St Ives Harbour Hotel

Me and my partner was walking around st ives and decided to go for a coffee. This was Sunday 2nd of August. We went down the steps to the bar though the door. I sat down to wait for our coffee. My partner came out and said that someone would bring it out. 20 minutes later no coffees was brought. My partner went back in to ask where the coffees was. My partner came from the bar and sat down. The bar lady came with the coffees and said immediately to my partner. Don’t you be rude to me I don’t get paid enough money. Even though me and my partner apologised. She kept on coming for us for at least 10 minutes and also got another guest involved. It was total chaos. It’s the first time I have ever experienced this in a hotel.

Cleanliness was an issue. Maintenance staff tried hard but played losing battle to the seagulls which left the cushion seats on the patio ( Velcro no longer working) unpleasant to use. Staff were mixed. Some were extremely good others followed the ‘computer says no’. Dog owners are welcomed but there are insufficient restrictions on where the dogs can defecate. We witnessed some owners who clearly were of the view that their animals were the most important things in the world, allow them to openly defecate on the one open small lawn at the back of the hotel, even though , the dog friendly beach was an easy walk 100 metres away. Some picked up the droppings ( but of course not all of them) whilst others just walked away. This lawn was used. By families who had very small toddles who were crawling to come into direct contact with the dirtied sites. When we brought this to receptions notice, the response was “We’ll have to look into that”. When we arrived for our short break, there was a previously unannounced wedding taking place. This of course severely restricted our usage of the hotel facilities which were closed to paying guests. The same occurred on our last evening when we had asked to have a meal in the hotel. We were told that areas of the hotel were closed to hotel guests as they were hosting an end of school Gala Event for students . Once again, there had been no previous advance notification. We had left using the hotel dining room evening fare for the last evening so we’re very fortunate to find a late ding booking elsewhere at short notice. The alternative would have been pizza or fish and chips on the harbour wall. Not at all what we had in mind. The only saving Grace for this hotel is its SPA unit which is okay.

The hotel is in a good location with a view of the sea. The rooms are okay (but have thin walls). Unfortunately, that is all that is good. The building is dingy. The staff is nice but also dingy and wears dirty, worn-out clothes. The bar's beautiful terrace is completely neglected. The tables are not cleaned, all the cushions are dirty, you do not know where to sit. The food is okay, nothing more. Parmigiana is on the menu, but what you get is something else. There is no hose in the steam room to rinse off the area. Overall, it is by far not worth the high price!!! A disappointment!