Harbour Heights Hotel

I just arrive from a lovely weekend with my husband at the Harbour Heigths Hotel I will like to say want a lovely place to stay for a lovely holiday or weekend break.The views is fantastico the rooms nice and clean the restaurant lovely atmosfere the staff very helpfull their work as a team,and not all the food was amazing . I can waiting to go back again as my husband and I had a good experience.

Firstly, we wrote a constructive letter to the Managing Director, of our 'experiences' at Harbour Heights early June 2006. We followed this up with a second letter a month later - he has failed to acknowledge either. This absolutely sums up what the Harbour Heights is all about these days ... and we are not going to beat about the bush - it has become a money grabbing, ignorant, arrogant environment, totally relying on the views to pull in the punters. Yes the views are great and the rooms are pretty nice too, but when everything else fails, you may as well put the money away and find somewhere where your custom will be appreciated. YOU WILL NOT BE A VALUED CUSTOMER AT THE HARBOUR HEIGHTS, unless of course you are the wedding party of the weekend. Having frequented this hotel for the past 20 years (I used to return year after year), the caring attentive staff have now been replaced with a bunch of youngsters who clearly don't understand the command of English and have no idea how to look after guests. If you're thinking you'll get silver service in this place, forget it!. More often you'll be given the plate without the right cutlery! The restaurant manager has attitude and will do his best to intimidate (my partner witnessed him slating guests to other members of staff). If you are intending on staying at this hotel, some key pointers to bear in mind - we were charged £13.50 for one measure of Martell brandy (seemingly the only brandy they had available); limited wine list as apparently they are restocking their cellars; overcharged £50 on the final bill (they forget that evening meal was included in our rate!); uninformed about the wedding party who took over took over the bulk of the hotel (that is if you don't mind being woken up all hours by drunken revellars). Also any functions will utilise the best of the outside terrace/seating areas - it was standing room only for us for the entire evening. And don't forget, the Managing Director does not give a damn ....

Well what can I say, Me and my husband have stayed in many hotels, only recently did myself and a few friends go along the coast to stay in a 4* hotel which was nothing to this standard but had amazing reviews and price wasnt too bad so we booked it but was the complete opposite. Thats why we was in shock to see this hotel had bad reviews. We were at a friends wedding on saturday which was amazing! Wow the views, the food.The restaurant manager greeted us, made conversation and waiters were pleasent. The hotel was extremely busy but it seemed to be managed so well and didnt interfere with our friends special day. We would def reccommend the hotel to anyone, we had a look at the sister hotels both about 3 mins away and loved them too! Didnt sample food but all looked very good. Cant wait now for my husband to take me back there.

Stayed at the hotel on a Sunday night. We were told on checking in that we would be fine in the restaurant after 8:30pm. On arriving at this time, we were first ignored for more than 15 minutes, then ushered to a waiting area where we sat like lemons for a further 10 minutes until eventually the obviously flustered restaurant manager came over and castigated us for arriving at the hotel and not booking a table. His tone was nothing short of rude and I heard him talk in a similar vein to another couple. He reluctantly took our order and we were shown in the general direction of our table. The sommelier eventually arrived without the wine we had ordered which apparently was not available. The staff seemed far more pre-occupied with cleaning than serving and it was only when we gave up all hope of receiving a bill and went to leave that anyone took any notice of us! That said, the food was excellent and the view from the bedroom pretty amazing. However, the appalling staff would deter me from ever staying there again or recommending what ought to be a fine hotel.

What can I say – it’s just the best place I’ve ever stayed in.. located in the best spot with panoramic views over Poole Harbour and Brownsea Island. We were greeted with smiley reception staff, shown to our beautiful corner bedroom with a huge balcony – we actually had sundowners in our dressing gowns and enjoyed a delicious breakfast on the balcony too! Downstairs there is a superb lounge area with leather sofas, grand piano and throne chairs - plus an 80-100ft tiered terrace with views, twinkly lights and heaters (well it is England!). The food was amazing too – really fine dining with a contemporary twist than a brasserie. I’m actually a very fussy eater and I wanted to eat everything on the menu. Can’t wait to go back – Ps. You are able to use their sister hotel’s (The Haven) leisure club facilities – with indoor and outdoor pools, Jacuzzi, sauna and spa – don’t forget your costume!

What can I say.. the Harbour Heights is truly an amazing hotel. My husband and I visited Poole this weekend for my friend's wedding. When my husband booked the hotel I was expecting the typical seaside hotel - old fashioned and drab - however to my amazement this hotel was contemporary and stylish. The whole hotel has been recently renovated in a Conranesque style - we stayed in a spacious sea view bedroom with a separate lounge area, flat screen TV and balcony to sit out and enjoy the views in private. For the wedding we were whisked into a private function room with glorious views over the harbour and private terrace - the food was absolutely amazing and the banqueting manager 'Beverley' couldn't have been more helpful. It was a shame that we couldn't stay another night to enjoy the harbar Brasserie dining experience - for according to the locals the food is fabulous and it is the place to be seen! Thoroughly enjoyable stay - would recommend it and will stay again soon! Five stars!!!

The Harbour Heights Hotel stay was probably the most bizarre hotel I have ever stayed in. The staff seemed to be more interested in keeping the place prim and proper instead of serving the customers. It was like the customers were some sort of rodents which constantly annoyed the staff since we kept messing things up. As an example, out on the terrace I ordered a coffee, as I did that another customer left and the waiter immediately started cleaning that table ignoring my coffee request. The staff seemed to spend all their time cleaning and arranging and seemed to get upset if they were interrupted with an "excuse me, may I order now". Even the management had no regard for customer service. One time I asked for reservations for supper as I walked through the bar to the terrace, the reservation was marked down and I waited and waited and after an hour and a half I went in and asked when we are going to be seated. Our reservation had been crossed out, I asked for the restaurant manager and pointed out the reservation in the book and the snooty restaurant manager told me the person that wrote down the reservation was not “authorized” to do that and there was no way I would be seated that night. There were various other situations like that. One afternoon I was in my room and the door opened without a knock first and a bartender I recognized from the evening before looked in and when he saw me he mumbled something about “If the room is OK”. I thought that was very suspicious and decided enough is enough. I packed my bags and left. By the way, I tried to use my Best Western membership card at the hotel and I was told Best Western is no longer associated with the Harbour Heights Hotel as of May 2006. If I was Best Western I probably would not like to be associated with that hotel either.

I cannot express how disappointed i was with this hotel. The location and view are superb, and if its great weather as it was for my stay you could pretend you were abroad - if it wasn't for the appalling service. I have never encountered such unhelpful reception staff. I can only assume the four stars they have were given by Basil Fawlty. The receptionist was sarcastic and miserable. On arrival she did not tell us about the facitilies or what time breakfast was, nor could she be bothered to find a porter to help us with our luggage. I was very disappointed with my room - it was no better that a travelodge, and had noisy a/c. If I opened my window, the view was the car park and a member of ther kitchen staff lying on a bench having a cigarette. When I asked if there was another room available, as mine was small, dark and overlooked the car park, I was told they were fully booked, despite my friend being shown another available room, which she had turned down. On the sunday we waited 20 minutes in the restaurant before I had to find a member of the waiting staff to ask her if we could be served breakfast. The toast came with the coffee, whilst the cooked breakfast came 20 minutes later.The waiting staff seemed to be half asleep and could not grasp simple requests. Four star hotels cannot use the excuse of 'its a busy time' for excusing poor service at breakfast - what else would they expect on a lazy sunday morning? When it came to checking out, the bill was wrong and then they messed up my request for a taxi, meaning we missed our train back. At no point did they apologise, they just turned it around to make us feel at fault. There are many other minor niggles with this hotel which is such a shame, but I don't want to waste my time typing! I think they could use a Gordon Ramsay kick up the butt! For the price of a weekend here you could have a much better weekend abroad - avoid Harbour heights at all costs.

I visited the Harbour Heights Hotel on 14th May 2006 for Sunday lunch, we were a party of 4 being a birthday celebration. The service in the resteraunt was appaling from start to finish, there seemed to be no one in authority available to deal with the complaint and I was advised to submit a written complaint to the hotel. This I did the following day and also copied the e:mail to Best Western. As of today 13th June i have received no response from the hotel and only the standard "we have passed your complaint on" from Best Western. I would strongly advise no one to dine in this hotel as customer service does not appear to exist and they do not seem to take complaints seriously. There are plenty of other good eating establishments in the area, use those.

Great location, the view from the bar and restaurant was amazing. Unfortunalty we didnt book early enough and there were no seaview bedrooms left. The room was very nice, great power shower and jacuzzi bath. my only complaint was that the bed was far to soft (making it very uncomfortable) however it did have a duvet! Had dinner in the hotel, fantastic food and the staff were really helpful. Unfortunately breakfast wasnt up to the same standard the next monring. The food was still nice but the staff weren't really with it and although there were only 2 other tables taken service was very slow. There was a wedding going on at the same time as we stayed there and although we weren't told about this when we booked, it didn't affect us at all. Would definately reccommend the hotel for a weekend away.