July 2006 and I had just spent a week on an Open University residential course at Bath University. Great course but a week of sleeping in a single bed in a room designed for a student left me wanting a bit of luxury for my final night in the UK.
As my ferry was leaving from Poole I searched for a luxury hotel in the area and came across the Harbour Heights hotel - which is no longer a Best Western hotel as some websites would suggest.
The website describes it as offering 'contemporary elegance with a classic Rhode Island twist. With fresh stylish interiors, individually commissioned furnishings and artwork, topped with stunning views over Poole Harbour and Brownsea Island - this property is truly unique - one of the best of a new breed of luxury boutique hotels'
Well as you will see from my experience below this new breed of luxury boutique hotels are to be avoided.
Location -----------
This hotel is located in the Sandbanks area of Poole approximately five minutes drive from the town centre.
Booking -----------
Whilst the hotel has its own website it uses Active Hotels to manage the booking process. Active hotels is also a hotel review website and many good reviews for this hotel prompted me to book. The booking process was easy and I received a confirmation very quickly.
I wanted to contact the hotel a couple of weeks before and used the 'Contact Us' link and sent my query - even now almost a month later I have not had a response. Flashy websites are all very well but customer care is paramount and they failed.
Arrival --------
The approach to the hotel is up a steep hill and first sight of the hotel is not very impressive despite what was shown on the website the hotel looked a little drab from the outside. Car parking is a problem and the hotel does not have very many spaces, there are probably enough if the hotel isn't completely full but when I arrived at 4pm there were only two spaces left. The reason for this became apparent when I checked in - there was a wedding in progress.
Check In -----------
The reception area was clean and calming, especially after a stressful journey from Bath.
Check in was reasonably smooth, but there was only one receptionist at the time when four people were waiting to check in. There was another person behind the desk but he starred at the computer screen and did not offer to help.
I was given my plastic key and told that my room was on the third floor and where the lift was. No offer of help with my luggage was offered which is something I would have expected from a boutique hotel such as this.
The lift was tiny and if you have lots of luggage or more than two people this would be very claustrophobic. The lift took an age to reach floor three.
Room --------
Ok now we get to the real problems I encountered when staying at this hotel.
The entrance to the room was a small tiled area which gave way to bizarre brown and black carpet which was not in keeping with the boutique nature of the hotel. Perhaps they could not afford to carpet the whole room?
The room was tiny when compared to how much I was paying and the pictures of the rooms on the website did not match these except for the colour of the décor. It was decorated in cooling blue and creams. It lacked style and looked very tired. Having stayed in a boutique hotel in Jersey (The Club - see my review) I know what to expect and this hotel could learn a lot from The Club on how to do luxury - oh and they do it cheaper than the Harbour Heights do!
The room was located on the top floor and had the problem of a sloping roof which had the effect of making the room feel much smaller than it probably was. The balcony was hopeless and too small to do anything more than stand on it, there was no way you could fit a chair on it! Looking down to the floor below I could see that these rooms had a much larger balcony.
The view was stunning with a large panorama across the bay but the door to the balcony didn't lock and I felt a little vulnerable.
The rooms are meant to be non-smoking, however the balcony had an ashtray there and I also had to shut the balcony doors as the person in the next room was smoking and the smoke was drifting into my room.
Back to the room, it contained all the expected amenities - tv, telephone, tea and coffee, mini bar, iron and ironing board. There was an absence of a booklet explaining the hotel facilities instead there is a keyboard to go with the tv which allows you to explore what the hotel has to offer. This keyboard also allows you to use the hotel as a computer and surf the web, however I could not get this to work and had to call reception. They explained to me that you had to purchase a pin number at a cost of £7.50 for 24 hours. So I went down to get my pin and as I had a laptop I found out that I could borrow one of their cables and access their internet that way (£10 deposit for the cable).
The air-conditioning was a welcome addition in light of the heat wave we had been experiencing
The wardrobe contained free slippers but no bathrobe as stated on the website.
The bathroom too way small and certainly not very impressive. It did however contain a spa bath but it must have been designed for midgets as it was tiny. On the floor was an ominous red blob which wiped off easily. This made me wonder about the cleanliness of the whole room. What is it with Poole hotels and sloppy housekeeping? (see my review on the Poole Premier Inn). When I used the shower a horrid brown looking stream of water came out and it took a minute for it to clear.
Having used the toiletries provided I went to put them in the bin only to find that the bin had not been emptied since the previous occupant of the room had left.
Now another gripe of mine - tiny towels which don't go around the body and to top it all there was only one bath towel and one hand towel.
Dripping wet hair and since I did not have a hairdryer I had to use the one provided - AHHHHHH it didn't work. This visit was going from bad to worse.
The bed on the other hand was fantastic and I literally sunk into it and had a fantastic nights sleep.
Dining --------
As I was on my own and very tired I decided to order room service. The menu was very limited and expensive so I would suggest if you dare to stay here that you go out to eat.
I wanted a bottle of wine with the food but there was no wine list in the room. I decided to go down to the restaurant to order and have a look at the wine list.
I ordered a large Chicken Caesar salad (£12.90 ouch!) and a bottle of Chardonnay and went to my room to wait. It arrived very promptly but when I looked the cork was still in the bottle and there was no corkscrew.
Back down to the restaurant and the hunt was on for a corkscrew. None appeared to have one until my knight in shining armour appeared with one. I asked if I could borrow it to open the wine and in no uncertain terms was told that he could not let me have it but he would come up to my room and open the bottle for me.
I settled down to eat, and to be honest I would hate to see a small Caesar salad - would it consist of a lettuce leaf and a chunk of chicken - like everything else in this hotel it was small.
Check out ------------
Check out is by 11am and went reasonably well. Having received the obligatory - 'have you enjoyed your stay?' I really didn't have time to list everything that was wrong or I would have been there all weekend. I am however writing to the manager and will post an update if I get a reply.
The rooms are far too expensive for what you get and range from £120/£140 per person. I am ashamed at what I had to pay and really wish I had booked a Premier Inn!
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