Royal Hotel

We spent New year at the Royal. We were a bit concerned after reading previous negative reports but I am happy to report we had a great room over looking fields & with views over Woolacombe bay. The room had been recently decorated. & was clean & comfortable. The carpets in some of the corridors had seen better days but this is obviously work in progress.
The food was self service & was good quality & choice. The Staff were all very helpfull & polite. a nice touch was a table ladened with fruit sweets & nuts for guests to help themselves to. We had a great time & will certainly consider returning next new year.

My wife and I decided to have a midweek break and decided on the Royal as we had been there twice before. We arrived on the Mon Afternoon and were given the keys to our room. When we entered we were decidedly not impressed, the room was at the back and was very gloomy. I walked into the large bathroom and felt as though I was going through the floor, the lino being the only thing that kept me up. I walked over to the window to close it and promptly found 2 more holesby the window wall and was saved by the carpet as there was nothing underneath. We went to reception and complained and were offered another room with a balcony but had to pay an extra £3 per person per night but at least it was safe.
Yes, it is in need of refurbishing and I can say it is a throw back to the 70s but as others have said, you get what you pay for. Breakfast we found thoroughly enjoyable, as much as you can eat and well cooked. However the evening meal left a lot to be desired, the menu said Roast Beef so we expected a chef to be carving off a joint, instead we found flat packed meat like you find in a supermarket ready meal, the sweet was the same every night, ie flan, ice cream and jelly with a different hot sweet which was tasteless. We then went to the bar and had to contact the receptionist as the barman was still in the restaurant serving bottles of wine. My drink is Guiness however I was told there was no call for it so they had some in cans in the cooler. I was charged £2.50 plus for a can which costs less than £1 in a supermarket. Needless to say I visited the afore mentioned establishment and sat in my room watching the football very cheaply. We had a coachload of people booked in that week and I have to say they were very friendly and we had a good time chatting to them. We had a pretty good week and on the whole we enjoyed our stay at the Royal and we will go back.

The room that we were allocated stank of cigarette smoke and was very shabby. It badly needed redecorating with wallpaper coming away from the wall and badly flaking paintwork.The room was very draughty and there was no double glazing just rotting window frames. The furniture was very tatty. The bed was very old and stained.
Apart from this the staff were very friendly. Food was excellent and on a self serve basis. Entertainment was good. Dance floor was dangerous with loose wooden blocks and a nail sticking up where someone had tried to nail a block down.
The main ballroom was out of use. The swimming pool room was again very tatty with some of the ceiling tiles missing. The handrail on the bath was loose.
With a bit of loving care and attention this could be a nice hotel but at the moment it is very below standard.

My father has taken me my brother and sister here for the last 7 year i have never got board with going to woolacome.
My brother and sister have stoped coming with us now but me and my father still come and we will come till we die.
The staff are all verry polite and the hotel is all ways clean.The rooms are dull and dingy but when we were down in November 2007 it had gone up hill loads just buy having new doors on all the rooms.We are hoping to come in march to may time as we got told buy a member of staff that the rooms are geting done up so we are hoping to stay in a new look room and bathroom.
The food is brill and the vue from the dinning room windows are just amazing looking out to the sea at half 8 in the morning is a great way to start the day.There is always a good selection of food to chose from and diserts aswell. I might ask my father if we can come down in april for my birthday. I would like to say to the manager that he/she has done a amazing job at geting it going up hill i hope that is carrys on going up hill with in the years to come.

1 reader found this review helpful

Overall we enjoyed our stay with very friendly staff who put themselves out whenever asked.
The food was served cafeteria style with plenty of it and of reasonable standard. The hotel itself is in need of a makeover especially the pool but considering the cost it was very good value for money.
It is well placed a short walk from the sea with good views especially if you get a balcony room facing out.

My wife and I stayed for six nights starting on 3 September 2007. This hotel has good food and friendly and adequate staff. It is let down by the poor condition of much of its fabric.
Our room (514) was shabby. The ceiling and wallpaper were stained by a past roof leak. The carpet was in poor condition and the bedspread was torn and grubby. The wardrobe was badly marked by tape adhesive despite bearing a manufacturer's label from only 2004. Ventilation was only available by having the balcony door open and the extractor in the bathroom had clearly not worked for some time. The bathroom was very poor with broken and stained fittings, mould on the grouting and an air of general grubbiness. Daily service was satisfactory.
Corridors were a mixture of reasonably decorated parts but with damaged and grubby doors to many rooms. Carpets were an odd selection and seemed unsuited to corridor use. Many were badly secured and there were suggestions of soft flooring areas in places. Most of the public rooms were reasonably decorated although some of this could not hide what was quite atrocious workmanship in joinery and like details, probably from long ago. We did see some refurbished rooms and some redecoration was under way at the time of our visit.
The food, though limited in range, was good and we appreciated that the limited menus and times of service were inevitable to keep down prices. Not being one who likes depending on a waiter's availability, I found the self-service system most convenient, enabling us to takes as long or as short as we liked to eat. Portions were entirely under the guest's control; there was no rationing! Drink prices were very reasonable for a hotel.
The entertainment was good in parts; perhaps being just beyond the main season it was being scaled down.
Overall, this hotel represents value for money but it must invest in the fabric and decoration if it is to attract repeat business.

Just arrived back from The Royal Hotel and felt I must write a review. Arrived on Monday to a clean room with lovely white ironed sheets, tea making facilities and a breathtaking view from our balcony.
Staff were very friendly and polite, and waiters were efficient. The food was EXCELLENT! and you will find no-where better. After just completing a food hygiene course I was very concerned about eating in the restaurant, but food was always boiling hot in fact you could heard the sizzling as you selected your food. No worries there. Food is served buffet style.
Breakfast was cereals, fresh juices and full English with everything included mushrooms tomatoes beans scrambled and fried eggs, bacon and sausage toast and jam. Every night was either soup or salad bar, two different meats a fish and vegetarian choice, lots of vegetables and hot pudding with custard or a fantastic selection of gateaux, cheesecake, jelly, ice cream, trifle and cream!! Compliments to the Chef. There was always water jugs, tea, and coffee, but for some reason were always luke warm despite standing on hot plates.
The swimming pool was clean and changing rooms are good, and the hotel supplies towels. The actual room is in need of an decoration which I understand is happening now. There have been new double glazing windows put in and judging by the work that has been done this hotel will be first class when finished.
Don't let this stop you from booking now. the only downside is luke warm coffee in the dinning room, but you can not fault the food and service. Will definitely visit again.

Great value short break!
Just returned from this hotel, we paid on £35pp per night for Dinner, bed and breakfast.
The place is certainly not the "Ritz" however it was clean, good food, friendly staff and the weather was great.
Woolacombe is a lovely resort with a fabulous beach.
Would recommend this hotel to anyone looking for a good budget break.