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!…
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.…
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
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
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 …
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!
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
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…
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.
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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