We've just got back from a couple of nights stay at The Royal Albion in Brighton. We love going down to Brighton and had a long weekend off work together so thought we'd have a look to see if we could get a cheap couple of nights. We went on Travelsupermarket.com which showed us this hotel ... Read review
Traditionally decorated and furnished throughout it offers character and style The 186 bedrooms are all en suite and have TV Telephone Hairdryer Trouser Press and Tea...
located on the city's seafront, adjacent to the Old Steine and war memorial, and directly opposite the beach and Brighton Pier. London Gatwick Airport is 31 miles fro...
located on the city's seafront, adjacent to the Old Steine and war memorial, and directly opposite the beach and Brighton Pier. London Gatwick Airport is 31 miles fro...
directly opposite Brighton pier.The Royal Albion Hotel has rooms equipped with convenient facilities such as television, telephone, hairdryer and trouser press, with som...
Royal York Hotel, Brighton
The current owners have undertaken an extensive refurbishment of the building and are ... more
proud to have restored this historic and beautiful hotel Their aim has been to bring back the fun the colour and the vibrancy of the Regency period when the hotel f...
A review by starjen on Royal Albion Hotel, Brighton February 13th, 2008
Author's product rating:
Advantages:
Location, price
Disadvantages:
Parking, needs updating
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
We've just got back from a couple of nights stay at The Royal Albion in Brighton. We love going down to Brighton and had a long weekend off work together so thought we'd have a look to see if we could get a cheap couple of nights. We went on Travelsupermarket.com which showed us this hotel through lastminute.com at £86 for two nights (Sun & Mon) including breakfast and a free bottle of wine, and knowing it's location we booked straight away. My boyfriend had stayed here a few years ago so we knew we weren't going to be getting luxury, but as long as it's clean I'm happy.
The hotel has 186 bedrooms from single rooms to family rooms, and mini-suites for business guests. It has smoking and non-smoking rooms and disabled friendly ones too. It is a regency style building and could look very grand but it needs a bit of a touch up on the outside.
The location of this hotel is right opposite the main pier on the roundabout, so you just have stroll across the street to the pier and about a 10 minute walk to the shops, Lanes and Pavilion. We knew in advance from walking past (and most hotels in Brighton have no parking) that there was no car park, so we rang up and asked them if they had an agreement with any of the NCP's. They did with the Russell Road NCP which is a good 10 minute walk away, but only £9 for 24 hour so this is good value. They give you a ticket when you check out that you insert after your original one, so when we put our 1st ticket in the machine wanted £45 but after the second one only £21, which is a great saving. There are a few pay & display parking spaces outside but it is £6 for 2 hours, so very pricey.
We arrived at the hotel at 3pm and there was no queue at reception and a friendly receptionist. We checked in quickly, and got given a voucher to use at the bar for our free bottle of wine. We were on the second floor so took the small lift (could squeeze four in) up and wandered down the corridor to our room. The room looked like it has been recently done up. The wallpaper looked fresh and the ceiling like it had had a coat of paint. There was a huge sash window which looked out over the park. There was a double bed, not particularly comfortable, a wardrobe, dresser, TV and tea & coffee making facilities. The bathroom had a bath with shower in it but it didn't look like that had been updated as the grout was yellow/black and a big damp patch in the ceiling above the showerhead. It was clean though and the bath filled up super fast.
From taking the stairs down it looked like there were rooms overlooking the pier with little balconies which would be nice to stay in, but also if we'd been just a couple of rooms further down our corridor we would've have a view of a building so I think we did OK.
Breakfast was served between 8 and 10am and we got down there about 9.30am both mornings. It was busy but we easily got a table. It was a buffet style with sausages, bacon, beans, tomatoes, fried potatoes and bread and scrambled egg. There were croissants and cereal and fruit also, but we both had the fry up. It was hot and I had no complaints and even at 9.45am they were replacing some of the hot stuff so it all seemed fairly fresh. There was juice in jugs and coffee and tea in jugs on tables at either end of the room. They also had herbal teas available to make yourself. Perhaps the only fault was that the toast wasn't freshly made and was sitting in the buffet, so it was just really warm bread.
On the second day we came back in the afternoon, after a stroll up the pier and claimed out free bottle of wine! We sat in the lounge area, which had huge windows overlooking the pier and just people watched for a while. We were really lucky with the weather and with the huge windows the room was really hot but it is a great view. The bottle was a screw top so you could have taken the bottle to your room if you'd wished. There were also free newspapers in this room to either read there or you could take away.
On the last day we had to check out at 11am, which was again very quick. We just handed over our room key and got the parking ticket.
Would I stay here again? I have stayed at a few different hotels and B&B's in Brighton and I would stay here again if I got it a good price. It is a great location and an easy walk to everywhere you want to reach and the few staff I had contact with were polite and friendly. The hotel and room were clean if maybe in need of updating. If you are just after somewhere to rest your head for a couple of nights then I couldn't complain at all.
Advantages: it gave us some thing to talk about ! Disadvantages: if you value your life you may find its at risk of being shortened !
...wedding also staying at the royal albion,
on first arrival there was no where to park , we knew they had a deal with the NCP car-park, but to get there and find out where it was we need to book in , so had to leave it on the curb outside while we went in , and with traffic wardens in sight which seemed to be every where ! we got given a map to the car-park , which we needed because it is around 1 mile away , in-fact 0.8 miles to be correct , so ... ...outside while you at least get you luggage upstairs , oh and its still going to cost you around £9 per day. AND A WARNING IS NEEDED HERE ... i wouldnt want to be doing that walk frome the car park to the hotel if i was on my own and it was dark , very vunrable as theres a lot of alleys and back roads to either go down or walk past . with drunk revellers on the way !
anyway .. when we did eventually get back to the hotel after a trek across brighton ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: great location, cheap, nice rooms, excellent food Disadvantages: no parking, quite dated
Introduction to the hotel:
The Royal Albion Hotel was built in 1826 and is situated in a fantastic location opposite Brighton pier. It is a three star hotel and has 186 guest rooms offering views of Brighton beach or the town centre. My experience of the hotel:
I spent one night in the hotel in January of this year and for a three star hotel I was quite impressed. I and my girlfriend booked a double room for £55 and it was a spacious room with ... ...number of reviews about the Royal Albion and some have been not to complentary about it, complaing the décor was very dated and their stay was quite unpleasant. I however disagree with these views and thought the hotel to be perfectly adequate for a stay in Brighton. The location was excellent, the room nice and the food on offer was splendid. I would certainly recommend it and will be staying there again on my next trip to the south coast. The only ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Central Location Disadvantages: Better Hotels About
Recently syaing in the Royal Albion hotel on business i found the hotel to be relatively okay. Arriving at the hotel, there is one problem that hits you, no parking, the nearest NCP is ten minutes walk away and cost £30 for three days and when you are lugging overnight gear and everything it is a bit of a trek.
The hotel itself is very old fashioned however very clean too. The room was pleasant, however very dull as their was not much light as there ... ...had an upstairs section which was very bright, with living area and a larger television.
Bathroom was nice, spa bath made it easy to relax whilst in the room, maids cleaned everyday and was relatively satisfactory.
The bar area was spacious and easy to get served. Large windows overlooked the pier, but they did look like they hadn't been cleaned outside for 6 months, which is a little off putting but is on a busy main road.
Breakfast was satsifactory, ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Having stayed at the Royal Albion Brighton for two nights at £288 I agree it would have been similar staying at a local hostel and far cheaper.
The room was discusting, shabby, dusty and dirty and also smelled of sick and far long over due for a redeck with wall paper pealing off in various places, the bed cover was only fit for a dog basket.
I paid the extra for a sea view room and balcony which was very good, though double glazing should be a ... ...walkway for the seafront.
The furniture is very dated so dont go by the glossy photo in the add as this was probably taken 20 years ago.
The walls are waifer thin as you can here every thing tha goes on, I mean everything!
Most of the staff are foreign though that not a problem however try asking for finer details such as were a cash point machine is, its a struggle for them to comprehend the English language.
I tried to book for breakfast in ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Advantages: Bar area and location Disadvantages: Needs updating, overpriced and parking
I stayed at this hotel for two nights during the summer.
I found it shabby and outdated. The cost was very high over £100 a night for a twin room.
The parking is awful with an expensive car park 10 to 15 minutes down the road.
The room was not totally double glazed and as a result you could hear everything going on outside in the early hours of the morning.
When I complained the staff where friendly enough and smiled (they didn't speak much English!)but ... ...of my money.
The bar area was fine and the bar food was good.
I was surprised by the help yourself breakfast, I thought as it is an expensive hotel that we would be waited on but I was wrong.
The room service menu was so basic as to be a joke. They had not real choice and were not prepared to do anything special for the customer.
Altogether a very poor hotel.
I was offered a 50% discount on my next stay, but frankly I do not want to ever go ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
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