I'm going to give you an honest, reliable, insider's review of the Grand Hotel, Scarborough.
"The Grand" is now, and has been, part of the Britannia group for the past few years. With the promise of a 7 million pound refurbishment program in place, I took the position of Food Services Manager, summer of 2005. I had recently moved to the area and knew little about The Hotels reputation….only through research did I find the marvellous history of the building itself.
Built in 1863 as one of Europe's first purpose built hotels, The Grand Hotel boasts superb architecture with the design rumoured to be based on the theme of time.
Four towers represent the seasons. 12 floors represent the months. 52 chimneys represent the
weeks. Originally 365 bedrooms to represent the days of the year.
For entertainment, the Cabaret Ballroom, Palm Court Ballroom and Empress Suite offer regular entertainment. If a Christmas party or Cabaret night is what you after then the entertainment staff are fantastic…..although make sure you don't be temped by the canapés! If, on the other hand you are not interested in the entertainment….tough…you can hear it all over the hotel until reasonably late in the evening/morning!
The Harbour Lights restaurant has stunning views over the Harbour and bay, some of the finest on the Yorkshire coast. This much I can't deny, although the food is disgusting, unhygienic and inedible the majority of the time. Catered in the same manner of "school dinners", bulk catering. It is laid out on two carvery tables, one at each end of the restaurant, these are not manned (as the hotel is always understaffed) so you can only imagine the mess and disgrace the carvery units are in after the first 30 people or so (out of 800 guests). The guests are treated like herds of cattle…cueing to get into the restaurant down a set of quite steep stairs…..for anything up to over an hour in peak season. The hotel itself, in every area, is stretched and under staffed, and whilst the staff work hard, they almost seem rude and unhelpful. They are not. They work long hours, some starting at 5.00am and finishing at 10pm, and get paid only minimum wage.
Unfortunately I can't go into any more detail about the kitchens and staff areas as I might find myself in a little bit of bother….but let me tell you that I would certainly not eat from any of the hotel kitchens myself. I don't think I need to say much more than that.
As a manager, guests would come to me to complain….the most difficult part of my job was trying to help/please/calm down the guests whilst still trying to keep the hotels name clean. I would say 99% of the time I wished I could stand next to them and say "You're right, that IS disgraceful!" but of course, I'd have lost my job!
I could write all day about how this hotel/job disgusted me… But instead, I will leave you with some details/facts about The Grand Hotel.
Many thanks, and if you have already booked…Good luck!
Grand hotel Scarborough Check-in is available from 4pm, and check out is by 10am.
Car Parking is available on the street for £4.50 a day, or alternatively a concession is available on the nearby NCP.
Hotel Amenities 296 rooms Harbour Lights Restaurant Premier Restaurant Coffee Shop Ballroom Bar Cocktail Bar Cabaret Ballroom Palm Court Ballroom Sun Terrace
Local attractions The Spa Sea Life Centre Brunswick Shopping Centre Stationdale Shire Horse Farm Scarborough Castle Peasholm Park & Miniature Railway Church of St Mary's Stephen Joseph Theatre Nearby Golf Course Hornsea Freeport Village Flamingo Land Zoo, Pickering CastleHoward, York Jorvik Viking centre, York Lightwater Valley Theme Park, Ripon North Yorkshire Moors
THE GRAND HOTEL - SCARBOROUGH St. Nicholas Cliff, Scarborough, North Yorkshire, YO11 2ET Reservations : 0871 222 0047 Fax : 0871 222 7724
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Very good comments, although i can assure everyone that the hotel is some worst than this. Hard to imagine but its true, I worked at the hotel for 10 years and can say that this is just a scratch of information on the poor disgusting quality of this place. Its sometimes feels unbelievable how the hotel keeps going. Getting a job in this place is a one off experience, so hands up to you for keeping with it.
groovyem100 23.11.2007 18:49
I've heard negative things about this hotel too. Some friend of mine got food poisoning from this place which says a lot about its level of cleanliness! Em
karimkha 23.11.2007 15:44
Sometimes, I'm not sure how the rating worked but I think you deserve very helpful, some useful info x
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Nov 23rd, 2007
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