We stayed at this hotel for one night at the end of January and can say that the public areas are nicely maintained, lots of staff on site and all staff very nice, corteous and helpful. We had a room on the third floor (town view) and that was definitely not something to get excited about. Although large and clean it definitely lacked in many areas. Half a pelmet was hanging off one of the windows, one of the walls had a lot of paint flaking off it. The bath panel had come lose and somebody had pushed it in so it showed a big gap. there was no hot water to be had, no matter how long we kept it running it only got to a very tepid lukewarm. However, the drains were very entertaining in gurgling non stop from the bath when the sink was being used. there was a distinct lack of shelves to put anything on in the bathroom and the floorboard were loud and creeky. On the plus side though, the bed was very comfortable and a good picture on the flat screen tv with pleasant sound. The Breakfast wasvery tasty and plentiful. Speaking with other people in our party, one must definitely stay in the "balcony rooms" as those guest had only praise for the rooms. At a £100 a night I would have liked a bit more. Would I stay again? Only if all other options in Deal are full.

I have stayed at this hotel on a number of occasions, always in the sea view rooms and usually in the Wellington room. I have never been let down. The room is spacious,clean and has great views of the sea, with the beach being 30 foot away. The sun rises just outide the window, be warned if you dont want to watch fantastic sun rises, close your curtains fully. The balcony overlooks the outer area of the excellent bar and retaurant and can be noisy if you need a siesta in the summer.Car parking is exploited by the town council who charge £7 per day. You would have thought that they would have concessions for Hotel guests, but Deal council have never been famed for positive thinking. Reception staff are excellent, friendly and effficient and WILL have your bags taken upstairs if you ask them. Breakfast is very good with a good choice and again the staff are efficient and approachable. This is an English seaside hotel of the old school, it is not the Ritz and doesnt aspire to be it. If you want something, ask and you will get.The staff are eager to please but are not pychic..The only downside on my last visit was the sliding of chairs and tables in the restaraunt under my room, at 0700 am. This was presumably the cleaning staff.

We stayed whilst visiting local family for a couple of days between Xmas and New Year. We had the family room - Clarence - on the 2nd floor.

Good points: the room was clean, the view out to sea was outstanding and the beds, a double and bunkbeds in ante-room were very comfortable. Nice toiletries and big, soft towels. The breakfast was excellent. Lots of choice, friendly service and good qualiy food.

We ate in the bar one day and food was good and reasonably priced. I agree with the previous reviewer that you have to seek out a kid's menu, but once found, it was a pleasant deviation from the chicken nuggets and chips norm. Again the bar staff were friendly and quick.

Bad points: We too had the room over the extractor fan. No problem in the winter, but I would have been annoyed if we'd wanted to open a window. The room, whilst clean was a bit spartan and tatty round the edges. No lift - though the receptionist did ask if wanted help with the luggage. It is annoying that it is not possible to reserve a table in the bar/lounge - all on a first come first served basis. The place is advertised as having wifi - but it is no longer to possible to buy an access card there - you have to order and pay on line. This proved to be impossible....

Also beware about the parking! We were aware that it was pay parking next door. We arrived at 10 to 6, knowing that you only paid til 6pm. We went inside to check in and to see whether they supplied special vouchers for parking. When we went back outside 10 minutes later - we had a ticket! We put enough money to last til the next day, but overran by another 10 mins - and lo and behold - another ticket! I know this is not the fault of the hotel, but Deal must have the most efficient parking attendants anywhere.

Generally it was a nice stay - I would stay there again. And the location is very central for the town/beach/restaurants etc..

A very hit and miss (but mainly miss) experience. On arrival our corridor on the 2nd floor had no lights, and neither did our room. When I got the receptionist, they didn't know why the corridor lights were out but our room had had its bulb removed.

No lift and no offer to help with luggage which would have been helpful with our small child in tow.

The room was a good layout but a bit shabby around the edges, paper decorations were torn and missing in places. The room overlooked the sea but was directly above the extract fans from the kitchens so the sound of the waves was somewhat drowned out. The room was massively overheated but we couldn't leave the window open because of the air vent noise from the kitchens.

The hot tap to the wash hand basin was not quite a trickle, just more than a drip. No chance to get enough water to shave. The soap tray in the shower was broken. Nice fluffy towels.

No mini-bar or fridge facilities.

Mobile phone reception is so poor as to be non existent.

We attended a family party and had to return to the Royal early to put our child to bed. At 9.50PM the reception was deserted so I went down to the bar to see if we could get a sandwich made. 'No the chefs all leave at 9.00' was the reply. I tried to reason that I didn't need a chef to cook, I just wanted a sandwich and couldn't one of the three bar staff help out? An absolute no was the only reply. I was told I could have a drink until 10.30 when the bar shut. I explained I was a guest and could the night porter get me a drink after that? There is no night porter, there is no service for ANYTHING after 10.30PM. I even had to collect and carry my own drinks to the room. This is not a hotel, this is a part time pub with rooms above.

Breakfast was good and service friendly.

I asked to book a table for 6 people at 12.30 for lunch. I was told that wasn't possible, they don't take reservations. So to be sure I got down at 12.10. Good job I did as it was busy, however I wish I hadn't bothered. Food has to be ordered at the bar, there is no waiter service. My daughter didn't want the mash with the sausages so I asked for sausage and chips. The extremely curt reply was simply 'Its not on the menu' and that was the exact same reply (no more no less) three times when I asked if he was sure. I explained it was sausages without the mash to which the now plain rude barman said, 'You mean bangers and mash then'. The service culture is non existent. It was only after we suffered this insult that we found out that they had children's menus but hadn't put them on the tables or bothered to ask us if we wanted one, hence my daughter got an adult portion. When I asked if the fish pie had crab in it, no one knew, so my sister opted for Scampi.

As to the food when it arrived;

Child's sausage and chips was swimming in gravy. We weren't asked if we wanted gravy. Sausages were more like soft lamb Koftas
Steak and Ale pie: One cube of meat the pastry case was mainly full of air and gravy.
Scampi and chips and fish pie got a thumbs up.
Kentish Strip Steak: Pretty tough and not an adult portion.

We didn't bother with desert.

At £110/ night this isn't an expensive hotel, neither is it cheap. The overall feeling was that it wasn't good value for money, neither was it a proper hotel, restaurant or pub. The owners need to make their minds up what this business is. The staff need to learn to try to be helpful and offer solutions rather than being dogmatic about why simple requests can't be achieved.

We won't be going back.