The Claremont Hotel

We spent four nights in this hotel, which is located in a beautiful old building right on the waterfront promenade of Douglas. The Clameront is elaborately and chicly renovated inside and leaves a good impression as soon as you enter the lobby. We had booked a "Business Club Studio," which turned out to be a kind of mini-suite: Living area with a couch, separated from the sleeping area by furniture cleverly used as a room divider. High-quality, modern furniture, though the cabinets were unfortunately a bit battered and worn. Comfortable, but quite narrow double bed with good pillows. Desk with chair, two wardrobes, iron and ironing board, complimentary mineral water replenished every day. Unfortunately, the room did not have air conditioning, as one would actually expect in a four-star establishment. While that was not a problem given the temperatures during our visit, I can imagine that it quickly gets unpleasantly stuffy in the room during hot weather. The room faced the back, and the "view" from the two windows was of an unsightly house wall. We did not find that bothersome, however, because this situation spared us the traffic noise from the waterfront road. Great modern bathroom with a large walk-in shower. Like the bedroom, it was impeccably clean. Breakfast is taken in the chic, bright restaurant on the ground floor. In addition to a small buffet, there is a great selection of delicious à la carte dishes from "Full Manx Breakfast" to "Manx Kippers." The fact that coffee specialties cost extra, however, seems a bit petty. We encountered very friendly staff throughout.

Stayed on a staycation for 1 night to celebrate our anniversary. We had stayed before and had a good experience. The check in desk lets things down a bit. It would look more welcoming with pictures, flowers maybe. Not a hand sanitiser proudly sitting on the desk. We had booked a sea view room but some windows were blown with condensation between them which spoilt the view somewhat. The room was a little clinical. My wife said too masculine. Dark furniture, no pictures, office like. But ok. Just one tea bag each supplied although we called for more. Very hot day and complimentary water not in fridge. Lift sounded and felt as if it was about to break. Small issues I know. But what really spoiled our experience was our evening meal. We enthusiastically ordered the steak which was, quite frankly, awful. Seemed boiled and only charred slightly afterwards. It was undercooked, the fat hadn’t rendered and was very stringy/sinewy. Vile. The diane sauce was tasteless too. We did discuss with the manager, who was pleasant and apologised, and we were offered different dishes. A fish dish, which was good, and a lamb dish which was quite underwhelming. Breakfast was ok. Very, very greasy full breakfast and ‘snotty’eggs. Undercooked bacon fat. Couldn’t really fault the staff’s attentiveness and they were all very pleasant. I think the management needs to ask for surveys after their stay. People (including us) hate to complain and we were certainly very polite in our ‘constructive criticism’, but our anniversary celebration was spoilt. A questionnaire (or follow up email) might just alert management to areas for improvement. Standards do seem to be slipping!

Absolute rubbish. No fridge no air con. Room like a sauna. Dirty headboard.