Dolphin Hotel St Ives

The hotel was unfinished. Work was being done to update the hotel, making the reception untidy. The hotel had very gloomy corridors, asking for a deposit upfront for our dog (which has never happened before). we wasnt allowed into the breakfast room with our dog, and they didn't do food. Bar was very overpriced, too

Building work

All the spiders in the corridor, the dirty windows, weird wiring, loose sink and lack of emergency (or any) information in the rooms and security. Despite AI suggesting that the hotel had been refurbished, since housing asylum seekers, our room door did not automatically shut (i.e. close from the outside) when we exited. I have never before stayed in a hotel which did NOT have guidance in case of fire (e.g. escape route and RVP) clearly posted inside the room.
The `gluten-free' (GF) breakfast consisted of GF bread (or toast) and that was it. The condiments were in open jars and so not suitable for a coeliac. Apparently the kitchen staff (kind, but not inspiring) were supposed to have offered a separately cooked option (i.e. not from the buffet) but they did not ask and did not inspire confidence that they would understand the problem if they should use the non-GF implements to cook a GF breakfast.

No secured access to rooms. Overpriced beverages in the bar. Dining room in a different location to the main building.
Poor customer service.

It was noisy at night time with people walking past the hotel but that couldn't be helped as it is near the town centre. There wasn't a hairdryer in the room.

WORST HOTEL EXPERIENCE — COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE

One of the worst hotel experiences I have ever had. Absolutely shocking management and a complete lack of professionalism.

I booked two rooms for 8th and 9th August to attend a wedding, while the wedding host had booked 20+ additional rooms. The hotel was contacted well in advance on 10th July, and my rooms were confirmed.

Despite this, the hotel cancelled the wedding host’s 20+ rooms without informing them. Even more shocking, on 8th August at 11:00 AM, guest names were handed to reception and the arrangements were discussed, yet nobody mentioned that the rooms had been cancelled.

The issue was only revealed when wedding guests started arriving. This left the wedding host extremely embarrassed and under enormous pressure, having to deal with disappointed guests at the last minute. Completely unacceptable for such an important occasion.

Reception staff were poorly trained, understaffed and unable to manage check-ins efficiently. Communication was extremely difficult.

The rooms were also dirty and far below an acceptable hotel standard. The hotel appeared to be operating with only two housekeeping staff on 8th August, which clearly affected the service and room quality.

What should have been a joyful wedding celebration became a stressful and embarrassing experience because of terrible communication, poor organisation and inadequate management.

WORST HOTEL. WORST MANAGEMENT. ZERO COMMUNICATION. ZERO PROFESSIONALISM.

I would strongly advise anyone to avoid this hotel, especially for weddings, group bookings or important occasions. I will never stay here again and would not recommend it to anyone.

Just the breakfast.

N/A

nothing

The restaurant was closed

Mould in the bathroom, especially the shower.

The bar was nice but tended to attract a lot of the local youngsters in the evening. We felt a little out of place and retired early.

I asked for extra pillows when booking & again on the evening of our stay. They never arrived. The restaurant is undergoing refurbishment. 1 bed was very hard. The catch on 1 window was held on loosely by 1 screw. There was a cobweb on the ceiling. Staff hard to find on the evening we were there. Room not to the standard we expected.

Fan didn’t reach to window - it is a stiffling summer.

We booked this hotel via Booking.com on the 20th July for the 31st July. We specifically asked for quiet double room with bath and river view. We had an email from Booking.com the same day to say that this was confirmed. We had tried to book direct but no reply to phone. On the day before arrival (30th) when it was too late to look elsewhere, we received message from Booking.com with T&Cs and stated that river view not available but no mention about the bath. We immediately sent an email about this. When we arrived we were told told no room with a bath bath available either. We were offered twin room with bath but eventually, very reluctantly, accepted a double with shower, on ground floor by public pedestrian road. We were given £15 bar voucher as compensation but having paid £282 for two nights that was not much. The window in our room opened out onto the street but the security lock was broken and we had to climb on chair and on to deep window ledge to shut it so we could not leave it open despite the heat. A wall light was not working. The hotel is being re-furbished so quite a lot of dust in some areas. We had to go outside to get to the bar and across car park to the breakfast room which was OK in fine weather. The windows to the breakfast/ballroom were very dirty with bird droppings smeared down them in many places. The buffet breakfast OK but quality of cooked food was not. The bar and riverside are very popular with non-residents and very busy with a food truck and loud music. and all looking a bit scruffy. It's not the tranquil place the photos indicate. Overall, very disappointing for what was a special wedding anniversary weekend. Would like to hear from management about a partial refund.