Melville Hall Hotel

Booked this hotel for a 4 night break after finding it on the AA website. It looked pretty good and I did something I never normally do and booked it before checking on this website. After booking I saw the previous reviews and nearly cancelled but they seem to have an AA award and others so I thought I would take a chance. I can honestly say that we have just returned from a very enjoyable break at the Melville Hall Hotel. The room was a bit old-fashioned but clean with everything you need - TV, tea & coffee making facilities, complimentary toiletries etc. The staff are friendly and helpful. The indoor pool is small but adequate for a refreshing dip. I have to say that the food was excellent although my only criticism would be the lack of vegetables at dinner. We do not use salt at home and did not find the food salty so I cannot understand a previous reviewer's comment unless they have changed the chef!! We were also provided with a jug of water at the table every evening. All in all we had a very comfortable and enjoyable stay and I would recommend this hotel for a short relaxing break.

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at the Melville Hall, so much so that we returned within 3 - 4 months for another short break. We booked on a weekend where there was an excellent deal on and that made it so much the better. The first time we upgraded the room to four poster and it was lovely. Water did come in through the ceiling in the bathroom. But hey it's their problem so let them deal with it. It didn't ruin our stay. The second time we upgraded our room to four poster with the spa bath, which I don't think was really worth doing in hindsight. Especially when you have free use of it down in the communal spa area. The pool was lovely and staff accomodating. But the food was delicious, breakfast was huge and delicious and the evening meal was four courses that was absolutely wonderful. It is just a short walk from the front at Sandown so eating out is easy. We definitely want to go back for another weekend. Look out for their deals on their website, don't pay full price.

I had to make a business trip to the Isle of Wight for a couple of days and my partner had some time off so i booked this place so that she would be able to enjoy some treatments whilst i was at work. It cost £358 for the 2 of us, half board, including ferry, midweek. The hotel is not impressive from the outside, and inside is really quite dated. The room we had was small, and the walls were paper thin. Credit where it is due, it was spotlessly clean which is something. We were given a tour by one of the staff who were excellent throughout our stay. The pool is tiny, the restuarant has a strange policy of giving you a table at your first meal and that is the table you have for the rest of your stay! We found this rather peculiar. The food was a real let down. At first glance the menu seems quite impressive. When it arrives, it becomes very clear that the meals have come from a catering pack and reheated and served on the worlds largest plates! The poor staff have serious difficulties carrying them! It was served hot, but at no time are you offered a drink at the table and with the amount of salt in the food it is really necessary! I can't say i would ever recommend this place to friends or family, nor would i rush to return back. I would definately look at other hotels first. Should you decide on staying here, can i wish you all the best and hope your stay is a little better than mine was!

arrived with husband and two kids and booked in nobody showed us the hotel and the girl on reception (i say girl, she must have been about 15?) just didn't know what she was doing. went up to our room, it smelt of smoke and this is a non smoking hotel? next door made a lot of noise - so anyway we went downstairs to have a look. tried ordering a drink at the bar and nobody arrived. tried going for a swim but the jacuzzi wasn't working. so we gave up and went out for the day - when we got back the staff on reception (15 year old and some blonde lady) ignored us completely when we asked for our key, so the next day came and things were worse. young man was very helpful when we asked about spa treatments and managed to book something we wanted. first and last time for this stay. we had two days left and had to put up with things such as cold food, and a repeat of the above. I am never going to take my family there again, next time I am going to make sure we look for a place on here before making decisions, the reviews on here are 99% correct.

Booked a 2 night break through the hotels website for a final relaxing weekend before we have our baby (i am 8 months pregnant). Arrived at the hotel which didnt look too much like the hotel we had booked on the website - i think they have used the photo's they have very cleverly! Room was o.k - old fashioned and small but clean. Went down for our dinner (our first night was half board) and were sorely disappointed! Our starter was deep fried in rancid oil, all the mains came drowned in cream and wine sauce apart from the beef wellington which just comes out raw! Coffee is served before desert and if you want anything more exciting than a standard coffee you'll have to make it yourself - my partner was brought all the ingredients for his irish coffee which he had to assemble himself! So we decided to retire to our room hoping that a good nights sleep would help.....only to be kept awake between 11pm and 6am by a guests extremely loud snoring - not helped by the paper thin walls! Spoke to reception the next morning and the manager agreed to move us to another room. After a day visiting various towns on the island we headed back to our room for a relaxing bath and lie down before we headed out for dinner. After lying in the bath for a few minutes i noticed something appear on the ceiling - a huge crack, from which water started pouring through!! I leapt out of the bath and called reception to be informed that there were children in the room above not using the shower curtain correctly but that they were not overly concerned. We insisted they came and looked at the problem as the water was actually coming through the light fittings and they did then agree to move us to another room - our 3rd in a 2 night break. This 3rd room was nicely decorated, modern, had a plasma screen and jacuzzi bath and was obviously one of the better rooms in the hotel. Another point to be mentioned is the bar prices - a j2o and pint of boddingtons will set you back £8. Overall i have to say that the staff cannot be faulted - they were polite and dealt with our problems well but the standard of the hotel and its food left alot to be desired.

Have just returned from a three night break at Melville Hall. Having read some of the less than great reviews here we were tempted to cancel. How glad we were that we didn't! Ok, so it's not a trendy, stylish hotel. In fact it's a bit old fashioned and chintzy. However, our experience bore absolutely no resemblance to the critical reviews we saw here. Our room was comfortable and all areas were spotlessly clean and well kept. The staff were friendly and nothing was too much trouble for them. The food was terrific - we were spoilt for choice, the ingredients were of a high quality, presentation great and all cooked to perfection. Spa treatments were lovely and carried out by obviously experienced therapists. We are well travelled, don't 'rough it' and have stayed at some of the top hotels in the world. Melville Hall is not world class but then it doesn't pretend to be. It is a small seaside hotel and as such we could not fault it.

My husband and I stayed at this hotel over Easter Weekend. We booked late and this was one of the few the Tourist Board confirmed had vacancies - hence our booking. We were looking for a relaxed weekend with some nice food, a bit of pampering for me and just some general chill time. I immediately regretted paying the extra money for the 4 poster bed and the spa bath. The bed was small and was draped in a very old-fashioned looking lace - similar to my late granny's net curtains! I can't comment on the spa bath as there were quite alot of instructions to read before use, so I never quite got round to it before I left. The decor and general feel is really dated -.i.e. the bedcover was a gold coloured satin, swirly capets, stong smell of airfreshner. The spa was too busy for me to get a slot but when I took a peak inside it was really very small; the pool is also tiny. Dinner was ok but the dining room had no atmosphere at all. If we hadn't had an all-inclusive deal we would have eaten out after the first night. The waiting staff were also a bit clumsy. The best I can say about the hotel is that it was clean and the shower was powerful. The staff were also pleasant. If you want some pampering in a relaxed pleasant surrounding then I would suggest that this is not the place for you. We loved the island and will be back, but realised on our travels that Sandown was not a place we would stay in again (due to busy seafront with the arcade etc.) and in the future will look to stay in Ventnor, Freshwater or Yarmouth.

Having read the previous reviews we were looking forward to our girls week-end with a low expectation of the hotel but found it to be absolutely fine. No complaints about the service, the treatements were lovely and the staff, especially the Spa staff couldn't have done any more for us. Yes, the room was a little dated, but warm, clean and and had an excellent shower. Would go there again without hesitation. The price, £99 two nights half board incl ferry was a total bargain and I really wonder what drives reveiwers to be so scathing. So my advice is to go get a life, have a week-end at Melville and have a good time.

The reality of this hotel/spa is far removed from the images portrayed on the professional website. My friend and I were hoping to have a relaxing one night stay on a package which included two treatments in the spa. We were told our first treatment would be at 5.00 pm. We arrived at 4.00 pm and intended to check in and sort ourselves out. We were told on arrival that our full body massage appointment had been moved to 4.00 pm and were given 10 minutes to change and had to rush down to the spa as there were no other appointment times available. Not a great start. Why didn't they let us know? The room 'a deluxe twin' was quite small, the two beds were pushed together. The pillows were pancake flat. The view from the window was onto a brick wall. It smelt of damp. The Black robes we were given had seen better days - greying and threadbare and no doubt the colour hiding a multitude of sins. They felt damp to the touch. In the treatment room, we were both handed rolled up damp black towels. When I unrolled mine, one of them had a rubbery white residue stuck to it. Again, the towels like the robes had seen better days. The therapist was very good but the massage was cut short by 20minutes. My friend said her therapist was also very good and had told her that following the death of the Hotel's owner it had been recently taken over by his son who was running it into the ground. The four course dinner was very average. One course was tinned soup or sorbet, not sure that counts, and coffee was not included. The menu was very old fashioned. The restaurant manager wouldn't let us through at the time we booked as she had just put through a part of seven (so?) They made an clumsy attempt at silver service - strange how pots of sugar were out on the table all the time and they would lay the tables for breakfast as soon as you moved. They even had a magician - please! Get the basics right first! Breakfast was no better - my croissants had been microwaved and were pale and rubbery. I didn't eat them. They offered a poor selection of cereal boxes, there was no fresh fruit. Juice was obviously straight out of the carton (I would imagine the juices they advertised in the spa were no different). All very grubby and substandard and we left shortly after breakfast. There are a myriad of other items we could complain about, (surly reception staff for example) but this review is long enough as it is. I know this is a three star hotel - but they should cut out the 'silver service' and the magician and concentrate on providing the basics - cleanliness, comfort and tidy administration of spa bookings should come first!

All in all the visit was ok.......I normally go to Devon and have had no issues there, but this time we decided to go to the Isle Of Wight.......On arriving at the hotel the staff were really nice, the lady on reception Dawn was excellent.......We check in and when to our room, well all I can say is that is was dated and not what I expected......The leisure facilities were good and my wife enjoyed the Utopia Spa centre........We were booked on a Dinner B&B deal and I must say that the food was good......The service was not as good as the food, many inexperienced waiters/waitresses and there was no organisation, if I was the chef I would of not been happy with the waiting staff......... Overall if you can get over the standard of rooms and the poor waiting service the hotel was good value for money, drinks were also reasonable and the Spa was excellent value. The majority of the staff were pleasant aswell.......