Lovely old style hotel in the city, huge room an bathroom, lovely friendly staff, definitely use again on our next trip here
Caisters Entertainments
Awesome place to play a gig
Bobby Bobster
Nice hotel right in the middle of Winchester, close to everything. Great base from which to see the city. Very good breakfast, ate dinner elsewhere. Small bar. We arrived early and room was ready but had we arrived later car park would have been full, so be warned! Parking costs £15 a day. Function suite and private dining rooms.
Joe S
My family and I had an afternoon tea at this hotel. It's the second time I've brought family members here for an afternoon tea and both times were truly delightful. The staff (today being Binita and Jane) were friendly, kind and accommodating, always smiling and helpful. Booking it and emailing to organise dietary requirements and regarding having a dog was very fast and helpful too. The afternoon tea was a great size in terms of portion and tasted fantastic! The price was more than fair for the food we received. We will definitely go back again in the future! Highly recommend!
Barbara Russell
Very attentive staff and polite. However what let's it down is breakfast, not enough tables although you book a time we were still kept waiting fir 15 mins. So when we got in there was nothing left and what was left was dried up and burnt. Also only 1 jug of hot water for making tea, a tea urn is required. That is the only thing that let them down. Such a shame because it could be put right.
becci wilde
The girls treated me to an afternoon tea for my birthday. We sat in lounge chairs with a low-level table. The table was too small for 6 people, plates, cups and the afternoon tea stands. A couple of the girls used the loos and said they weren't very nice, but I can't confirm as I then avoided them. The afternoon tea itself was OK, and the service was good, although we did have to ask for tea and coffee refills. They used a Groupon voucher so because of that it was apparently good value for money. The Christmas decor was lovely.
John Ball
We stayed with another couple for 2 nights B&B plus one dinner. The hotel couldn't be better placed in Winchester but both the car park and the dining room are far too small for the number of guests. One of us had to wait for about 40 mins for a car park space (for which they charge £15 per night) and we had to wait for over 30 mins each morning for a table at breakfast. The hotel was busy but they should operate booked timings for breakfast rather than making guests wait for tables when they cannot accommodate the numbers. The food was very good but at dinner two of us were served our main courses about 10 mins before the others. I paid for the wine separately but when the bill was presented a service charge had been added which I asked to be deleted which it was.
Rooms: Good size room but needed a little updating e.g. the bathroom mirror misted up badly rather than having one with a demisting feature.
Nearby activities: Very central for all the City attractions including the Christmas market which happened to be on during our visit.
Encarna
Very close to all amenities. Very clean. Good customer service.
MrKamil
This place should be called a scam hotel. They are charging you for things you never order at the bar!!
David Smith
Christmas party disaster. When you pay circa £50 a head for a Xmas party you expect a certain level of competence. For a party of 30, there were 5 of us that requested in advance (6 weeks) specific meals. On the night in question the food service was 90 mins behind the advertised time and the 5 colleagues were told they had run out of food. An absolute farcical outfit. I would avoid at all costs - even for an overnight stay. It needs a complete overhaul.
I booked a short stay for my wife and I, as we were going to the Christmas market. First of all, the romantic delux room we booked in the main part of the hotel, not the wing, had been double booked, so we were allocated a double garden view room in the new characterless wing, which apparently is an upgrade. I don’t know the quality of the actual room we booked, but the garden double is nothing more than a travel lodge at best… the bed was comfortable, and I’m sure the response from the management will be ‘I’m glad you found the bed comfortable…’ we complained and got complimentary breakfasts for both days, which while tasty and plentiful (wait for the response from management on that too, it’s a regular theme) it wasn’t worth what they were charging. Next was the dinner debacle… we asked for evening reservations at reception, we’d said any time as we’re guests, only to be told they were fully booked and had 3 large parties to cover. We did a quick check on the Hotel website and hey presto, were able to book evening reservations. I complained to reception and they insisted they had no availability, I asked what they would do if a non guest arrived with a web reservation, to which they admitted they would accommodate them. I was flabbergasted. Anyway they accepted our booking and when we arrived for our meal, there were 3 other couples dining…. I just couldn’t get my head around it!!! The food was good (management, wait for it….). On checking out, I explained the issues and was told next time we book, we can have a room upgrade, for the nicer feature rooms to a double garden view I presume. I’ll not be returning to the Royal again, I felt let down by the experience, and judging on other reviews of room experience, I feel that I may have even got off lightly…
Nearby activities: Christmas market
Walkability: Close to the city centre
Alex Dabbah
Friendly staff, decent prices and very good location. But rooms need a refurbishment as all the carpets, chairs and sofas are full of stains.
Jon Ferris
1.) I initially booked 3 Garden rooms for my family on the 03.09.2024 with Raj (Reception).
I emailed the reception email address with a couple of questions ( [email protected] ) on the 17th of October & the 30th of October.
I received no reply so I emailed again on the 03.11.2024 including the ‘events' email address.
I eventually received a reply from events as I included them in the email as I’d received no reply. Lalitha Chaganti on the 4th of November. So it took from the 17th of October - 4th of November to receive a reply.!!!
I had also tried ringing on several occasions with no one answering. I did put this on your Facebook page and also messaged your Facebook who told us to contact the hotel!
2.) On arrival at the hotel we received no ’sparkling drinks’ as it states on your website!! After checking in I did have to actually ask reception why we had received no arrival drinks? We received no apology and were told most people have the drink with their meal? I asked for a bottle of house white wine with the meal instead.
3.) We paid for a higher quality room expecting the usual nice extras? The room was quite basic and had no fridge or nicer extras? The toiletries were not adequate for 2 nights and were not replenished. The rooms were also a really long walk to the end of the corridor up stairs. My parents are both in their 80’s so this was not an ideal situation. Rooms 170, 172 & 174.
4.) We had booked times for breakfast so we could plan our day. On the second day the breakfast room was full and we had to sit and wait for 15 minutes before going into breakfast!
The quality of food and the actual cooking was very good. The honey, sausages and especially the scrambled egg was exceptional. That is a stunning area to have breakfast.
On a negative side only one coffee machine which is of a high quality but slow and needed filters changing. This was slow to be done as the staff were very busy. The pancake machine again is brilliant but it did run out of mixture and this took 15 minutes to sort out. The bacon run out and took 10 minutes for more to arrive. The 2 small toasters are very slow and again queues were forming waiting for them!
The lady who has just come back from holiday and was very tanned was very professional and did apologise even though she was running around!
5.) The carol singing was a lovely touch.
6.) We again booked a time for dinner of 7:30pm on Monday evening in the restaurant. We waited about 20 minutes for our starters. We then waited until 9:30pm for our burnt overdone cold dinners! The steak was burnt, The Lamb was chewy and the other bit was dry and flaky! The Chicken was not edible. The burger was burnt and black! By this time of day obviously it was too late to order replacement food!
The other table of four people also complained about the wait times and quality of food.
NOT ACCEPTABLE!
We did tell the waiter and he gave us a free drink.
6.) On checking out bearing in mind the problem I’d had previously with bad communication I asked for all bills to be printed out so we could check them. Unfortunately one of the rooms has a charge of £88 on the bill that shouldn’t of been there!
It is such a beautiful building and the cathedral and market were excellent.
We chose a higher grade hotel and better than standard rooms are left feeling very very disappointed.
It has been a hotel for the past 166 years so surely we should not of experienced this.
Rooms: Basic
Food and drinks: Excellent bre
Sarn Smith
Bakehouse not luxury it was dirty and needed maintenance and did not accommodate 8 people staff would not discuss the problems we had
Jack Rodgers
AVOID! At all cost I had my wedding here. There were so many things wrong with this place it reminded me of Faulty towers. From guests sweltering in the room to dirty cutlery. We chose this place as it fit in our budget but we should have paid a bit extra to go somewhere competent.
Lovely old style hotel in the city, huge room an bathroom, lovely friendly staff, definitely use again on our next trip here
Awesome place to play a gig
Nice hotel right in the middle of Winchester, close to everything. Great base from which to see the city. Very good breakfast, ate dinner elsewhere. Small bar. We arrived early and room was ready but had we arrived later car park would have been full, so be warned! Parking costs £15 a day. Function suite and private dining rooms.
My family and I had an afternoon tea at this hotel. It's the second time I've brought family members here for an afternoon tea and both times were truly delightful. The staff (today being Binita and Jane) were friendly, kind and accommodating, always smiling and helpful. Booking it and emailing to organise dietary requirements and regarding having a dog was very fast and helpful too. The afternoon tea was a great size in terms of portion and tasted fantastic! The price was more than fair for the food we received. We will definitely go back again in the future! Highly recommend!
Very attentive staff and polite. However what let's it down is breakfast, not enough tables although you book a time we were still kept waiting fir 15 mins. So when we got in there was nothing left and what was left was dried up and burnt. Also only 1 jug of hot water for making tea, a tea urn is required. That is the only thing that let them down. Such a shame because it could be put right.
The girls treated me to an afternoon tea for my birthday. We sat in lounge chairs with a low-level table. The table was too small for 6 people, plates, cups and the afternoon tea stands. A couple of the girls used the loos and said they weren't very nice, but I can't confirm as I then avoided them. The afternoon tea itself was OK, and the service was good, although we did have to ask for tea and coffee refills. They used a Groupon voucher so because of that it was apparently good value for money. The Christmas decor was lovely.
We stayed with another couple for 2 nights B&B plus one dinner. The hotel couldn't be better placed in Winchester but both the car park and the dining room are far too small for the number of guests. One of us had to wait for about 40 mins for a car park space (for which they charge £15 per night) and we had to wait for over 30 mins each morning for a table at breakfast. The hotel was busy but they should operate booked timings for breakfast rather than making guests wait for tables when they cannot accommodate the numbers. The food was very good but at dinner two of us were served our main courses about 10 mins before the others. I paid for the wine separately but when the bill was presented a service charge had been added which I asked to be deleted which it was.
Rooms: Good size room but needed a little updating e.g. the bathroom mirror misted up badly rather than having one with a demisting feature.
Nearby activities: Very central for all the City attractions including the Christmas market which happened to be on during our visit.
Very close to all amenities. Very clean. Good customer service.
This place should be called a scam hotel. They are charging you for things you never order at the bar!!
Christmas party disaster. When you pay circa £50 a head for a Xmas party you expect a certain level of competence. For a party of 30, there were 5 of us that requested in advance (6 weeks) specific meals. On the night in question the food service was 90 mins behind the advertised time and the 5 colleagues were told they had run out of food. An absolute farcical outfit. I would avoid at all costs - even for an overnight stay. It needs a complete overhaul.
Restaurantji Recommends
I booked a short stay for my wife and I, as we were going to the Christmas market. First of all, the romantic delux room we booked in the main part of the hotel, not the wing, had been double booked, so we were allocated a double garden view room in the new characterless wing, which apparently is an upgrade. I don’t know the quality of the actual room we booked, but the garden double is nothing more than a travel lodge at best… the bed was comfortable, and I’m sure the response from the management will be ‘I’m glad you found the bed comfortable…’ we complained and got complimentary breakfasts for both days, which while tasty and plentiful (wait for the response from management on that too, it’s a regular theme) it wasn’t worth what they were charging. Next was the dinner debacle… we asked for evening reservations at reception, we’d said any time as we’re guests, only to be told they were fully booked and had 3 large parties to cover. We did a quick check on the Hotel website and hey presto, were able to book evening reservations. I complained to reception and they insisted they had no availability, I asked what they would do if a non guest arrived with a web reservation, to which they admitted they would accommodate them. I was flabbergasted. Anyway they accepted our booking and when we arrived for our meal, there were 3 other couples dining…. I just couldn’t get my head around it!!! The food was good (management, wait for it….). On checking out, I explained the issues and was told next time we book, we can have a room upgrade, for the nicer feature rooms to a double garden view I presume. I’ll not be returning to the Royal again, I felt let down by the experience, and judging on other reviews of room experience, I feel that I may have even got off lightly…
Nearby activities: Christmas market
Walkability: Close to the city centre
Friendly staff, decent prices and very good location. But rooms need a refurbishment as all the carpets, chairs and sofas are full of stains.
1.) I initially booked 3 Garden rooms for my family on the
03.09.2024 with Raj (Reception).
I emailed the reception email address with a couple of questions ( [email protected] ) on the 17th of October & the 30th of October.
I received no reply so I emailed again on the 03.11.2024 including the ‘events' email address.
I eventually received a reply from events as I included them in the email as I’d received no reply. Lalitha Chaganti on the 4th of November.
So it took from the 17th of October - 4th of November to receive a reply.!!!
I had also tried ringing on several occasions with no one answering.
I did put this on your Facebook page and also messaged your Facebook who told us to contact the hotel!
2.) On arrival at the hotel we received no ’sparkling drinks’ as it states on your website!!
After checking in I did have to actually ask reception why we had received no arrival drinks?
We received no apology and were told most people have the drink with their meal?
I asked for a bottle of house white wine with the meal instead.
3.) We paid for a higher quality room expecting the usual nice extras?
The room was quite basic and had no fridge or nicer extras?
The toiletries were not adequate for 2 nights and were not replenished.
The rooms were also a really long walk to the end of the corridor up stairs.
My parents are both in their 80’s so this was not an ideal situation.
Rooms 170, 172 & 174.
4.) We had booked times for breakfast so we could plan our day.
On the second day the breakfast room was full and we had to sit and wait for 15 minutes before going into breakfast!
The quality of food and the actual cooking was very good.
The honey, sausages and especially the scrambled egg was exceptional.
That is a stunning area to have breakfast.
On a negative side only one coffee machine which is of a high quality but slow and needed filters changing. This was slow to be done as the staff were very busy.
The pancake machine again is brilliant but it did run out of mixture and this took 15 minutes to sort out. The bacon run out and took 10 minutes for more to arrive.
The 2 small toasters are very slow and again queues were forming waiting for them!
The lady who has just come back from holiday and was very tanned was very professional and did apologise even though she was running around!
5.) The carol singing was a lovely touch.
6.) We again booked a time for dinner of 7:30pm on Monday evening in the restaurant.
We waited about 20 minutes for our starters.
We then waited until 9:30pm for our burnt overdone cold dinners!
The steak was burnt, The Lamb was chewy and the other bit was dry and flaky! The Chicken was not edible. The burger was burnt and black!
By this time of day obviously it was too late to order replacement food!
The other table of four people also complained about the wait times and quality of food.
NOT ACCEPTABLE!
We did tell the waiter and he gave us a free drink.
6.) On checking out bearing in mind the problem I’d had previously with bad communication I asked for all bills to be printed out so we could check them.
Unfortunately one of the rooms has a charge of £88 on the bill that shouldn’t of been there!
It is such a beautiful building and the cathedral and market were excellent.
We chose a higher grade hotel and better than standard rooms are left feeling very very disappointed.
It has been a hotel for the past 166 years so surely we should not of experienced this.
Rooms: Basic
Food and drinks: Excellent bre
Bakehouse not luxury it was dirty and needed maintenance and did not accommodate 8 people staff would not discuss the problems we had
AVOID! At all cost
I had my wedding here. There were so many things wrong with this place it reminded me of Faulty towers. From guests sweltering in the room to dirty cutlery. We chose this place as it fit in our budget but we should have paid a bit extra to go somewhere competent.
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