Palace Hotel

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This hotel is huge, and was presumably, in it’s hey-day, very impressive, but today, it’s struggling for an identity. It’s just too far from the beach to be a family hotel, and doesn’t have a modern enough approach to appeal to business customers.
I was in Torquay on a business trip with a colleague. Our company booked us into the Palace, which, from the description we were given, sounded fine.
We arrived at about 7pm, really tired after a very early start followed by a 5-hour drive and a day at work. Check-in was fine, although they took the full fee off our credit cards straight away, which was a bit cheeky. Our first priority was food, so after a quick wash and brush up we went down to the near-empty restaurant where we were told in no uncertain terms that we couldn’t eat there, as we didn’t meet the dress code. I agree that people should be respectable when they turn up for dinner, and yes, we were in casual clothes, but we were clean and tidy, and certainly not scruffy. A very haughty headwaiter told us we could get food in the bar. As it turned out, we weren’t allowed to eat in the bar at all and were despatched to a deserted ante-room outside the bar, where the food was brought out to us (we still had to pay the full restaurant price of £29 each!).
Needless to say we didn’t eat there again. As we were staying for a further 4 days, their attitude cost them 8 x £29 - £232 in lost income.
After the meal I had to deal with some financial issues over the internet and went up to the room and my laptop. Problem number 2 – no internet in the rooms. What century are we in? I stayed at a £40 a night hotel recently and even that had internet in the rooms. So, back down to reception where I was told that there was a wi-fi service in some (not all) of the public areas of the ground floor. I didn’t really want to deal with business issues in a public area, but I had no choice and went back to the seated area we had eaten our meal, where I managed to get a connection.
Good things about this hotel? The staff are polite and generally helpful. The rooms are warm and clean, albeit a bit small. The bathrooms are clean and spacious, although dated, with no shower cubicles, just a poor quality plastic showerhead hung over the bath and a curtain to pull around the bath. The maids are very efficient.
Bad things about this hotel? Silly dress code in the restaurant, which is enforced even out of season when the hotel has few guests. Situated a long way from the seafront on a very busy, noisy road. No double-glazing. No internet in the rooms. To add insult to injury both my colleague and I had £29 added to each of our bills for meals we didn’t have, and a £5 “tray” charge for the meal we had in the ante-room on the first night!
Verdict? This hotel is trying hard but if it wants to fill all those hundreds of rooms out of season with well-paying business customers, it’s got to modernise, and fast. I won’t be going back