We had a lovely stay at the Royal Hotel Ventnor. Rooms were well equipped and clean. Bed was comfortable. They thoughtfully left an activity pack for my daughter and some biscuits and a water bowl for the dog. We enjoyed the grounds, really well looked after. We had a very enjoyable dinner from the restaurant, and we were all able to sit in the Conservatory area including the dog. The staff were all very friendly and helpful. I would definitely come back to stay. Thank you.

Great location, historically heritaged site. Very lively, walkable Ventnor area. Basically, the list of advantages is over. This is not a four star hotel, not even anywhere near that. Building and facilities are in crumbled shape, probably not renovated once since 1832 when established. But what's much worse is customer service. Put it simply - this is not a place where you feel you're welcomed. Personnel is not adequately trained to serve clients. Room was arranged for us one hour later than official checkin time (4pm vs 3pm on Saturday). We were not much disappointed, and we at least received apologies - for the first and the last time over the weekend. By the way, checkout time is 1030am, so they have plenty of time to prepare the rooms - it's just scarcity of personnel, or management disfunction, or both. Next encounter with The Royal's service happened late in the evening on Saturday. I was standing at the bar for some good 10 minutes, staring at the bar shift guys. They were seemingly serving some big order, but no one of them even bothered to say "hello, good evening, sorry guys, will be with you in a minute". Only after I had directly asked "hey, am I not visible?", they reluctantly admitted I existed. On Sunday morning we were having our breakfast in the hotel's restaurant. The seating was far from full, yet, we were offered the least comfortable table of all, and only after I had commented that we were seemingly lower ranked than the other guests, we were offered seating in the garden. Breakfast is at the very least... basic... eggs benedict are highly not-recommended BTW. Yet, the problem with the service persisted. My wife several times tried to attract attention of the waiter aiming to ask for coffee, but the guy masterfully pretended we didn't exist. Again. So we left the restaurant and went to smoke a cigarette in the bar garden before our scheduled checkout (1030am, remember?), to see that the ashtray I used on Saturday stays in the same place and in the same shape it was in the evening, full of butts. Nice, stable, probably traditional. Leaving the hotel now to verify that I exist and that there're places where clients are appropriately served.

Lovely setting, walk to beach, town or nearby park for a pretty walk. Just be aware it is Ventnor and the climb back from the beach is steep. Staff very well trained. Well run hotel. Beautifully cooked and well thought out menus. Dog bin is in a corner to the right of the main entrance near the bar - a bit hard to find, but it does exist! Gardens are well looked after with lots of seating.

I had a wonderful stay at The Royal Hotel. It’s a charming, elegant property with beautiful grounds and a perfect location. The atmosphere is calm and refined, and the staff were consistently pleasant, friendly, and eager to help. My room was larger than expected, with a very comfortable king‑sized bed. Some parts of the décor are a little worn, but in a way that feels more like gentle ageing than neglect — it doesn’t take away from the hotel’s character at all. On one day the hotel was clearly short‑staffed and the team were under pressure, but they handled it admirably. Seeing how hard they were working made it easy to be patient. A beautiful hotel with real charm.

Overall, we had a pleasant stay at The Royal. The location is excellent, the Victorian building is full of character and the staff were, for the most part, warm and welcoming. Our only disappointment concerned one member of the breakfast team, who appeared to be the supervisor, as she was wearing a white shirt. We placed our order for a cooked breakfast well before the final orders (around 30 minutes beforehand), yet she seemed oddly passive aggressive from the outset, and we were quite at a loss as to why. The breakfast itself took around 45 minutes to arrive. This was not a particular issue, as we were perfectly happy helping ourselves to pastries and other items in the meantime. Naturally, however, we were still eating when staff began clearing the surrounding tables. Everyone else remained courteous throughout, but this particular waitress continued to be rather rude. At one point, she even began complaining about us to a colleague loudly enough for us to overhear, which was both uncomfortable and unnecessary. Even if she felt we had ordered too late, which I do not believe was the case, there were far more professional and courteous ways of handling the situation. Such behaviour is simply not what one would expect from a four star hotel and, regrettably, it left us departing with a sense of disappointment after what had otherwise been a thoroughly enjoyable weekend.