Bike & Boot

A great spot for the south bay, with thoughtful extras for dogs and cyclists: dog baths and drying, bike storage, plus areas to clean and maintain bikes. We had a lovely stay in a cosy, comfortable hotel, with friendly staff, good food, nice rooms, and great showers.

The boot room was small, as we expected when we booked, but my wife and I had enough space to move around. It felt cosy and had an iron and board, hairdryer, coffee machine, and TV with Chromecast. In December, finding parking outside was easy. We loved the welcoming decor and the lounges, especially the one with a sea view. You can get cocktails from the attached bar and take them into the lounges, and there’s free hot drinks and cake at 4pm each day. They even left our dog a little bed, blanket, and duck toy, which it absolutely loved. It’s set up brilliantly for dogs, cyclists, and hikers, though you don’t need to be any of those to enjoy staying here. We had a lovely visit and will definitely come back.

On this third visit this year, we finally ate at the hotel and had a great meal. The staff were lovely, the food was awesome, and they made us feel very welcome. We’ve always found the staff friendly, and the views from the hotel are stunning. It’s a wonderful base for the town, beach, and Spa, and a brilliant place to bring our dog. Our room was spacious, clean, comfortable, and relaxing. Parking out front is limited, but there’s plenty of street parking nearby and a multi-storey car park around the corner. I’d highly recommend it, especially to dog owners.

The room was unbearably hot, as was the rest of the building. Other guests were complaining too. Turning the radiator right down didn’t help, so we had to leave the window wide open in February. Gulls started making a racket at 4am, and I had one of the worst nights’ sleep I can remember. We told them about the problems at checkout. We got a short, mediocre apology and a comment that they hoped our next stay would be better. After this, there won’t be one. We left extremely dissatisfied, and the stay fell far short of what we expected when booking. The food and drinks cost far too much for what we got. The £20 burger and fries would have been expensive even if decent, but the brioche bun was dry, the burger overcooked, and there was only a little cheese and chutney on it. The chip fries portion was tiny. My wife’s focaccia was dried out too. Breakfast was no better: bland scrambled eggs, beans, bacon, premade pancakes, a “boil your own egg” station, and poor coffee, again at £20 per person. I’m fine paying £20 for a burger or breakfast when it’s good, but this wasn’t. The £4 parking and some of the decoration were good. That’s all.