Riviera Hotel
Belgrave Road, Torquay TQ2 5HJ England
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About
#54 of 81 hotels in Torquay
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A warm welcome awaits you at the Riviera Hotel in the heart of Torquay on the English Riviera. We offer good value, friendly and comfortable accommodation and are just a stones throw away from Torquay's award winning beaches, sparkling blue sea and all that the English Riviera and surrounding area has to offer. Here at the Riviera Hotel we offer fantastic value for our all our guests, whether you are travelling on business, with family or as part of a group. Our accommodation comprises of 145 en-suite bedrooms with digital flat screen tv, hairdryer and tea and coffee making facilities. Our rooms include singles, doubles, twins, triple and large family rooms. We have a lovely indoor pool and Jacuzzi along with a Spa to include a gym, treatment rooms and nail bar! Our restaurant caters for those who love traditional cuisine. Our Chefs will carve for you either a delicious home cooked joint or you can choose from our market day special or our vegetarian option. You can then help yourself to a variety of freshly cooked vegetables and potatoes. To follow, there is a mouthwatering choice of hot and cold desserts on offer. After dinner why not join us in The Show Bar for the evenings entertainment, including bingo followed by our cabaret act. Alternatively, make your way down to The Sports Bar for a drink and catch the latest Sky or BT Sports game showing on one of our large flat screen tv's. Purchased by the Powis family in April 2017, the Riviera Hotel is currently undergoing a programme of refurbishment to bring the hotel up to an excellent standard throughout. Please see the renovations page on the hotel website for updates on the latest works. Whether you are visiting Torquay on business or pleasure, you'll find that the Riviera Hotel makes for the perfect setting during your stay on the English Riviera.
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Property amenities
Paid private parking on-site
Public wifi
Pool
Bar / lounge
Evening entertainment
Taxi service
Banquet room
Meeting rooms
Indoor pool
Heated pool
Restaurant
Breakfast available
Breakfast buffet
Baggage storage
Non-smoking hotel
Outdoor furniture
Shared lounge / TV area
24-hour front desk
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Room features
Desk
Housekeeping
Telephone
Flatscreen TV
Bath / shower
Hair dryer
Room types
Non-smoking rooms
Family rooms
Good to know
HOTEL CLASS
Languages Spoken
English
Location
86Good for walkers
Grade: 86 out of 100
57Restaurantswithin 0.5 km
16Attractionswithin 0.5 km
Contact
Belgrave Road, Torquay TQ2 5HJ England
Getting there
Car HireSee all Torquay car hire
1545Reviews71Q+A100Room tips
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We were a group of five friends staying at the Riviera Hotel for the New Year break. It's a three star hotel with about 140 rooms, an indoor pool, a Show Bar and Sports bar. I've listed our opinions on our visit below, from the most positive to the most negative. The Food - without doubt the highlight of the hotel. The Food was superb, with good buffet selections for both breakfast and dinner. There was a good choice of fruit at both mealtimes, with, at breakfast, cereals and porridge, hot fresh eggs, fried bread, heavenly bacon, sausages, etc, but I found the orange juice a bit watery. Dinner was a choice of three starters, four mains , including the vegetarian option, and a multitude of dessert options, including hot custard. Staff served the meats and fish, the portions were generous, and you could choose a bit of each if you wanted. Top marks for the food. The Location - the hotel is situated about five minutes' walk from the seafront, and a further 5-10 mantova from the town centre shops. There's a spacious car park, with free parking for guests who have booked direct with the hotel. The Wi-fi - accessible from wherever we were in the hotel (although I understand it was a problem in the newer South Wing). Excellent signal and no problems. Our Room - was one of the refurbished ones. It was smart and obviously recently decorated. The room had a double and single bed, a good-size wardrobe with plenty of clothes hangers and a desk with tea and coffee making facilities. The bathroom was very pleasant, with a large walk-in shower (no bath) but could give done either a bit more shelf space and/or hooks for storage. The towels were of very good quality. See later snout toiletries. Leisure - good facilities. We didn't use the indoor pool, but it looked very inviting. The Sports Bar was impressive, with nearly 20 large screens, including outside. The Show Bar is a serious attempt at a professional club-style setup, but there are a lot of steps in it. Drinks prices were about typical of a coastal hotel on a special weekend, for example, Worthington and Carling at £4.75 a pint, spirits at £3.75 for 25ml and a bottle of Coke at £3. But why no draught bitter? The Entertainment - good without being spectacular, singers on all three evenings, some repeating previous artistes' songs, so a bit repetitive at times. The general routine was a Quiz from 7 o'clock, the inevitable Bingo from 8, and the main entertainment starting at 9. It was have been good to have a comedian on one evening - perhaps on New Year's Day, which is always a bit of a struggle - but all three singers were good in their own way. We found Chris, the entertainment manager, a little difficult to understand - OK when calling the bingo numbers, but speaking far too quickly in his New Year's Eve act. And it would have been good if he'd been around to close the entertainment each evening. As it was, it just seemed to fizzle out. There were a few negatives during our stay, some of which probably stemmed from the hotel's management policies, and the opinions below stopped me giving our stay 5/5: Housekeeping - not brilliant. When we arrived, we surveyed the paucity of toiletries on offer - two bars of soap and two sachets of shower gel between us. No problem with the soap, but the offering of only two sachets of shower gel gave a distinct impression of meanness. The following day our room hadn't been serviced when we returned around 4 o'clock. No problem, but of course we'd used the two sachets of shower gel and needed to call Reception to get some more. Reception resolved the issue, but we would have had a much better impression if adequate supplies had been left in the first place. Another hotel management issue I came up against was in the Show Bar, where our ladies were drinking Bacardi and Coke, but their ice had melted before they finished their drinks. So I went to the bar and asked for a glass with some ice in it. To my surprise, the lady behind the bar said it was "against the rules" and refused. So I had to return to our table, collect the Bacardi glasses, go back to the bar, where she willingly added extra ice, then return the glasses to the table. Whet a waste of time, and a mean, petty rule. The most disappointing aspect of our stay at the Riviera was the early breakfast times. On the first and third mornings of our stay breakfast finished at 9 30, so there's no chance of a lie-in. On New Year's Day breakfast finished at 10, so still little chance of a lie-in after the previous night. We've been on a number of New Year breaks and all have had more sensible breakfast times, especially on New Year's Day. In fact, one - that we still talk about - had a New Year brunch closing as late as 11. I asked at Reception whether the person who writes the cryptic replies to TA reviews was available for a few minutes for me to explain constructively why I would rate the Riviera at 4/5 rather than 5, but I was told he wasn't there. Pity, because I enjoy his comments on TA as much as some of the reviews. As with most hotels, some positive points, some negative, but for us mostly positive. Would we go back? Possibly. It's a long drive from London, so it would have to be for at least three nights, and I would enquire about those breakfast times first!…
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Date of stay: January 2023Trip type: Travelled with friends
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
2 Helpful votes
Helpful
Stayed for 3 nights over New Year. The Riviera is nice hotel, situated about 10 mins walk from the seafront and shopping centre. Staff very friendly. The food was of an excellent quality with choices of each of the 3 course meals we had. Breakfast, full English if you want and a selection of cereals, fruit. Dinner served as a Carvery with a selection of 3 meats with good portions. Vegetarian option available. Our room was comfortable and we slept well. The room was made up daily. Some rooms are under refurbishment and we were offered an upgrade but declined. Excellent Sports Bar with lots of TV's so you can choose which sport you want to watch. There are leisure facilities but we did not use them. On site parking is available at a charge. The evening entertainment was very good, with Quizzes, Bingo and very good live Entertainment. The Show Lounge was like a "Night Club" Thanks to Chris for his hard work especially on New Year's Eve when he excelled.…
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Date of stay: December 2022Trip type: Travelled with friends
Value
Location
Service
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Helpful
Wow just got back from this lovely hotel …on a bus trip ….spotlessly clean ….excellent entertainment…it really is a fab hotel …..just one complaint…a member of the kitchen staff needs to seriously take a course on how to deal with guests ….absolutely no need for his rudeness and shouting …I was mortified….if it wasn’t the fact there was so many pluses I would never return…disgusting attitude
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Date of stay: January 2023Trip type: Travelled as a couple
Value
Location
Service
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
1 Helpful vote
Helpful
Had a super break, entertainment was fantastic, Chris was so full of energy, making sure everyone was seated and having a good time, food lovely, great choices, stayed in the older rooms but they were spacious and clean. We were given two gifts which was a lovely touch. We will be back
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Date of stay: December 2022Trip type: Travelled with friends
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
1 Helpful vote
Helpful
Just returned from a three night New Year Celebration break and had a fantastic time. The choice of food was great as was the food, the staff very friendly and the decorations around the hotel lovely. In the evening we had a nightly quiz, bingo and great entertainment. Chris Chaplin was amazing doing the quiz, the bingo and some of the entertainment and had a wicked sense of humour! He had so much energy too! Welsh singer Alan Diamond was also amazing. We even received two little presents from the Riviera team for New Year which was a lovely touch. We stayed in one of the recently refurbished rooms, 438, which had a double and single bed, two comfy chairs and table for coffee etc. The bathroom had a large shower. The room did have a hairdryer as I had previously seen it saying needed to obtain from reception for a deposit. We had one in the dressing table unit. Had a great break in Torquay even though it did rain quite a bit! Thank you Riviera Hotel …
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Date of stay: December 2022Trip type: Travelled as a couple
Room Tip: About 15 minute walk into town
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This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
3 Helpful votes
Helpful
Great New Year's break.Room in the new section was very good.Bed really comfortable. There is plenty of choice at meal time. The entertainment was excellent. We could not fault the staff. They were all amazing. Altogether, a great New Years Eve break that we would not hesitate to repeat!
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Date of stay: December 2022Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Helpful
Pamela W wrote a review 1 Jan
Lovely hotel staff amazing food excellent refurbished rooms so comfy pillows and beds great lovely walk in shower housekeeping staff did a great job entertainment brilliant would definitely recommend the Christmas decorations was so pretty
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Date of stay: December 2022Trip type: Travelled with friends
Value
Location
Service
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Helpful
This is the first visit out The Riviera in Torquay and it was splendid, so much better than I anticipated and so much better than some of the reviews indicated. I would highly recommend this hotel. Our room was in the new wing, although a bit small it was clean, the bed was made with crisp white linen and it was comfortable. The duvet had some bounce to it and the pillows were lofty too. The window opened and the heating was fully controllable, although not needed there was an air conditioning unit too. The bathroom was white, clean and gleaming, a large walk in shower with plenty of hot water, shiny chrome and plenty of towels on the heated rail. Hope they rethink the shower soap issue as at present it comes in small sachets like tomato ketchup which is not easy to open once your hands are wet, plus there is nowhere to rest the packet in the shower cubicle. Some reviewers had mentioned lifts and stairs, we found lifts readily available and stair lifts on all changes of level. The meals are buffet carvery style, plenty of options including a vegetarian and salads. I had fish in parsley sauce my husband had two thick slices of carvery ham with three accompanying vegetables.There was soup to start with and a vast array of cold sweets, roulade, lemon meringue, cheesecake amongst them. Food is freshly cooked from scratch, the dining room is well organized from meet and greet, food service to table clearing. All staff were welcoming and attentive, we felt valued. The dining room was spacious and we could sit where we liked. I was impressed by the Christmas lights and decorations all around the hotel, they were plentiful and new, giving a well cared for feeling to the hotel The Sports bar was as expected but the Show bar was quite a surprise, very professional layout, lighting, seating and stage. We found the hotel to be incredibly quiet both inside and out. I know this often depends on the guests but we didn’t hear noise from neighbouring rooms or corridors. Even with our window open there was no outside noise from traffic or deliveries Our only disappointment during this most enjoyable stay was THERE IS NO WI FI! Presume this is in the new part only but was not advised about this when paid extra to upgrade! Unless we sat in reception or the bar there was no wi fi connection available to us. In today’s world it has become an essential service. I don’t need it for work but couldn’t tell my family I’d arrived safely, check my booking for a walking tour in the morning or listen to my chosen radio station. I asked a member of staff if there were plans to connect the hotel and was told it was a future project…
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Date of stay: December 2022
Rooms
Location
Service
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
1 Helpful vote
Helpful
Staff were terrific, food was very good indeed, room was excellent (but needed to be for an extra £80 for 4 nights) car park was ... well, a car park for nearly £30 for 4 nights.. Actually I was staying at the Hotel,, (?)... Entertainment varied between mediocre and very good indeed (mostly towards the very good ). Overall the Hotel demonstrated superb organisational skills for a large group of somewhat grumpy old farts (not me, obviously..!) the menu selection pretty much showed other similar establishments how it should be done. 2 small points... why not have a hook on the inside of the bathroom door for towel, gown etc..? and £20 for a bottle of house wine ? Would we come again? ABSOLUTELY...!!! thank you.
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Date of stay: December 2022
Rooms
Cleanliness
Service
Room Tip: Build an upgrade into your budget
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This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Helpful
We had a four day Christmas break on arrival reception very helpful and organised we we're asked if we wanted to upgrade which we did,bedroom very clean beds comfortable and room was well heated,The food was buffet help yourself it was always luke warm and not good quality did not taste good and if you wanted tea or coffee were told to buy some from a machine in the reception tea and coffee was only served at breakfast the waiting staff looked very unhappy but were good at there job,the bar staff were also miserable , after reading the other reviews if anyone puts the slightest negative comment the owners response is very rude which is probably why the staff look unhappy 😒 overall for what we paid it was fair.
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Date of stay: December 2022Trip type: Travelled with friends
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
1 Helpful vote
Helpful
Response from Brett Powis, Owner at Riviera Hotel
Responded 4 weeks ago
Firstly, I would like to think my responses are not rude but just a bit more direct than the routine and repetitive ‘thank you, we will look in to that’ you get from pretty much every other hotel whether it is a fair review or not. You get the chance to write what you think, and in return you get, what I hope, is a fair and reasonable response that gives you my view on your post. It is also an opportunity to defend ourselves if I believe what you have written is exaggerated, unreasonable or just a downright lie. Your review is a good example of a confusing review, you give us a 2, which is a rating of Poor, whereas generally your comments are pretty positive and finish with ‘overall for what we paid it was fair’, in which case a 2 seems pretty harsh. You upgraded your room for £5pppn, which you really liked, including stating it was warm, which is no easy feat with the spiralling cost of heating (the heating of the hotel now cost us the equivalent of £5 per guest per night, £50k per month or over half a million pounds a year but your rates haven’t gone up), you don’t mention any of the other facilities, like the heated indoor pool, Sports Bar or the top notch entertainment in our Showbar, and then state the buffet quality was poor and always luke warm, not sure what you would expect on the buffet but there is a fresh carvery meat each night along three specials, all home cooked from scratch, choice of 5 different vegetables, choice of two homemade soups for starters and a massive range of deserts that change every night. Obviously, it is not Michelin starred food but it is all fresh, home cooked food, and you can have as much or as little as you like, same for breakfast. And we don’t provide coffee or tea at dinner, we haven’t done that for at least 5 years, for those that do want that it is available either from the coffee machine in Reception at £1.50 a cup or if you prefer from our Costa Express machine, also in Reception. Truly, I do not want to cause offence, but our hotel is very much like one of our children, and I can be very protective when I feel they are being unfairly maligned, and I feel a response that actually responds to the issues is much better than a load of banal platitudes.
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
PRICE RANGE
US$56 - US$85 (Based on Average Rates for a Standard Room)
ALSO KNOWN AS
rainbow international torquay, hotel rainbow international
FORMERLY KNOWN AS
Rainbow International Hotel
LOCATION
United KingdomEnglandDevonEnglish RivieraTorquay
NUMBER OF ROOMS
145
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Claim Your ListingRIVIERA HOTEL: UPDATED 2023 Reviews, Price Comparison and 915 Photos (Torquay, English Riviera) - Tripadvisor
Frequently Asked Questions about Riviera Hotel
Which popular attractions are close to Riviera Hotel?
Nearby attractions include Torre Abbey (0.3 km), Jungle Journey Adventure Golf (0.1 km), and South West Coast Path Walk- Meadfoot & London Bridge (0.1 km).
What are some of the property amenities at Riviera Hotel?
Some of the more popular amenities offered include an indoor pool, an on-site restaurant, and a lounge.
What food & drink options are available at Riviera Hotel?
Guests can enjoy an on-site restaurant, a lounge, and breakfast during their stay.
Is parking available at Riviera Hotel?
Yes, paid private parking on-site is available to guests.
What are some restaurants close to Riviera Hotel?
Conveniently located restaurants include Fredericks, Las Iguanas, and On the Rocks Restaurant Bar.
Are there opportunities to exercise at Riviera Hotel?
Yes, guests have access to an indoor pool during their stay.
Is Riviera Hotel located near the city centre?
Yes, it is 0.4 km away from the centre of Torquay.
Does Riviera Hotel offer any business services?
Yes, guests have access to meeting rooms and a banquet room during their stay.
Are there any historical sites close to Riviera Hotel?
Many travellers enjoy visiting Torre Abbey (0.3 km) and Friends Of Oldway (3.3 km).
Is Riviera Hotel accessible?
Yes, it offers wheelchair access. For specific enquiries, we recommend calling ahead to confirm.