Local Reviews
In September 2010, MikeandCaroline said about Old Government House Hotel & Spa
We stayed here for 4 days having stayed at another hotel on the other side of the island for 4 days. Great location only minutes into the capital St Peters Port yet on a quiet street.
Beautiful hotel oozing luxury well worth paying that little extra for the sumptious surroundings this hotel offers from the exquisite decor inside the hotel to the beautful gardens and pool area. We stayed in the newly refurbished Herme Suite which had a balcony with magnificent views of the Island. Truly a luxurious room more than enough storage and extra's like the beautiful aroma of Oriental Lillies which we passed on the way to and from our Suite that made this a truly memorable stay. Extremley friendly and attentive staff. I would recommend staying here to anyone.
Beautiful hotel oozing luxury well worth paying that little extra for the sumptious surroundings this hotel offers from the exquisite decor inside the hotel to the beautful gardens and pool area. We stayed in the newly refurbished Herme Suite which had a balcony with magnificent views of the Island. Truly a luxurious room more than enough storage and extra's like the beautiful aroma of Oriental Lillies which we passed on the way to and from our Suite that made this a truly memorable stay. Extremley friendly and attentive staff. I would recommend staying here to anyone.
Source: tripadvisor.co.uk
In September 2010, Halon1401 said about Old Government House Hotel & Spa
We spent five nights at The Old Government House Hotel on a pay for four, get one extra for free basis. The OGH, as it is called, is a five minute gallop down to the harbour front, or a 7 minute wheeze uphill. I'd forgotten that Guernsey is hilly, especially St Peter Port.
Everyone was helpful, friendly and cheerful. The Hotel has a pleasant air of stately charm about it, but it is rather easy to lose direction when heading for the rooms: corridors rise, fall, twist and turn, but that is part of the charm.
Faults? The sash cords in two of our three windows had broken, but with quiet and efficient air con, you could argue that you do not need to open anything. However, the bathroom had no extractor fan, so we propped the window open with a deodorant pack! Shows up nicely in our photos....We reported this, and the failed lamp above the shower, to the front desk after they gave us a welcoming courtesy call. Nothing was done about it. No great problem, but, if you are asked if everything is OK, and you say something isn't, then either fix it, or don't ask in the first place!
The cosy and pleasant bar had good staff; Sky Sportsonly on TV, but with no sound, and canned musak emanating from behind the screen somewhere. One day, they opened the door to the garden, where a young saxophonist was playing soothing airs for those partaking of tea in the garden. The curious stereo effect of him v. the musak when sitting in part of the bar near the door soon required a request to kill one or the other. Musak lost, but the staff looked terribly surprised that it should be necessary. You just need to ask. And folk don't go to the OGH for the musak. At least, I never saw any faces fall when it went off.
Breakfast was excellent, though the area used had a capacity well below that of the Hotel when full. Which it was. Early or late was OK, but around 9-15/9-30 a wait of over 30 minutes for a table was the norm on 2 days. I had much fun watching the plaintive Mrs Two Eggs, as I christened her, for whom nothing was right. "I always have two soft boiled eggs, my husband always has one". You can guess, can't you? She got one egg. When two came, they were hard.She needed two more. Meanwhile, grumpy husband didn't get his toast. Nor milk for his tea. The next day I was inadvertaently shown to the table that they had briefly vacated to get their starters. "Oh, didn't you see my handbag?" Nope, not when it was hidden behind the curtain on the window ledge! Place settings had to be relaid after I'd moved. Then the eggs appear - but "We are still eating our fruit, you'll have to take them away." They went. For a very long time. "Now our toast is cold..."She and her husband would not be writing kindly to Trip Adviser! Great fun.
We never ate in the two restaurants, apart from breakfast. The plush one seemed to be very small: the other was bistro style and was used for breakfast as well.
I used the swimming pool: OK, but you can only swim in circles. Whilst there is a shower nearby,and towels, there are no changing facilities, so you have to wander the corridors in a bathrobe
We liked the place: it was fine for us, it was in an ideal spot, and we'd happily go there again. Might take spare light bulbs, though. I think that my captions match the photos: I had a struggle with these, so apologies if they get mixed up.
Everyone was helpful, friendly and cheerful. The Hotel has a pleasant air of stately charm about it, but it is rather easy to lose direction when heading for the rooms: corridors rise, fall, twist and turn, but that is part of the charm.
Faults? The sash cords in two of our three windows had broken, but with quiet and efficient air con, you could argue that you do not need to open anything. However, the bathroom had no extractor fan, so we propped the window open with a deodorant pack! Shows up nicely in our photos....We reported this, and the failed lamp above the shower, to the front desk after they gave us a welcoming courtesy call. Nothing was done about it. No great problem, but, if you are asked if everything is OK, and you say something isn't, then either fix it, or don't ask in the first place!
The cosy and pleasant bar had good staff; Sky Sportsonly on TV, but with no sound, and canned musak emanating from behind the screen somewhere. One day, they opened the door to the garden, where a young saxophonist was playing soothing airs for those partaking of tea in the garden. The curious stereo effect of him v. the musak when sitting in part of the bar near the door soon required a request to kill one or the other. Musak lost, but the staff looked terribly surprised that it should be necessary. You just need to ask. And folk don't go to the OGH for the musak. At least, I never saw any faces fall when it went off.
Breakfast was excellent, though the area used had a capacity well below that of the Hotel when full. Which it was. Early or late was OK, but around 9-15/9-30 a wait of over 30 minutes for a table was the norm on 2 days. I had much fun watching the plaintive Mrs Two Eggs, as I christened her, for whom nothing was right. "I always have two soft boiled eggs, my husband always has one". You can guess, can't you? She got one egg. When two came, they were hard.She needed two more. Meanwhile, grumpy husband didn't get his toast. Nor milk for his tea. The next day I was inadvertaently shown to the table that they had briefly vacated to get their starters. "Oh, didn't you see my handbag?" Nope, not when it was hidden behind the curtain on the window ledge! Place settings had to be relaid after I'd moved. Then the eggs appear - but "We are still eating our fruit, you'll have to take them away." They went. For a very long time. "Now our toast is cold..."She and her husband would not be writing kindly to Trip Adviser! Great fun.
We never ate in the two restaurants, apart from breakfast. The plush one seemed to be very small: the other was bistro style and was used for breakfast as well.
I used the swimming pool: OK, but you can only swim in circles. Whilst there is a shower nearby,and towels, there are no changing facilities, so you have to wander the corridors in a bathrobe
We liked the place: it was fine for us, it was in an ideal spot, and we'd happily go there again. Might take spare light bulbs, though. I think that my captions match the photos: I had a struggle with these, so apologies if they get mixed up.
Source: tripadvisor.co.uk
In September 2010, takearest said about Old Government House Hotel & Spa
The hotel staff are exceptional and nothing is too much trouble, which is why it is very hard to make a complaint.
We opted to stay for seven nights in a Queen room with the one night free package.
The room posted on there website bore no resemblance to the tiny room the large bed was sqeezed into. I had requested sheets and blankets instead of a duvet and thats precicely what we got no sign of a suptuous throw, just a brown blanket.
They go to great lengths prior to your arrival to make your stay enjoyable, a request for an iron and ironing board in the room was over looked but on request one was duly sent.
I also had to request more hangers as there were only 8 in the wardrobe, this request was met with, " i'm sorry madam but we have a wedding and all the hangers are being used", they did however say that they would see what they could do and some hours later another four were sent.
We had also requested a table be reserved for the night of our arrival in the restaurant, asuming this to be the govenors as opposed to the more casual brasserie. So we were a little surprised to be told that they did not have a table for us, evidently this was because we had not been specific in our request ( why did they not ask for clarification when we first made the request), so we were given a table with apologies in the brasserie.
Overall the food was pretty good, the first meal in the brasserie was excellent but the degustation menu which we opted for on the second evening was fairly average( mushrooms on burnt toast) but billed as something exceptional. Breakfast however was a very hit and miss affair. The first morning we were placed in a very chilly part of the garden as all the tables were full inside and within minutes of our food and drinks being served they were as cold as we were. The second morning we insisted on waiting for a table inside and had to wait twenty minutes. The chef is a big lover of the heat lamp and my husband gave up having the full english as the eggs were always dried up, as for my eggs benedict which i decided to have as a treat on the last morning, which consisted of soggy muffin (because the poached egg had been placed on it wet) hard poached egg and toasted benedict sauce, which instead of being a nice creamy yellow sauce was a dried brown glaze.
Overall an excellent hotel with fantastic staff let down by an "acclaimed chef " who is far from it. If you are a foodie this is not the place to stay.
We opted to stay for seven nights in a Queen room with the one night free package.
The room posted on there website bore no resemblance to the tiny room the large bed was sqeezed into. I had requested sheets and blankets instead of a duvet and thats precicely what we got no sign of a suptuous throw, just a brown blanket.
They go to great lengths prior to your arrival to make your stay enjoyable, a request for an iron and ironing board in the room was over looked but on request one was duly sent.
I also had to request more hangers as there were only 8 in the wardrobe, this request was met with, " i'm sorry madam but we have a wedding and all the hangers are being used", they did however say that they would see what they could do and some hours later another four were sent.
We had also requested a table be reserved for the night of our arrival in the restaurant, asuming this to be the govenors as opposed to the more casual brasserie. So we were a little surprised to be told that they did not have a table for us, evidently this was because we had not been specific in our request ( why did they not ask for clarification when we first made the request), so we were given a table with apologies in the brasserie.
Overall the food was pretty good, the first meal in the brasserie was excellent but the degustation menu which we opted for on the second evening was fairly average( mushrooms on burnt toast) but billed as something exceptional. Breakfast however was a very hit and miss affair. The first morning we were placed in a very chilly part of the garden as all the tables were full inside and within minutes of our food and drinks being served they were as cold as we were. The second morning we insisted on waiting for a table inside and had to wait twenty minutes. The chef is a big lover of the heat lamp and my husband gave up having the full english as the eggs were always dried up, as for my eggs benedict which i decided to have as a treat on the last morning, which consisted of soggy muffin (because the poached egg had been placed on it wet) hard poached egg and toasted benedict sauce, which instead of being a nice creamy yellow sauce was a dried brown glaze.
Overall an excellent hotel with fantastic staff let down by an "acclaimed chef " who is far from it. If you are a foodie this is not the place to stay.
Source: tripadvisor.co.uk
In October 2010, Shaun L said about Old Government House Hotel & Spa
First time staying at the OGH and very impressed. The character of the building is very much old style but the facilities in terms of wifi, plasma TV, telephony and internet radio are up there with the best in latest offerings.
Everywhere I walked a member of staff would say good morning, good evening etc and treated every guest with the greatest respect. You don't get that all the time these days.
We used the conference facilities which were great for our event with a superb view across St Peter Port and down to the harbour.
Superb meal in the restaurant and a good atmosphere in the bar.
On checking out in the morning there was also the chance to grab a tea/coffee to take-away.
Really enjoyed my brief stay.
Everywhere I walked a member of staff would say good morning, good evening etc and treated every guest with the greatest respect. You don't get that all the time these days.
We used the conference facilities which were great for our event with a superb view across St Peter Port and down to the harbour.
Superb meal in the restaurant and a good atmosphere in the bar.
On checking out in the morning there was also the chance to grab a tea/coffee to take-away.
Really enjoyed my brief stay.
Source: tripadvisor.co.uk
In October 2010, HuntlyHampshire said about Old Government House Hotel & Spa
We stayed at the OGH hotel for our silver anniversary on the 29th Sept for four days. We had booked a studio suite which was very pretty. However, within 5 minutes of being in the room we noticed there was a considerable leak in the ceiling (Room 325) and a large puddle on the floor. We contacted the duty manager who apologised profusely but was unable to offer another room as they were fully booked and everyone had arrived. We had to spend the night listening to the drips of rain falling into a bucket! This was not what we expected and we were very disappointed as this was supposed to be a special time for us, but, here is where the story changes................
Next morning the Manager (Andrew Chantrell) contacted us, he had already found another studio suite (larger and nicer) and told us that there would be no charge for the room or the dinner that we had in the restaurant that evening. We had eaten in the A La Carte restaurant and had chosen the seven course taster menu (the most expensive - we were trying to cheer ourselves up!) so getting this complimentary was a very pleasant surprise and more than we expected. This in itself would have been sufficient to calm our ruffled feathers but Andrew had obviously briefed his staff about our bad start and thereafter they could not have been more attentive. The Director of Guest relations (Harry) was an absolute star - he made a point of finding us every day to check everything was still okay. He gave us a glass of champagne at the beginning of our meal the next evening, offered liquers the second evening and bought us a very splendid afternoon tea on the day of our departure, which also happened to be my husband's birthday. He could not have done enough for us. The restaurant manager (Xavier) and one of the waiters (Arun) were also excellent. They made sure that the service we had was second to none. Between them, they turned our experience from a disappointment to a delight. Andrew Chantrell should be proud of his staff. I would recommend anyone to go here -not only is the food fabulous (and deserving of a Michelin star) but the service and attention to detail makes it a wonderful customer experience.
Next morning the Manager (Andrew Chantrell) contacted us, he had already found another studio suite (larger and nicer) and told us that there would be no charge for the room or the dinner that we had in the restaurant that evening. We had eaten in the A La Carte restaurant and had chosen the seven course taster menu (the most expensive - we were trying to cheer ourselves up!) so getting this complimentary was a very pleasant surprise and more than we expected. This in itself would have been sufficient to calm our ruffled feathers but Andrew had obviously briefed his staff about our bad start and thereafter they could not have been more attentive. The Director of Guest relations (Harry) was an absolute star - he made a point of finding us every day to check everything was still okay. He gave us a glass of champagne at the beginning of our meal the next evening, offered liquers the second evening and bought us a very splendid afternoon tea on the day of our departure, which also happened to be my husband's birthday. He could not have done enough for us. The restaurant manager (Xavier) and one of the waiters (Arun) were also excellent. They made sure that the service we had was second to none. Between them, they turned our experience from a disappointment to a delight. Andrew Chantrell should be proud of his staff. I would recommend anyone to go here -not only is the food fabulous (and deserving of a Michelin star) but the service and attention to detail makes it a wonderful customer experience.
Source: tripadvisor.co.uk
In October 2010, thebucks1 said about Old Government House Hotel & Spa
We have stayed at the Old Government House seven times over the last twelve years and have never been disappointed. We thought it could not get better, but it has. Ever since Red Carnation Hotels took over the property two years ago, the service has been exceptional and the refurbishment of the rooms has been done well. The location is terrific, as the heart of St. Peter Port is just about a two-minute walk away. Many of the rooms have seaviews and look out upon Castle Cornet. We usually visit Guernsey every other year, but have gone two years in a row. We always stay at the OGH and have no plans to change. You cannot go wrong staying there!
Source: tripadvisor.co.uk
In October 2010, wilson1943 said about Old Government House Hotel & Spa
One of the best boutique hotels you could ever find. The rooms are impeccable, the hotel itself is exceptionally well appointed and the staff are amongst the most dedicated we have ever had the pleasure to deal with.
Source: tripadvisor.co.uk
In October 2010, tjernigan1 said about Old Government House Hotel & Spa
Location of hotel was excellent for walking to town or bus connections.
The view was beautiful. Breakfast and High Tea - service and food were tops. Front desk staff were friendly, helpful, and caring; they even mailed our packages at the Post Office for us.
The view was beautiful. Breakfast and High Tea - service and food were tops. Front desk staff were friendly, helpful, and caring; they even mailed our packages at the Post Office for us.
Source: tripadvisor.co.uk
In October 2010, WildcatNZ said about Old Government House Hotel & Spa
This hotel reflected its name - gracious elegance. It was located in the heart of St. Peter's Port within easy walking distance of the town. The staff were extremely attentive, friendly and helpful with answering questions regarding the town and also with confirming travel bookings.
I had a superior harbour view room which was very spacious without being huge. I had reserved a harbour view but although it was a harbour view, this entailed looking down the side of the hotel out to sea. It appeared the front harbour view rooms were suites.
The facilities in the room were excellent with tea and coffee making facilities and a fridge on request. However as regards the latter, there appeared to be a limited supply of these and I felt I was fortunate to secure one. I would suggest you request confirmation in writing should you also request any extras.
I had a superior harbour view room which was very spacious without being huge. I had reserved a harbour view but although it was a harbour view, this entailed looking down the side of the hotel out to sea. It appeared the front harbour view rooms were suites.
The facilities in the room were excellent with tea and coffee making facilities and a fridge on request. However as regards the latter, there appeared to be a limited supply of these and I felt I was fortunate to secure one. I would suggest you request confirmation in writing should you also request any extras.
Source: tripadvisor.co.uk
In October 2010, davidsills44 said about Old Government House Hotel & Spa
A beautiful room with a lovely view across to Herm, small perfect balcony. Lovely bathroom, sumptious bed......and lovely sweets with turndown. Would we return?? We already have..........this was our second visit and there will definitely be a third!!
Margaret and David Sills
Margaret and David Sills
Source: tripadvisor.co.uk