Appalled

The lift (despite having a disability label) appears to have vanished, therefore the facitlity for disabled people like myself, made the stay even more difficult.

Booked a superior room but there was nothing whatsoever superior about it. The "king-sized" bed was two beds pushed together, one of the upright chairs has a huge stain on it, the internet facility, as advertised didn't work and two light bulbs were already blown when we first got to the room.

Breakfast was poor. This included the little pats of butter wrapped up and Hartley's little plastic tubs of jam and honey. Not good enough for a three star hotel.

There was nothing superior about the hotel or room whatsoever.

Top value! Excellent staff!

This is one of the best you can get for the money! A quick walk from everything, upscale room (better than 90% in UK) and really helpfull staff! Breakfast is a little small but ok! Contact the property directly and you might get away from 40 Pounds or less per person incl. breakfast and wifi internet access! Very pleased - clean and charming - 100% recommended!!

Well located

After reading recent reviews felt a little nervous!! Upon arriving we were greated by well mannered and friendly staff. Accomodation was clean, tidy and refreshing. Close to town centre. Only negative were very creaky floor boards and on a noisy road (like most of Bournemouths Hotels) Breakfast very good, decor had a modern touch. Not a luxury hotel but a top B & B and not a floral curtain in sight!!

Not bad at all!

Having read the other reviews of this hotel I was slightly nervous on arrival- however we were pleasantly surprised.

Agreed- its not like the big plush hotels in bournemouth, but neither is it anything like as bad as some of the tacky pokey b&b's you get in the area.

The staff were friendly, the hotel had a nice charm to it and the room was clean. Breakfast was delicious too with lots of choice.

This is certainly more of a young persons hotel- and if you fit in this bracket then you cant go far wrong!

Avoid the Orchid Hotel, very bad value for quality and money

A trip advisor from London

The standard of accommodation was far from the one being advertised on the web site. I wish I had looked at the trip advisor web site before booking as it confirms the poor standard we experienced.

I had booked a superior room . The room on a B&S basis was more than £ 180 a night in August.

These were the problems:

- insulation of the bedroom windows was very poor

- blinds covering the bedroom windows letting the light come through as if it was daylight in the room

- early noise in the morning coming from the cleaning ladies in the stock room next door

In terms of standard certain aspects of the bedroom are or look very cheap eg: the way the bathroom window has been partly sealed with a plank of wood, the shower holder, the sink itself when looking underneath from the bath perspective (broken), the lack of carpet around the sink, the spaciousness of the bedroom.

We addressed these issues with the manager in an email after our departure. The response was very disappointing.

There is no way we will go back. The standard of a Travel Inn is much better!

Poor accommodation, poor service and loss of £60 deposit

I paid a £60 deposit for 2 rooms at the Orchid Hotel in July 2006. On checking in, we realised that the rooms were totally unsuitable. One could only be accessed by climbing a very narrow flight of stairs (partially blocked at the time by a window frame propped in the landing!). The other room was so small that the bathroom door did not open fully due to hitting the double bed.

When I asked for alternative rooms the member of staff had an unpleasant manner and slammed 2 new keys on the counter.

The second 2 rooms were also unsuitable - one had a strong smell of vomit and in the other the bathroom tiles sat above the bedroom carpet level (a potential trip hazzard in my opinion).

By this stage I did not want to ask yet again for alternative rooms and definately did not want to move luggage again so we checked out. I was informed by the member of staff on duty that my £60 deposit could not be returned as checking out early constituted non-arrival.

We did manage to find lovely accommodation in a nearby hotel.

Nice hotel

nice friendly hotel would stay again bigroom but small tv some things need updating overall fine paid £80 per night per room

Not Bad

I only stayed here for one night B&B, and after reading the previous reviews was a little pensive. However, lets be frank tho, this is NOT a boutique hotel. Rather its a nice modern B&B, recently decorated refurbished and decorated with a modern and contempary flavour. Which was nice.

However the standard of workmanship in my room lets the place down a little, as it is not of a particularly high standard. There were badly fitted fixtures and extra holes drilled into the wall for fittings in the bathroom. One of the powerpoints in the bedroom was made too large and left a hole above the fitting. The room I had was an ensuite twin. I found the room to be quite compact and the shower room, although clean and functional was still adequate for a one or two night stay. The room itself was decorated fairly blandly with white and magnolia with dark wooden furniture and fittings and wooden shutter blind. The bed was firm and comfortable. The view outside of the room looked straight out onto a block of apartments and meant you have to ensure the blind is down for privacy. Only ate breakfast here and it was ok. The hotel is obviously aimed at a younger clientele rather than the normal OAPs who frequent Bournemouth in their hoards at this time of the year and as such I would probably use it again, as it is a lot batter than some of the other places I have stayed previously in the town. No Sat TV, No Aircon, No bath. Good amount of off street parking. Nice little lounge/bar. Nice outside patio/terrace area. Dinning Room was very nicely decorated and laid out.

Needs to do a lot better

Stayed at this hotel for one night. I like boutique hotels and have stayed at several in London so I guess went along expecting something similar and the website for hotel also led me to believe this.

Had to say was very disappointed. Our bathroom was definitely a normal seaside B&B bathroom - extremely small and no sign of boutique style fittings - in fact we had a horrible shell shaped outer bath casing, shell shaped sink and ropey toilet. Bed was bereft of boutique style bed linen - synthetic pillows and duvet covers and no nice decorative blanket/cover. Small details needed attention - a missing handle off drawer, overhead light bulb needed changing. The wooden blinds look nice but are not practical in keeping light out on their own.

Breakfast was equally disappointing - we had Radio 1 playing off of a small speaker system in the dining room - not very atmospheric and in my opinion more suitable for a YMCA.

This was a very frustrating stay - they have put a lot of effort into bar, reception area which make a positive initial impression, but the rooms, especially the bathroom and small details leave this place a long way from coming close to what most people will be expecting from boutique hotel especially at the prices they are charging. Overall a disappointing stay.

The Orchid in Bournemouth was a total let down

My husband and I paid £45 each per night for a weekend (totally over priced) in May at the Orchid and our visit was very disappointing. Their website gave us the impression that it would a treat to stay there and worth every penny.

Our double room was small with the double bed only 3ft from the door, an old TV, shower with a flimsy handheld showerhead that pointed to the wall, cracked tiles, cheap bathroom taps that were flaked with soapscum and limescale, broken loo seat and the carpet in the bathroom floor that had seen better days. The furniture was too large for the room and looked like 2nd hand office furniture. Again, it was the kind of hotel we would expect to pay £22 each per night, not £45!

We were surprised that a leading London newspaper could rave about the Orchid because there was so much to be disappointed by. We thought that breakfast would be an improvement. But....Our breakfast was made up of poor coffee and poor quality full English breakfasts with tiny portions: 3 small mushrooms, scoop of egg, 1 rasher of bacon and cold toast?

The Orchid was hosting weddings the weekend we were there so as 'normal' guests we didn't receive much of a service and had to wait around for receptionists pulling pints for wedding guests before we could get a key to our room. When it came time to check out we were glanced at, our bill put in front of us and a "sign here please" was all we got. I didn't feel comfortable with the staff at all.

The Orchid: Too costly, poor room, poor food, poor staff - utterly disappointed. We entered the hotel smilely and enthusiastic and left £180 poorer and not soon enough. The Orchid in Bournemouth was a total let down for us.