The Grand Brighton Reviews 46

I visit this hotel every year with a friend & it's our favourite hotel.
The staff are all wonderful & friendly but we would like to give a special mention to Mary who works on the omelette station & recognises us every year. Her breakfast omelettes are the best. Also we would like to thank Mauro who was our waiter at breakfast. He was friendly & very helpful

Lovely old hotel. Extensively renovated and now in great condition. Staff were all very friendly and helpful.
A little bit pricy in the bar. Our room (superior king) was spacious and bright. Our friend’s room (sea view with balcony) was smaller with very little room on the balcony. Had hoped to join them on their balcony for an evening drink, but just not enough room. This is just a reflection of the age of the property. You can renovate it, but you can’t enlarge it. Only real frustration was the checkout. Not a busy time of year, but only one person on the reception desk and a slow queue. I think the reason that the checkout took so long was that everyone was trying to make sense of their bill. Every item was broken down to food/drink/service/discount. If I sign a bill in the bar for £100 I expect to find an item on the bill for £100. Not four items that I have to add up and subtract to get to what I thought I had paid in the bar. The £100 is nowhere to be seen. Stay there for a few days and the invoice runs to pages long and dozens of entries that mean nothing to me. I’m sure they need to record these things for their own records, but I don’t need them on my bill and it delays the checkout process for everyone.
I would certainly stay here again, but would love to see a simpler invoice at checkout !!

Had an amazing experience at The Grand Brighton! From the moment I arrived the atmosphere was fantastic, but what really made the visit special was Mauro.

Mauro was absolutely incredible — friendly, attentive, and genuinely passionate about making sure we had a great time. Service like that is rare these days and it really stood out. He went above and beyond to make us feel welcome, and it made the whole experience even more enjoyable.

The food, the setting, and the service were all fantastic, but Mauro truly deserves a special mention. Give this guy some credit — he absolutely deserves it!

Highly recommend visiting, and if you’re lucky enough to be served by Mauro, you’re in for a great experience. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
#GreatService #TheGrandBrighton

Adults are + 12, I have always wanted to stay at the Grand, so as my daughter was turning 15 I thought lets stay at the Grand. Brighton is awesome and the grand is the best.
Tried to get a family room for me and my husband and our 14 year old daughter.

No you cant do that, as if your child is over 12 they are an adult. So they tried to offer me an adult room for three people.... I mean what the hell. In England age 14 is a child???

They could no help so booked a Family room at the hotel down the road. With sea view and balcony and half the price!!!

What a shame as we wanted to stay there. The Grand consider Children at the age of 13 to be adults!!!!

Be aware of the drinks menu!
It stated various single gins PAIRED with various tonics at £9
Which I thought was very reasonable
I had 3 and my bill came to £41
The tonics were priced separately and there was a service charge
I pointed out to the manager that the wording on the menu was misleading as it describes a gin and tonic paired for £9
To his credit he refunded the tonics and service charge ( I tipped the waitress separately) I hope he passes this on to his management team and they word the menu more accurately and less misleading

We visited The Grand Hotel late on Sunday afternoon and left extremely disappointed. One of the managers was speaking rudely to staff in full view of customers, which was uncomfortable to witness and very unprofessional.
We were never asked if we would like a drink, while other guests around us were offered table service. This inconsistency made us feel unwelcome and overlooked.
We had been considering The Grand Hotel as a potential wedding venue, but this experience completely changed our minds. Customer service and atmosphere are crucial for such an important occasion, and sadly this visit fell far short of expectations.
A definite no from us.

Loved the service and the Afternoon Tea. A party of 3, one of which vegan made with love and attention to detail. Will be back.

I have been staying at the Grand for over 20 years now since my early 20s ! I have just come back from a few nights there again and as always staff was lovely especially Sandra who really went out of her way for me ! As there was couple of issues I raised with reception and it was passed to Sandra who sorted them all for me! She could not of done anymore.
I normally stay in the Grand suite which is due a revamp but still a amazing room and living space two toilets and own gym if you want space to chill and feel you got your own space in the hotel at the top out the way from everyone it really is lovey to have that peace and amazing views from the top of the Hotel.

Booked a sweet 16 dinner for my family. We were not allowed to have a toast of Prosecco. This was so sad as I spent £300 on dinner for a family of 6 and tea and biscotti after. We were treated very poorly. Customer service was poor. I asked to speak to the manager as this choice was up to her discretion and she did not show her face. She took a 19 year old wine away with his dinner and was bullying my children who all are 18 years old. They clearly do not want locals coming to the restaurant to celebrate anything and shame on my for not going local. Never again will I step into a place that is not European standards putting family first and that only celebrates old farts on pensions.

We booked a last minute double room as a “consolation prize” after our planned holiday in France was cancelled. We paid £162 for the night which is much more than we would normally pay, and expected a special experience. The hotel is indeed grand and beautiful, and we loved the room we were allocated. However we could hear a constant mechanical hum and eventually realised it was coming from outside our window. We hadn’t expected this for the price.
Worried we wouldn’t sleep well, I went to reception to ask about it and was told it was the industrial kitchen fan and that it would turn off after service ended, around 11pm. This was disappointing and they called the manager Ash. She was the most wonderful sympathetic person, and upgraded us to a room higher up with even a bit of sea view! It was peaceful and beautifully decorated, and with a walk in shower! The little extra touches like a Nespresso coffee machine and nice bathroom toiletries added to the feeling of luxury, and we were delighted. The only one comment is that the towels were a bit hard and scratchy, otherwise a luxurious break. I doubt we will spend this much on one night again.

Booked afternoon tea for my brothers birthday. Lovely setting in the conservatory, a very warm afternoon outside and inside as well. Unfortunately after being shown to a table and seated, we were forgotten about for 15 mins, I then had to go and investigate where our afternoon tea was ! A grumpy older man, possibly the head waiter, abruptly tried to order me to sit back down. I politely refused and stated we had been waiting patiently but alas no one had appeared. Eventually the tea and food arrived and it was very good. My only observation was that the savoury food ( sandwiches ) were very few and there were far too many sweet treats. More than anyone could eat. This ratio of savoury to sweet needs rebalancing in my opinion. We ran out of tea after 45 minutes or so, this is when my brother went to enquire about some top up tea and experienced the same grumpy older man, who blatantly turned his back and refused to acknowledge my brother. This then prompted my brother to go and complain about the individual to the reception staff. They were naturally apologetic and did state that the individual staff member was problematic and we were given an email of someone to “feed back to”. Upon returning to the table, he ( my brother ) was very upset about the whole incident and to be honest did really ruin the whole event. I couldn’t get anyone’s attention to bring me the bill, so again had to go and find someone to pay. Again, I think this was disapproved of, but otherwise think we could still be sitting in the corner being ignored. So positives of the experience were the great setting, glorious food but negatives were the service side and lack of respect from a particular individual. Price was £40 per person which was reasonable. An additional £20 was added for service. The total I paid was £180. Top tip for anyone thinking of going along : they don’t tell you but the tea is unlimited and you can have as much as you like, just need to ask. I hope my review is helpful to anyone thinking of going along.

I made a reservation as a wedding gift to my husband for 17th April. Devastatingly my husband tragically went into a coma before the date, and he passed away. I tried to cancel the reservation and after some wrangling they said they would hold it until December. I asked for a refund but this was refused.
How on earth can they expect me to stay there now, I just couldn't do it. Surely they could make exceptions under certain circumstances.
Also, worst of all, when I explained the circumstances the lady who took the call ended the call with 'have a nice day'!
I feel totally let down and expected more of The Grand. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. Shame on them.

Booked a while ago then received an email asking for a further £10 a night for what I had already paid for. Tried to contact them. Firstly through Velma their virtual assistant who asks the same question over and over. Then via email only to be told somebody will call back (maybe within a day). Then tried to phone the number as advertised on the web site and on my booking form. This phone number is unattainable (It just keeps cutting off). Presumably no staff available. Having stayed here before and was happy to rebook. It is always concerning when an organisation cannot even respond to bad reviews on Trust Pilot.

Booked here for afternoon tea for my wife’s birthday. First class throughout all staff extremely friendly and couldn’t help enough.. Even when my wife knocked over her Moët and smashed the glass🥴. They moved us to a new table replaced our cakes and Moët and our tea.. without hesitation… we’ll be back as as she had a smashing time.. Fantastic day to remember thanks you all

Was looking to book for dinner and drinks however upon reviewing the menu there is nothing for Vegans for the main courses. Shamefully there is a full list of meat and fish options which is appalling when animal agriculture is the leading cause of climate change. The Grand seriously needs to up their game on vegan friendly food!

Where to start.... For the price we spent..£315.00 The room was very basic and very tired, The toilet roll holder was lose and the toilet roll ended on the floor. The shower screen was glued to the bath meaning you had to climb in the bath to turn the taps on... ! not ideal. There was peeling paint on the baths wooden base, Rust on the shower pipe and chrome worn off one of the handles on the bath, The plug had no seal on it, The Hanger on the back of the door was loose, The lighting was terrible both in the bathroom and bedroom.. you couldn't do your make up. In the bedroom there was dirt and dust on the carpet where the hoovering was not done properly and had a musky smell, The table top was blistering and peeling, The heavy curtains were full of dust. The double bed was 2 singles pushed together (We ordered a Double room). Disappointed that they use UHT semi-skimmed milk...! for the price they could put fresh milk in the fridge they provided. Walking on the floor was rattling the wardrobe doors. There was a very large full length mirror that was just leant up against the wall behind the front door.. very unsafe. This room had all the markings of being a staff sleeping quarters. As for the breakfast.... It was VERY disappointing, The quality of the cooked breakfast was bland, and we expected more than just a buffet... To be honest we have had better rooms and breakfast at the Premier inns. I think we only paid for the Name, The Grand..!!! VERY DISAPPIONTING. Its a shame as we only stayed the one night there to see if we liked it enough to book a week in Spring 2025, Sadly this will not be happening now. We will be making a formal complaint on Monday 29th and will be asking for a refund as the room was worth no more than a maximum of £120 a night. The cooked breakfast was tasteless and the fried Eggs were like rubber. Yes the building looks 5* but the room and food we had was average and more like a regular guest house with no stars.

We have stayed at the grand hotel a few times over the past year and stayed in a variety of rooms including inland rooms and sea view suites, they have been gorgeous every time. Every staff member we have spoken to has been helpful and kind. The breakfast is a highlight with a huge selection on offer. We love it here and looking forward to staying again in the future

According to their website the Grand Brighton is a 5 star hotel! I am genuinely amazed as I would rate it as a 2 maybe a shoddy 3 if I was being generous. This hotel is tired, it has broken lifts (luckily we are capable of lugging our bags up and down stairs), worn out and ripped carpets, windows that don’t seal properly and it’s cold.
Our room was clean but very basic and the bathroom was freezing having no heat source in there and a window that didn’t shut properly.
The pillows were rock hard and uncomfortable and we were kept awake by a very loud generator. Just before 1am I rang reception to ask whether the generator would be going all night. I was told they switch it off at 12 … which obviously they don’t. It did go off at 1 but then came back on at about 6.30am, waking me back up.
The breakfast was standard hotel fair, nice enough and the staff were courteous but not particularly friendly.
I would not stay again, it’s definitely not worth the room cost and it’s laughable to think it’s a 5 star hotel.

Very disappointing. We had booked an afternoon tea at 14.30 but weren't shown to our table until 15.30, then we were kept waiting for another 40 minutes until the food arrived. The food was unexciting as the bread was stale and curling at the edges, the scones were not fresh. The cakes were mediocre and we had to ask for more tea as it had gone cold before the food had arrived. The staff were inattentive. We sat a two large mismatched tables which didn't make for a pleasant sociable gathering. Bizarrely, we were told we could take with us a huge chunk of cake as part of the deal - we found this very odd! Afterwards, we tried to pay but no-one was around and it took another 15 minutes to find someone. We could easily have walked out without paying. Funnily enough, we accidentally dropped a plate causing everyone in the room turned round, and suddenly someone turned up to investigate! At £40 a head, the price was definitely not reflected in the quality of the food that we received. No alcohol was included. All members of our party (5 people) agreed how disappointing the experience was and that it hadn't lived up to our expectations of the Grand Hotel.

So I am going an event I have paid for this weekend, I phoned to find out about the dress code as my foot is in a boot, and trousers don’t go over it, I wanted to know what was acceptable as a dress code

Hung up on me
Phoned back rang for ages and then went to voicemail, so deliberately done. Raging