Hermitage Hotel, Hardy Suite

Huge comfortable room and a huge clean bathroom. Shower could have been stronger. Bed was comfy and it's a 5 minute walk to center which was fab. Limited parking but that is clear on the website and luckily we got a space.

We've stayed here numerous times but not since the 'refurb' Our room was 109. Only thing we could notice that was upgraded was the door entry which is now electronic and not key. The decor was still same, paper peeling in places. The bathroom may have had few tweaks but not much. The overbath shower was weird. The shower itself worked fine, however the bottom of the bath didn't seem flat, so it felt like you were standing on curved surface. Very tricky when wet. We didn't have the usual table n chairs in the window of this room which we normally like to sit at. Instead we had a weird bed settee facing away from the view which we thought was weird. The breakfast was hit and miss too. We stayed 2 nights. 1st morning there was hardly anything left. The toaster was useless 4 times round and still looked like bread. No teapots, had to make tea in cup. For the money you pay for breakfast its quite dissapointing a lot of guests were saying the same. 2nd morning was a little better. Seemed more organised. Teapots and toaster much better and more food available. Staff are lovely in the dining room, reception and housekeeping. However bar staff need to have lessons in leaving people waiting. 1 poor girl was serving the chap in front of us who was ordering lots of drinks. 2 chaps putting away glasses behind bar could see us waiting yet didn't come to serve. Instead we waited and waited until this poor girl was free. What happened to customer service? All in all you can't beat this place for its location. Rooms are ok but not wow, specially after a supposed refurb.

READ BEFORE YOU BOOK HERE.This hotel has a great location, close to the sea and next to the BIC, and friendly staff. However, the room quality can vary massively, and my advice would be to choose one of the big chain hotels over this one to avoid what happend to me. I stayed at the Hermitage Hotel for 2 nights with my partner during graduation week. The first room we were shown to was abysmal and depressing. The view from the ground-floor window was terrible (looking directly into a dark, dingy car park) with roadblocks, cones, and signs leaning against it. The room itself was extremely old and tired, with parts of the furniture peeling or having been repaired with tape. The bed was comically firm, comparable to sleeping on a camping roll mat on the ground. This made for an extremely uncomfortable night's sleep, and waking up for the little sleep I did get with a sore back. After making this known to the staff, I was upgraded to a "premium room" with a sea view, which was much nicer by comparison and similar in quality to a pemeire inn. I was also told that the hotel was currently undergoing refurbishment and that the ground floor was next on the list. My main question still remains: Why are they still putting guests in these terrible rooms when they clearly have nicer ones available? This leads me to my final point, which is cost. Because I booked through a third party, I had to pay extra for breakfast and parking, and I suspect I was also given a worse room. When I reached out to management via email to make them aware of these issues and asked for reimbursement for the first night, they responded: "As the room change did involve an upgrade, we are unable to offer compensation for your booking." This response left me shocked as the total cost for 2 nights came in the realm of £188 ( including parking) Overall, I would recommend spending the extra £20 (which you would spend anyway on upgrading to a better room and parking) and staying at one of the big-name hotels in Bournemouth, rather than risking getting stuck with the same room I did.