the service and atmosphere at the Grand was such that I feel compelled to write a review in the hope that the management may read it. Firstly the staff and service was exceptional, one of the best we have experienced. The atmosphere is equally superb. But the decor, while un-modernised and beautiful, did seem slightly faded in places. There were chairs with wobbly arms, with scuff marks. Some of the carpet seemed a little ancient (although some was new to be fair). We only wandered the first floor (and took the squeaky stairs to the billiard room) but I write this review because I feel that with a little renovation, The Grand in Eastbourne can be one of the best hotels in the country.

My fiance and I stayed at the hotel for one night only as we wanted to book a wedding reception there in September. No sooner had I switched off the car engine outside the hotel entrance, we were greeted by Tony who arranged for our luggage to be taken to our room and the car to be parked. On way to our room, he pointed out some of the hotels facilities, and informed us about restaurant times and other items of interest. Such a warm and friendly welcome. The room was excellent, clean and very well appointed and had a lovely warm feel to it. We later had drinks in the lounge bar followed by a meal in The Mirabelle Restaurant, where the food and service were both excellent. The hotel itself has a certain charm about it, but the service at all times throughout was outstanding. This is what makes this hotel special, as the all of the staff that I encountered were courteous, friendly and extremely professional. We ourselves were made to feel special and we very much look forward to having our wedding reception there later on in the year. OK, so it doesn't have WiFi in the hotel, and I felt naked without having access to my iPhone which I am lost without in my particular business. Mobile phone reception is poor/non existent, buy hey, I was only staying for one night and I soon banished my withdrawal symptoms.A special mention also to Claire FURNELL, the hotel's event planner for her kindness and enthusiasm in helping us make the correct choices for our special day. Very professional, and a credit to the hotel. Well done.

Stayed her for a night with my pregnant wife in June 2011 as we fancied a night on the coast away from the stresses of London.

The Grand is undoubtedly grand and harks back to an earlier era where people dressed for dinner and where elegance ruled the day. What this does mean is that it can be a little stuffy, both from the decor of the rooms (and there were minor touches for improvement like big marks in the bath etc) to the (incorrect) rules in the folder in the room stating jeans shouldn't be worn for dinner.

Overall however, this is one of the closest to a five star experience I've experienced in a British seaside hotel. Had an excellent afternoon tea, delicious sandwiches, cakes, scones etc in a beautiful setting and very professional service. Breakfast was also excellent, great choice of hot and cold dishes... I don't normally indulge in a fried breakfast but was very glad I had!

Eastbourne is obviously not St Tropez but we enjoyed a walk along the front, playing the slots, some great fish and chips etc then retired to our executive seaview room (304). Definitely worth paying for a seaview, really made the break sitting in our arm chairs watching the sea outside. Despite the cool temperature, I had a swim in the (warm) outside pool which was fun.

Overall a great break, although I wouldn't pay rack rate for it. We went on a deal where we got a £60 food credit which made the price far more palatable! I'd also expect wifi to be available in 2011 at a five star hotel...

I have stayed at the Grand a few times in the past and have never been disappointed by it's consistently reliable standards and exceptional facilities.

I have to say that the room we were allocated on this late deal was at the rear of the hotel overlooking a noisy road and had little to place it apart from any good basic no sea view B&B. It was comfortable enough but being able to make use of the hotels facilities is the real bonus to saying at the Grand. The food as usual was of their usual high standard for a great Breakfast buffet experience with a huge range of choices.

We stayed for 2 nights at the Grand in June, where we had our Wedding Reception. The Service was excellent throughout. Food was delicious and we could not fault anything. Will return to eat there again and definitely stay over. How lucky we are to have such a fantastic Hotel on our door step.

On making my reservation I spoke to Felicity and explain that I was coming to stay two nights and will be travelling with my elderly disabled neighbour. At the time of my booking, there were no disabled rooms available, neither inter connecting rooms. However, we took adjacent Junior Suites with Seaviews and large Balconies. As I needed access to my companion's room (in case of an emergency) Felicity was helpful and patient in explaining the room structures to me on the phone.

On arrival, I found my parking space reserved and almost immediately the porter was at hand to help with our luggage and parked the car while I tended to my elderly companion. We had a problem with my companion's wheelchair and needed some help in fixing it. Tony the concierge managed it all in a jiffy (it seemed the Concierge had all sorts of tools appearing like magic from his pockets) and soon my companion was mobile again.

Checking in was quick, welcoming and efficient. Hmm... I thought: now that is how I expect it to be"! We then went on to have Afternoon Tea (freshly cut bread, freshly baked scones) and I ordered a glass of champaine which took 15 minutes to arrive! The waiter forgot! I was not impressed. We both ordered coffee, yet only one coffee was served. The waitress did not quite understand our order. We later went to our suites and my.. what a pleasant surprise. Absolutely fabulous, a wonderful seaview and tastefully furnished.

The Concierge Desk, Reception and our room girls, were extremely polite and helpful. I could sense they were proud to be associated with the Grand Hotel.

Called Housekeeping and Room Service for a wine-opener, which took 45 minutes for a response. Meanwhile it was delivered to the door by Concierge Tony.

Breakfast, was no world moving experience. Coffee takes ages before it gets to the table.
Staff not very attentive in clearing plates from table.

Dinner in the evening at the Mirabelle: Fantastic. Attentive staff, excellent food.

Dinner at Garden Restaurant, disastrous! We ordered the Lamb. Was it Lamb, was Duck? What was it? Whatever it was, it was over cooked rubber which I refused to eat!!! Even the vegetables were overcooked. The restaurant manager's sales talk of a special cut of lamb did not impress me and he suggested "out of goodwill" not to charge me for the wine. Goodwill would have been not to charge for the mishap served as my dinner.

Other then the dinner mishap, we thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere and surroundings of the Grand. Splendid elegance of days gone by, beautifully resurrected in the Grand Hotel. I will stay again, but will definitively avoid dining at the Garden Restaurant.

Excellent position on sea front- lovely promenade walks- theatres close by.
Beautifully appointed hotel - staff could not do enough for you- well worth the money.

It is a fantastic feeling when you stay in a hotel were the attitude from staff is that the customer is king and we are here to give them a great stay. We just spend a weekend with some friends a needed hotelrooms very close to each other - to start with the rooms were quite far apart. The staff was very helpfull and did everything they could to help out. So they asked us to if we would leave our stuff in reception and enjoy the beach or hotel swimming pool while they rearranged some rooms. When we came back we had rooms perfectly located right next to each other. The staff provided help on a few other problems and the staff did go an extra mile to make certain that our stay was enjoyable. On another point the outdoor pool is 29 degrees hot - which is brilliant in the UK for early June. The food is also very good. The hotel is not cheap - so be prepared to pay for the 5 stars - but this hotel is (in contrast to some other 5star hotels) truely a 5 star hotel. Well be back.
Lars and Lena

When we arrived at the hotel we were greeted by the porters who took a luggage.. the Receptionist were polite and pleasant and very helpful.. Our suites were on the 3rd floor suite 336 was a Inland view..if you want a Seaview try suite 300 ..both rooms were excellent very clean and tidy ..Bathrooms very clean and nice fluffy towels The Staff in the Garden restaurant was polite and helpful .food was excellent..except for a small blip on Sunday night we had a starters..but had to wait 35mins for a mains we had been forgotton but the head waiter sorted all out. This was the first time we had been to this hotel ..it will not be the last all i can say it thanks for everything.. J Scutt

We stayed here for a family wedding which was held in the Hotel. It was a perfect weekend, made even better when we were upgraded to a lovely suite with terrace overlooking the sea. The staff are all very helpful and friendly, the service excellent and we were made to feel very welcome.

Had a lovely meal in the Garden restaurant on the Friday evening which started the weekend superbly.

The hotel hosted the wedding beautifully and everyone enjoyed it enormously. Our room was very comfortable and had everything we could want. A swim in the outdoor pool on the Sunday after the wedding was very nice, followed by an excellent breakfast.

Altogether a perfect weekend which went all too quickly - we would liked to have stayed much longer and hope to return in the future.

Grand in every sense of the word. This is not a bijou 'boutique ' hotel, rather a grand old lady with first class service. Expect your luggage to be taken from your car, your car to be parked and staff to always remember your name. It is immaculately kept, and with a real sense of style. The Mirabelle Restaurant gourmet evening was a triumph and excellent value. The bedroom is traditional, but lovely linens, quality towels and an excellent view. Breakfast is served to the table and even offers kidneys, fried bread and black pudding: perfect! If you want stark modernity go elsewhere, but if quality service and excellent food in a grand setting are your taste then this is perfect.

Have just stayed 3 nights in room 300, third floor seaview room. Excellent large room, with great sea view. Standard of cleaning in room and whole of hotel was excellent. Did not agee with some reviews saying hotel looked a bit tired. This is not a brand new boutique hotel hence it is going to be more traditional type of hotel. Only thing I missed in the room was a fridge. Useful so you can buy some soft drinks for consumption in room. Outdoor pool great when the heating was working. Could only use pool one day out of three days. Sure they will manage to fix shortly. Breakfast and dinner very good, dinning room and lounge huge beautiful rooms. Made even better given that we got better deal on website, 3 nights for the price of 2 nights.

Having completed the 2011 Sussex Jag run from Chichester to Eastbourne we headed for a refreshing beer on the patio in celebration of arriving without breakdown in our 1970 Jag. Last year this was fine. This year, sadly, the staff were 'too busy' to serve 'non-residents' a beer even though we went to the bar as no one had appeared on the patio. However they were not too busy should we have wanted high tea. This was verified by the staff at Reception too.

Having stayed many times at their sister hotel, Tylney Hall, and held business conferences there, we were gob smacked. Suffice it to say we will remain 'non-residents' of the 'too' Grand @ Eastbourne.

We stayed at The Grand for 2 nights.We booked a deluxe room last minute via their website. We received 5 star service from the moment we pulled into their car park.
My husband went to reception to enquire if we could leave our bags as we were 2 hours early for check in. As our room was ready, reception said we could check in early without paying extra.
David, who managed our bags and showed us to our room was professional and sincere in his friendliness. Actually all the staff we met were the same.
Our room was traditional in its furnishing and very comfortable. It felt like a country home.
The actual building is magnificent inside and out.

I suppose this Hotel will appeal to those who "think" it is classy, tasteful and old fashioned, but look under the layers of dull chintz and gratuitously expensive impressions, and there is very little substance to this overblown and self-consciously grand hotel. While the service is ok if you like the over-formality, the rooms comfortable and the whole place quite imposing, I found it oppressive and lacking in real style. It's trying too hard!

Everything is heavy and over-decorated, and without any sense of proper design, and all the communal rooms, bars and restaurants have almost identical decor - a sort of dull wallpaper with over-use of beige and brown. They haven't heard of simple, tasteful, primary colours. The result is a rather oppressive dullness and lack of character.

The restaurant is outrageously expensive without serving great food, the wine even more outrageous and the service is far too formal. Decent "grand" hotels gave up this mock-colonial style decades ago and quite rightly too. This hotel fails to see the difference between taste and just piling on the cod-snobbery to impress. I'm sure it would suit the local Toc H society or a chapter of the local masons keen to impress their acolytes, but no discerning traveller would see this as anything but a missed opportunity to provide a light, airey, pleasant atmosphere which is always the real mark of quality. Colonial is good...but mock colonial is merely pretentious.

I know most other reviewers will disagree but sorry to say that while this hotel is reliable and comfortable, it doesn't match its self-conscious image....and the food and wine is way over priced. I'd have more fun and arguably better food and wine in a local bistro.

Came back to The Grand for an overnght stay wth my brother, having been a regular visitor for any years. As usual, excellent staff, very well organized. Friday and Saturday nights feature a 3 piece easy listening outfit plus a singer, in the lounge (next to the bar) with carpet rolled away for dancing.
Very fast service in the elegant Garden Restaurant (note pianist now only plays on Saturday night and Sunday lunchtime).
Can thoroughly recommend The Grand for service,decor,food and location.

I thoroughly enjoyed staying at the Grand Hotel in Eastbourne. The service was exceptional and hotel staff were very polite and friendly. The interiour of the hotel was awe inspiring somewhat comparable to staying at Buckingham Palace. A very memorable experience and will certainly stay at the Grand Hotel again.