Many travellers like the Royal for its old world charm and location. Both valid points. As for me, these are the only points. After a wonderful reception by Julien at the front desk. We were shown to our very warm "sea view" room, which was in fact located overlooking an apartment block, beyond which if you crane your neck you may see the sea. The bed was comfortable enough, but the bathroom was quite sterile and poorly equipped. One bath towel per person and a bottle of liquid soap attached to the wall of the shower. 2 star amenities at 5 star prices. The room warmed up progressively during the day due to the fact that there was no air conditioning -- sleeping was close to impossible because the only way from keeping the light from the adjacent apartments streaming into the room is by closing the plastic shutters, killing any air flow. After a very poor night's sleep we went down to the pool, which was relatively empty at 11 am. The attendant informed us that all of the loungers were taken. Imagine that, a 5 star hotel where the lounge chairs are pre-reserved - and - cost € 30 for the day. Unbelievable. Our jaws dropped. In my travels around the world, I have never encountered a pool at a 5 star hotel that does not, at the least, allocate two chairs per room, free of charge! At check out, when asked if we enjoyed our stay, the answer was a resounding "no". We just wanted to get out of there, but upon hearing our dissatisfaction the desk clerk called the duty manager who called the general manager -- again, we really did not want to have the conversation and listen to vague apologies. Things got a bit out of hand when the general manager started his response about the pool policy with "The problem is...." We did not want to hear about the problems of the hotel management. We came to this hotel to not have problems, to not hear about other people's problems, and to not have to deal with management's ineptitude. There was the option of the beach - where it should come as no surprise that the hotel has no amenities available (parasols, loungers, towels....) - but there was a science-fiction like infestion of flies that made sitting in the sand impossible. The Royal has been sitting on its laurels way too long, and they have faded. Luckily, there are an increasing number of upscale options available in Deauville. A number of boutique hotels have opened which are lovely - so one can avoid the Barrière empire if planning ahead is an option.

The Royal Barriere is by far the best hotel in beautiful Deauville. The hotel is a palace hotel a la francaise with some beautiful contemporary touches. The lobby, bar, and restaurants are wonderful,the atmosphere distuinguished,and the rooms gorgeous. Also the piano player is among the best in any hotel we have been to.
It s a five star luxury hotel all the way with exemplary service and very skilled concierges. We loved the Royal,and Deaville and will definitely be back soon.Its sister hotel Normandy is good as well but the Royal is much better and in a different league.

Lucky us that we spent only 24hr in your Royal, I cannot imagine what other misfortune would have crossed our way if we’d stay longer…

Arrived on August 1st at12hr, our room wasn’t ready, the reception clerk informed us that check in is at 15:00hr, and she asked for our mobile phone Nr “to alert you when the room will be ready…”

We thought to “wait” in the pool area till the room will be tied, but… it cost €15-30/person to access the pool (not really mentioned on the site… During stays at the Hotel Royal Barriere guests may take advantage of the private pool and the fitness centre, as well as bicycles available to ride round Deauville in complete freedom…

After lunch (14:30hr), we came back; the room wasn’t ready and reception informed us that it will not be ready before 15:30 though, we had been told check-in time was at 15:00 (couldn’t find such basic info on the Web site), lucky us Tiphaine was here, she changed the original room allocation and conducted us immediately to our room, we appreciated that (unique) positive welcoming.
The room 546, is nice, well situated with nice view…
Walking into the bathroom, we were welcomed by several black hairs (my wife is blond) lying on the sink as well as around the bath, and when using the shower the clogged shower system sprinkled all around…
“Enjoying” creaking? it’s the right place, each and every hinges in that room, creaks, unbelievable! The Royal maintenance didn’t hear about the fact that from time to time you need to grease the hinges…

Late afternoon we decided to enjoy a five O’clock coffee in the little garden, good plan, the weather was great and the plan was perfect, but… the waiter service was so amateur, so slow, forgetting the paper- napkins (after a reminder), making two mistakes on the bill and the best was when another waiter came to clean the restaurant windows, spraying his blue smelly liquid almost on our cakes, what a treat!

Forget about the niggling things like the small room and no a/c because the rest of this magnificent hotel is memorable. The staff and service are 5 star. It is very expensive but worth every penny. A meal for 2 was180 euros with a couple of drinks. Bar snacks start at €23 but to take in the atmosphere of this grand hotel from a bygone age is worth it. I will be back and be sure to upgrade my room. It is central to everything in this hidden gem, Deauville. We even had a basil fawlty moment when my son ordered "eggs florentine" at breakfast. 2 fried eggs turned up then 10 minutes late 1 boiled egg. Everyone laughed because the magnificent surroundings completely make this trivia.