An excellent hotel well placed and family run, but our 5 daystay was spoiled by the heavy smoking allowed in the public rooms.I thought EU law had stopped all this. The family members also smoked around their young relatives/friends and the smell and fug was dense at times and followed one into all rooms and the restaurant.The only other gripe was the thoughtless booking of a loud jazz band as Christmas entertainment for the 3 hour celebration meal.Jazz is a selfish choice and the sound was pure indulgence for the musicians themselves.Otherwise the food and service was very good. The staff worked hard to give us a good time.

I am going to give you an honest review of this hotel. Im not a snob but I have stayed in lots of hotels and this was the worst one I have ever stayed in! We booked our holiday through travel sphere. I must say that the lux christmas market holiday was not what it was portrayed. Firstly you are not told that you will have to travel in one coach up to the port in dover. Your dumped there and then have to wait around for your second coach to turn up. The coaches are very cramped and uncomfortable. After 8 hours of traveling we reached the "Grand" Hotel. Firsly on disembarking you notice piles of dog mess all over the path ways outside the hotel. There is only 1 tiny lift which will only fit two people at a time with luggage. Those on the top floor should expect to climb the 5 staircases to their room or wait for each couple to go up and the lift come down. This hotel doesnt deal in money for some reason. There are no price lists for anything so you simply have to order the choice is written on a peice of paper drinks etc and you pay on check out you have no idea what you have spend and we received lots of tuts when asking for prices. Dont loose the paper or it will cost you 250euros per card!!! If like us you are doing the christmas market coach trip dont expect any drinks with your meal not even water at 3 euros a bottle. You do not have a choice at meal times you literally have to eat what ever is put in front of you. We were informed water would be left in our room on arrival. There was water an opened bottle containing tap water... There are no shower curtains and no anti slip mats we found hair stuck to the wall and the extractor didnt work and there are no phones in bedrooms so we had to keep going up and down the stairs to tell them all these problems with the room. Keep this in mind if you are traveling with guests with disabilities which we were. The hotel staff were all very unhelpful and rude.. obviously aware of the fact that we were there on a budget holiday. Another thing to bare in mind which the tour operator doesnt tell you till 2 mins from the hotel. You have one excursion included in the holiday on the saturday. The other you have to pay for... All shops shut at this time of year on sundays so dont even bother wasting your money. Dont bother going to the only attraction open on sundays the "castle" theres nothing in it everything of value everything was sold of before the castle was aquired its bare and you have to pay to get in... Avoid this at all costs and dont waste you money.

We went with Travelsphere for Christmas. This hotel was very basic. The rooms were very small indeed, no drawer space. The bathroom was so small yoiu could hardly turn round in the space or in the shower. The food over the Christmas period was awful. No choice at all, the time taken between courses on both Christmas Eve and Christmas day was unbelievable. Who wants to eat Venison Stew at 11.0pm!! The only hot choice at breakfast was boiled eggs.

Food excellent, hotel clean, staff great but had to pay extra for a single room that was small with a narrow bed. Made to feel very welcome.