The De Vere Grand, Brighton

Author's product rating:   

Advantages:	Almost Everything about the hotel
Disadvantages:	The Cost

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

The De Vere Grand hotel Brighton is an impressive hotel, part of the De Vere chain of over 25 luxury hotels. The De Vere website www.devere.co.uk has lots of information on the hotel and also some special offers. It is located on the Sea Front in close proximity to all of Brighton's major attractions.

The hotel has approximately 200 rooms, ranging from singles, to doubles to doubles with sea views to deluxe doubles with seaviews to suites. Prices range from £80 for a single B & B to £250 B &B for a sea view deluxe to £530 for a suite. I stayed in a Sea view deluxe, checking in on a Saturday and leaving after lunch on the following Sunday. I ate in the hotel for breakfast and Sunday lunch.

The Hotel looks Grand when you arrive. It is a really handsome building both internally and externally. Reception was impresive, as indeed were all the public rooms. Spotless, really good quality furnishings and lots of helpful, friendly staff who at the same time are very proficient and professional. Its' actually quite a difficult balance to acheive however the Grand does acheive it

The Room was lovely, admittedly not the cheapest I've ever stayed in but, a really comfortable large bed, excellent quality bed linen. The Room was immaculate with lovely furnishings, quite a large room with separate seating area (nice comfortable chairs) and French windows opening onto a balcony with quite a good sea view. The bathroom was quite a large room with shower, again spotless with really nice complimentary toiletries and lovely fluffy towels. The Bedroom, indeed the whole hotel, had lots of character. It had a minibar but the prices (in common with every hotel minbar were massively expensive)

There are apparently also some rooms in the hotel with disabled facilities, I didn't actually see any but I understabd that they have wider doors and are wheelchair friendly.

I didn't eat at the hotel on the saturday evening, I had a wander around however, there was live jazz coming from the Restaurant, the rather impressive King's restaurant, that I thought was a nice touch. A 4 course Meal on a Saturday evening is £30 plus drinks, which actually is not a bad price.I didn't use the Leisure facilities but had a look, a bit of a nosey as one does. I think that they were impressive (and extensive), a really well equipped gym, the Pool seemed the right size. I couldn't find the sauna and steam room which I think is probably, apart from the cost is the only minus point I could honestly find about the hotel, that and the cost of a room.

I ate Breakfast, it was realy lovely food, fresh good quality ingredients with a good selection and lots of it. Guess who ate too much but I still managed to make it to lunch...Sunday lunch was equally good, a delicious roast followed by a lovely pud (sorry should I say desserts...). The Restaurant operates a dress policy.

There is also the Victoria Lounge and Terrace which is less formal than the Restaurant which serves bar snacks and afternoon meals. Rumour has it that afternoon tea is pretty good, although on this occassion I didn't try it...next time perhaps

This hotel is one of the best I've ever stayed in, I can understand why all the politicians stay there. Even after the extensive bulding works following the bombing the hotel has managed to retain both its' atmosphere, style and ambience. When I checked out I left feeling really good about my stay and the hotel. Its just a shame it costs so much...