Ivy By The Sea

Nothing!

I booked the hotel with small bar and bistro so we could use these during our stay. They promptly closed at 4pm, locked up and in darkness, it would have been helpful to know this prior to paying the non refundable bed and breakfast rate, and we would have booked somewhere with these facilities, it was all closed in the local area after about 7pm. We were confused by the breakfast not being served till 10.30am, but we had to vacate the room at 10am, the lady booking us in said we’d be okay checking out after breakfast which was helpful. The next morning at 9.30 she changed her mind and said we had to clear the room by 10, and we could have an earlier breakfast (walk in customers where served from 9am). We set off back up the steep stairs to clear the room, and the dog had an accident on the stairs. We cleaned this up, reported it to the staff and paid an extra £40 cleaning bill (£55 total dog charge). Needless to stay we couldn’t get out fast enough and missed the breakfasts so can’t comment further on this.

Check in is a one hour window but it was out of season!

I wouldn't describe the hotel as boutique

Was advertised through booking.com as breakfast included. But didn’t get breakfast. Not good enough

We paid £125 , this included breakfast, when we arrived we were told the chef wasn’t there so no breakfast was available, we were offered breakfast at a cafe that was quite a distance to walk, having just had an operation I couldn’t walk that far, so declined the offer.
We asked for a complimentary drink instead but was told no by young staff, we asked to see the manager but whoever it was couldn’t be bothered to talk to us.
Really disappointed in the handling of this, quite honestly we weren’t that upset about the breakfast it’s one of those things but they blamed it on booking.com because they don’t charge extra for said breakfast ?
Anyway the manager should have come to speak to us just out of courtesy and not send young staff to do the dirty work .

No staff over the age of 19. It was like a badly run youth Hostel. Carpets filthy, WiFi hideous with the Router in the bedroom flashing and lighting the room up all night like Las Vegas, we had to put a towel over it. Room freezing, very lumpy cheap mattress. Felt like crying after all that it boasts on Booking.com. I fell for it !!!

Everything was perfect

We were late arriving as we were travelling 250miles by car. We contacted The Ivy before at 2.46pm to inform them we would be late but definitely there by 6pm at the latest. The Ivy said we would not be able to stay there for the first night of our 2 night stay as we had to absolutely be checked in by 4pm as nobody is on site after 4pm. The bar and minimal seating area are all closed at 4pm so are not evening facilities. Check out is between 8am and 10am yet breakfast is only served after 10am when staff start to arrive back on site! We finally got breakfast at 10.15am when staff started vacuuming in view of where we were eating. We pre-paid for our room and the Ivy has refused to reimburse us for the first night. Our understanding of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 is that if a UK hotel refuses you entry to a pre-paid room upon late arrival it is likely to be in breach of contract under the Act and as such we are entitled to a refund and potential compensation. When I booked the Ivy under Booking.com I did so under an hotel search but with no evening facilities or normal breakfast times before 10am we felt we were in a B&B where the conveience was all in favour of the operator and definitely not the customer.

Bed was atrocious, mattress should be thrown away
Maybe they should advertise that breakfast is only available after 10.30am....probably wouldn't have booked if we'd known this.
Had a terrible night's sleep and left early, won't be returning