Royal Hotel & Leisure Center - Bray

My wife and I had booked a coach holiday in Bray, and we were a little dismayed by the negative comments on this site, posted in August. We are now wondering whether there are 2 hotels with the same name in Bray, because our experience could not be more different.

Our double room was clean and had recently been redecorated, except for the bathroom, which was a little shabby, with only a shaving light working, and the tiling the worse for wear. However, everything else was above average: the table d'hote menu had 4 or 5 choices each for starters and main course, plus 3 or 4 for sweet. We are foxed by the previous reviewer's comments about the food being limited and so "1970's": during the 4 nights we were there our party was offered roast beef, roast chicken, beef & pepper casserole, lamb korma, red snapper, baked cod, stuffed roast pork, chicken satay, poached salmon amongst others, including a different vegetarian choice each evening. Our party of 28, without exception, judged the food and service "very good" or "excellent" & we can't imagine what the previous reviewer was expecting!

This hotel is a 3-star hotel: we would say that the rooms in some cases, although clean, fell below this rating. But the service and food were definitely excellent and we would not have any qualms about staying there again.

I sincerely hope that the management take a good look at this and use it to their advantage and not think that we are doing this to be mean, they have just done up the hotel and it is a pity that this is the level of service they provide. They would be better off offering a room only service where they then would not have to subject people to their untrained and unhappy staff. We stayed in this hotel last weekend with our children. Looked good at first, at check in seemed over friendly. Then the fort knox effect set in, access to everything is by room key i.e. lift, toilets etc. Took daughter to pool, to be told she will not be allowed to swim unless i am in the pool with her, i always supervise my daughter from the deck, never heard of such a rule, duly one disappointed child. Kids club next day in pool, one lady in pool with 15+ children, so much for one on one supervision. On checking in i was informed that if we wanted to eat, children had to eat in diningroom between 5 pm and 6 pm and then we would dine later. As we did not wish to dine separately from our children we asked if we could dine in the hotel anywhere, blatent no. Asked for info on local restaurants receptionist had no idea!! Came back after doing our own investigation, found Tower Bistro on waterfront, excellent value and service, only to find bar full of people eating and children in tow, this being at 9.30pm. Day two, breakfast, mayhem, no organisation what so ever. Food very average. Decided to take dinner in hotel 2nd night, so children had to eat at 5 - 6pm in a supervised situation. Thank god i stayed, the staff most definitely did not want to be there and one verbally demeaned the other. No idea about children. Had our own dinner, very sad, very basic 1970's menu, i.e. Turkey, Chicken, salmon and to crown it all sirloin steak at €4.00 extra, what next? Went to bar as it was packed, we stood beside the bar, where we witnessed a barman dropping glasses on to the floor and putting them back on shelf instead of washing them again, he duly told us to move from our position and sent us to a room where the tables were littered with plates of half eaten dinners, he had obviously sent another few others here too, this room was about 10x10 and shut off from the bar and entertainment with a plastic construction sheet blowing behind our backs. Management really need to put their wonderful ideas into practice by implementing an excellence in service training schedule for their staff, ignorant and unhappy is how i would explain the staff. Customer satisfaction none what so ever. Did not complain because i was afraid they might want to offer us a repeat stay, no thank you. PS. The girl running the kids club is their saving grace she is fantastic with a constant smile on her face, other members of staff take note this is what guests want to see.

My first impression wasn't good when I was the hotel - It looked old and damp and in need of renovation but we went in anyway as it was a bank holiday weekend and we had nothing else booked, (slightly miffed again that we had to pay 5 euro for one nights parking..)

Things were looking up when we saw the leisure centre... but then we got to reception where the girl at the desk looked like she just wanted to get out of the place.

The room we got was awful - it looked like a shoddy bedsit, it was so small, the bed was practically on the door. The decor definitely needs to be updated - severely old fashioned. The food in the restaurant was average, the service was laughable - we were convinced someone was gonna hop out and say 'smile you're on candid camera'..or ' you've just been punked'..

Between waiters throwing breadrolls on across the room to the service area and landing on the floor and waiters not knowing where to sit guesets it was just one big joke after another.... Maybe worth a visit if you were a fan of Faulty Towers!!!!..

We stayed in this hotel with our family for a long weekend. We made great use of the leisure centre facilities and found the staff to be very friendly indeed. The room we received was large, comfortable and clean and room service very helpful with two small children. I must say I thoroughly enjoyed this stay and would stay again.

An unassuming entrance on the main road led into a "past its best" reception area, frequented by elderly couples and nuns. Our bedroom was very small and the promised sea-view included the dustbins. The corridors were freezing cold, especially the one leading to the leisure centre. This made the whole experience uninviting and rather tawdry. The atmosphere in the bar was unsophisticated and the entertainment was poor.

Breakfast was o.k. but nothing special. Generally poor value for money all round. Bray itself is lacklustre and unattractive. We spent most of our time in nearby Dublin.

My husband and i stayed in the Royal hotel on Saturday night 12th March 05.

On check in i was asked to pay up front which straight away gave me my first bad inpression

However i paid at check in and proceeded to take the lift, when i went to call the lift i was instructed by a member of staff that in order to gain use of the lift i needed to swipe my room key, i thought this odd but carried on. I brought my bags up to the room (very basic rooms) and then went downstairs to meet my husband. We had a coffee and afterward i went to use the ladies in the lobby area, i opened the door to the ladies and couldn't access. I went out to reception and told the girl at the desk who informed me i needed my room key to access the ladies toilets in the Lobby

At this stage it was getting quite irritating and did not say much for the hotel (it was like a prison camp.

Anyway we got ready in our room and went out for the night, came back to hotel about 2.30am. At 4.00am we were woken by traffic blasting passed on the street outsidel, this noise continued all night and in total my husband and i had about 2 hours speep, it was appalling. We were so tired, we tried to lie in but got nowhere as the traffic outside was too loud. At 10.15 we got out of bed and went down to have breakfast, breakfast was finished so we just helped ourselves to a bowl of cereal.

We complained at the reception, the girl at reception apologised and gave us a comments card to complete, we did and handed it back. Then she said goodbye sorry about that and have a nice day (yeh thanks after 2 hours sleep we feel really refeshed & ready for the coming day)

That is my experience of the Royal hotel in Bray. I will never go back, the hotel premises is basically a dump. The only decent part of the hotel is the gym, the rest of the hotel is run down, dull and basically reminds me of an institution.

I booked a room at the Royal and then needed to cancel it due to unforeseen circumstances. I gave the Royal 2 months advance notice of my cancellation, but they still charged me a fee on my credit card. I wrote emails to the Royal as well as the management of the hotel chain and none of these emails were even acknowledged or dealt with. To me that is pure arrogance. As they say, the fish rots from the head, and if the management of this hotel chain chooses to ignore customers like this I can only imagine that one would not receive particularly good hospitality at the Royal either!

I was surprised to read such a negative review of the Royal Hotel. I support Bray Wanderers and so I often stay in the hotel on the night of games and I have never had a complaint. The staff are friendly, the room was certainly very nice and the leisure centre always came in handy. I would suggest that if you are going to Bray to give this hotel a go. you wont be dissapointed.

On a positive note, the hotel staff were friendly and helpful throughout our stay and we were happy with the size of the room.

However, these are the only good things I can find to say. Firstly, the corridor along which we had to walk to our room smelt of smoke. Both windows in the room looked out onto the back of the building and a rooftop with a generator (which was quite noisy!), which was also filthy and covered with cigarette butts. There was also a meagre supply of coffee in the room (only 1 sachet on the first night) and a couple of the plugs & one bedside lamp did not work. The bathroom looked like it was from the 1970s. It was dirty and smelt. The shower curtain was mouldy and smelt. The water was a disgusting browny colour when I had a bath even though I ran the water for a while. When I complained about this, the Deputy Manager explained to me that it was because of the nearby boggy country!Although the room itself was generally clean, the bed was not made properly. The sheet was just lying on the mattress and had not even been tucked in. There were also several cigarette burns in the bedspread.My disappointment at the standard of our room was compounded when I caught a glimpse into the room opposite and it looked totally different. It looked more modern & the bathroom looked new and was gleaming! The hotel certainly did not seem to be full, which only makes it more surprising to me that we were given such a shoddy room.

We went down for dinner on the Tuesday evening to find that the restaurant was closed and we had to eat in the pub, which was full of smoke. As it was so cold outside, we decided to stay in and order room service. After returning to our room & checking the room service menu, we placed our order. Only to be called back a few minutes later & told that neither of the dishes we had ordered (chicken wings & tortillas) were available. We were offered chicken nuggets as an alternative! When checking out I mentioned that I was not happy with the room and the receptionist called the Deputy Manager to come and speak with me. He seemed very understanding and accepted all of my points. He then said that he would refer my issues to the General Manager and that I could expect to receive a letter with some kind of recompense. Unfortunately, I heard nothing.So, I wrote to the General Manager on 12 February explaining the whole situation. Still, I heard nothing.On 24 February, not being one to give up easily, I decided to take the matter to the groups owner, which happens to be one Mr Jim McGettigan. Again, I received no response at all. I have since tried to call Mr McGettigan and have left 2 messages. Guess what hes not returned my calls!Hopefully this review will save others from having to experience the disappointment and frustration Ive had to endure over the past few months. This is not a hotel or group that I could recommend to anyone.

Youd be better off staying in a B&B and saving your money!