Booked this hotel on a Lastminute.com deal a few days before heading down to Brighton for a friend's party at short notice. A thorough prior search of B and B options had come up against a seemingly ubiquitous 2-night minimum proviso with many of them, until the Royal York popped up anonymously as a 'secret luxury hotel' offer. The price was more than reasonable (albeit discounted), the room (on the 3rd floor, for what it's worth) had lovely views north over the gardens and was peaceful and, beyond a couple of pedantic things, very nice indeed. All in all, no complaints and we felt lucky to be there. That said, I wouldn't propose a wedding here - the foyer's deep blue wallpaper and the large deserted dining room on a Saturday night lent a vaguely funereal air - a couple of cobwebbed suits of armour and a gargoyle and it'd be a setting for Mary Shelley...

Upgraded to deluxe business class room with sea view for just £20 on arrival.great location with the pier, the lanes shopping, odeon cinema and plenty of places to eat and drink. Looks shabby from the outside but modern rooms. Only downfall is we had to park the car 10 minutes walk away and pay £25 for the night. Excellent service! Very helpful.

We were at a family wedding in Brighton in mid January 2012 and, based on its location we booked 2 nights, Friday and Saturday, in the Royal York, Brighton. We booked a business class room hoping for a leisurely break – we asked at check in if it was a quiet room and were assured that it was as quiet as we could expect given the hotels location.
First impressions were that the hotel looked a little tired and was perhaps undergoing modernisation.
The bedroom was a good size but lacking in furniture – a small wardrobe so my wife could not hang her dress - no chest of drawers so small items of clothing remained in the suitcase on the floor because there was no stand for the luggage.
The bathroom was modern but cold with only a towel rail for heat. It was impossible to have a shower as the shower-head spun around uncontrollably spraying the entire room. If you chose to have a bath, the plug did not fit which meant that both taps had to be left running throughout. Only one of the two lights worked and there were two screws missing from the door handle.
There appeared to be only one member of staff on duty – when I asked about the lack of bedroom furniture he was unsure about the normal room layout but he would check it out – we never heard further.
We joined friends away from the hotel on Friday evening and returned about 10.15pm. There was only a security guard and the receptionist on duty. The bar was closed despite our check-in card saying it would be open until 3.00am – he could possibly get us an orange juice but was unable to offer anything else. I asked to see the manager but was told that he and the security guard were the only staff on site. I asked that the manager phone me the next morning – the call never came. The following night we returned to the hotel just after midnight – the bar was again closed
We discovered that our room overlooked a 24 hour bus depot and the entrance to a casino so there was constant coming and going throughout both nights including the warning “beep beep beep” whenever buses reversed
There was a limited breakfast served on the Saturday morning by just one waiter helped by the receptionist. A full breakfast service properly staffed was offered on the Sunday morning.
On both days they managed to deliver the wrong morning newspaper.

On the plus side, staff were pleasant, bedrooms, bedding and bathrooms were all clean and the cooked breakfast was good.

My husband and I stayed at the Royal York at the end of August as one of his friends was having his wedding reception at the hotel. While the building is lovely, and the reception room was done up very nicely for the wedding, we did have a number of issues with the hotel itself.

Our room had been remodeled in a very strange manner, which meant it was very tough to maneuver, or to leave bags in an easily accessible place. While the bathroom was lovely and big, the fact that we were facing south meant it was extremely, even if the weather was not all that hot. The heat also affected the bedroom, but we ended up just leaving the curtains closed, as we were pretty much visible to everyone walking below when we left them open. The television was also placed at an angle that was very difficult to watch from anywhere in the room.

There were two other issues that made the weekend not as fun as it could have been. The hotel was full with friends of the bride and groom, the majority of whom did not get breakfast on the morning of the wedding. The story we were told was that the chef had quit that morning leaving the serving staff to fend for themselves; however, we only found this out later, after we had spent over an hour waiting for the food we had ordered. It would have been much simpler to tell all of the guests that it would be a continental breakfast that morning, and ensure there was enough toast, cheese, meat, cereal and fruit to go around. We ended up eating elsewhere after our wait.

The wedding reception was lovely. The bride and groom did a great job with the decor, and the room looked stunning. All went smoothly on the night of the wedding. The next morning was another story....as we were working up repeatedly by the fire alarm and the smell of burnt toast. I guess the hotel got a new chef...