The Imperial Torquay Reviews 41

This is our 5th visit to the Imperial in 18months. Every visit is superb,parking easy,breakfast is vast, rooms are amazing. Sea views are to die for and the gardens are a real treat.
DONT judge on some of the negatives in other reviews on the Imperial !!
The hotel is not shabby or run down.It is a large hotel right beside the sea..it would be like painting the Forth Bridge to keep it pristine and new looking. The rooms are a good size and kept clean.
It feels like a real hotel with a touch of grandeur.
The pool and spa are excellent. There is never a huge que for breakfast..you are taken to your table and seated whilst they take your order for tea or coffee. The rest of the breakfast is self serve and a huge choice.
There is a car parking charge of £10...in a private car park with barrier entry.Always loads of space and we feel happy to leave the car knowing its safely tucked away.
This is a great hotel and we will keep coming back..we have previously used others..they don't match up.
We tend to be a nation that loves to complain about everything...but rarely do we pass on compliments.
To all the staff at the Imperial..thank you for everything you do. Here is to our next visit.

Great, clean room and lovely bed. Excellent view. The best breakfast I have ever had - plenty of choice and stunning view.
The Spa is completely different story, it was dirty and we overheard staff talking and saying the jacuzzi and sauna had not been cleaned in days. I cancel believe it! As well as the changing rooms. The spa needs updating and a good makeover. Steps into pool which was a good thing but no pool side seating only 4 loungers in the “dry” area which wasn’t accessible by pool.

1.When we arrived hotel looked in a poor way defo needs to be painted.
2.We didn't realise we had to pay for parking £10 for the night.
Was hopeing for a lovely nice spa walks into changing rooms very dated indeed the sauna is in changing room the jacuzzi was full could get in atall the steam room was out of order swimming pool was just a small pool nothing special belive me. it was shame cause wanted to chill and unwind pls don't expect 4* spa facilities.
Our room was OK spacious and warm overall stay was OK for the night defo not 4* OK for a overnight stay hope this helps.
Will we go again no.

We booked a spa day.
Do not go here for a spa day. Dirty, rundown and not a spa!! Cold treatment room and the two course lunch was awful. When we gave them the feedback the response was not good. We were offered to return, never ever would we return. Terrible day and waste of money.

Another wonderful stay at the Imperial Torquay. Kelly greeted me like an old friend — charming, funny, professional, and instantly put me at ease. The room was fantastic: immaculately clean with breathtaking views over Torbay.

Thank you to the whole team for making my visit so special.

On arrival I did not feel welcomed as a guest but rather as a cash-cow to be rapidly and brusquely milked for additional (and, in the case of parking, somewhat unexpected) charges.

The room was shabby and the 'view' that I was expecting was obscured by thick layers of dust and grime on the windows. I felt unable to use the ironing board or hanging space for my clothes because the of the stains and grime in this area. I don't believe that the room was air conditioned and it felt sultry, oppressive and claustrophobic; I spent a sleepless night on account of this. The queue to get into the dining area at breakfast was twenty meters long!

We had a twin room lovely and big. Leather chairs are torn, and stains on the carpet. Towels are well used, no longer white and white thin.
We had high tea which was nice and staff are lovely.
It is picturesque eating looking over the ocean.

As per a lot of reviews here the Imperial has lovely views but they do not know how to deliver a cream tea. We went to an Agatha Christie one which included a cocktail. The food was good and there was a bit of a wait for it. The worst thing was that at such an obviously ancient hotel they do not do things in the expected British way. Paddington Bear would have liked to have his teapot. The man in charge had been pulled from the bar so said he did not know where the teapots were kept. This meant that the tea was served when requested from a coffee pot and not a teapot left on a table so you can have a full potful. You need a full potful with all that lovely sugar! There were Americans on a near table and they had opted for water (probably not knowing that a cream tea should include unlimited tea). Agatha would definitely have thought up another murder plot.

Family friends from Germany were staying at The Imperial and invited us to join them for afternoon tea. Our friend ordered multiple cream teas, scones were fine but brought out with any accompanying tea. After an eternity of waiting and then asking if any tea was coming it was brought out without any milk. We were told they ran out of milk! Doubtful! By the time milk arrived the tea was cold and stewed to death. No apologies for dreadful service at a 4* hotel. I felt ashamed on behalf of my German friends as I bet service would be impeccable over there. A child’s portion of ice cream cost £8. Not recommended at all. The outdoor pool was closed over in peak season also. AVOID!

The food varied between basic to horrible, the staff were friendly but untrained, Rooms and view were good. Spa had a good massage but could not book a manicure because the staff were too busy talking to each other to help a guest. Rude

Stunning hotel. We had an issue with our room and Roshanne without any trouble changed our room which improved our stay. We had a wonderful stay. Gorgeous views. Breakfast was lovely. We will definitely be visiting again

Booked a meal on the first evening at 6.30pm. After being shown to table, sat and waited for waitress. Half an hour. Order finally taken, arrived 45 minutes later.
Next morning the breakfast was cold. Apparently the thermostat on the hot plates had been turned down to prevent the food continuing to cook.
A few days later, room service, upon cleaning the room, managed to lose my wife's nightie
The last morning at breakfast the pancake on the hot plate was like a Frisbee. The waiter replaced it, that was cold. Told that they were the choices and they weren't cooked to order. Eventually the head waiter arrived and organised freshly cooked pancakes.

The decor is nice, staff do their best, Amy at reception is fantastic in trying to deal with issues and always seems to be smiling and happy.
There's no access to the garden for wheelchair users and the spa is very small. The pictures are taken with very wide angle lens. Sure the rooms are nice, albeit dated and the decor is fantastic but this is let down by the fact that they can't get the basics right.

Hotel tired but we had good hotel experience. Situation is great, Breakfast is amazing but food in restaurants in the evening is poor quality, basic, bad presentation very overpriced not surprising few people eating. Last time we eat in the restaurant all the chiefs walked out, this time whoever designed the menu, cooked and presented it is needs looking at. As a hotelier the restaurant situation is amazing but the food is extremely poor quality which spoilt our stay and would otherwise be great experience. From menu to cooking, presentation on the plate all needs sorting I would not put up with it

Read this if your thinking about staying here Ostars Awful gross experience at The Imperial Hotel, Torquay - definitely not worth the price.
We booked a deluxe sea view room expecting a relaxing, high-quality stay. Instead, we were kept awake by a loud wedding or Il that went on well past 11:30pm.
We had asked the manager and reception staff for a solution hours prior and they offered an inland room with less beds and a Lower quality when we paid for sea view deluxe When I complained, the staff offered to move us to a smaller, cheaper room--no apology, no refund, no proper solution. Why should I pay for a deluxe room when I can't even sleep in it? we had a very long drive home so we wanted to sleep a little bit early, I had rung multiple times aggie at reception was not helpful I had left that hotel in tears and Aggie found it amusing smirking throughout she said there's nothing they can do but tell them to turn it down we had also called up a manager to our room and he never arrived they put the phone down, going till now as I'm writing this 12am the manger was serving drinks at the wedding so his words were they wernt that drunk and there's nothing they can do the music didn't stop till 12: 30 it seemed the guests were deliberately getting louder after being told at 10 to lower the music and stop the screaming guests and when it did the loud guests came back to there rooms next to us and one even threw up off the balcony it was disgusting they were on the balcony's talking loud till 2 To make things worse, I had a very expensive facial at the spa which was honestly terrible, uncomfortable, and my skin felt no better afterwards. It has also made me break out which I never do I regularly have facials, I also had my nails done and they chipped the very same day but the lady who did them was nice at least.
For a place that markets itself as a luxury hotel, the quality and service were completely disappointing. Also note l used there pool and steam room plus sauna and fell ill from it I had gotten out and felt grossed out when I noticed a crawling insect in the spa and it seemed the whole hotel was sick with some sort of virus everyone was coughing and sneezing in the pool and restaurant, it has made me very ill and ruined the whole holiday public health have been informed .

id also like to add housekeeping had just opened our door when we had a do not disturb sign on during our stay she had opened the door then knocked .. what if I was getting changed?! She was annoyed to see we were still in our soon at 9am? She did not change the sheets even it was like she was not expecting us in our own room,

they also charged my card without my authorisation they had used my card on file witch they are not aloud to legaly do as one receptionist had explained it's not legal for us to use any cards on file but Aggie went ahead and charged us anyway, they they also tell you that they give you 20 pounds credit for the restaurant, when you book a certain amount of nights sounds nice right? but they force you to order two courses each coming out to a minimum of 30pounds not including soft drinks and even water. This was my last holiday with my daughter as I am terminally ill and they ruined it i left that hotel in tears there was also no heating at night and the room was boiling hot it was like staying in such an old fashioned place book an apartment for cheaper your better of self catering as it seems there's no catering here anyway the rooms were also infested with somthing like insects
The Imperial clearly prioritises weddings and events over the comfort of paying guests. I would never stay here again and absolutely do not recommend it. Just an hose t review hoping to save people hard earned money don't ruin your holiday!

Bought dinner, bed and breakfast for husband's birthday, was meant to be a treat. I paid extra for a Standard Room with sea view. We got a lovely sea view at garden level, however, the room felt cramped and unfortunately sub-standard with very uncomfortable mattres, thick dust on top of the ceiling light fitting. Had to actually move furniture to get to the wardrobe, or to get out onto the miserable dated terrace.
The bathroom was adequate, with body wash and lotion, but there wasn't even a shower cap. The shower temperature could not be adjusted. There was a used tissue, the bath mat and non slip mat were both soaked, the door handle was about to fall off.
Dinner was OK.
Staff were lovely and very friendly, but there is nothing to make me want to stay or dine at the imperial again. Such a shame.

30 min massage, 20 mins at most as late treatment start and finished 10 mins early! If you have a 30 min massage, you expect the massage yo be 30 mins.

Food awful, hardly noticeable choice, get better on a supermarket meal deal! And sadly food not cooked very well, absolute disgrace.

Bought as a birthday treat, felt ashamed, embarrassed, let down and hungry!

Would not recommend, but could have been quite pleasant and nice so easily. Such a shame and waste of money.

Racist hotel manager Christian who charge us twice for the stay,still the extra Money he charge us doesn't arrive back in my back account since June 2024.
He is been horrible sayng that he don't love Romanians at all, and even worse,he hate them.
Such of shame to behave so badly with a guest in your hotel.
Shame on you Christian and Andrew Bronsword that you allow to have staff like him,even I been complaining to the Head of group operations.

This must be the worst hotel. Rude untrained staff. Saw one waiter wipe the food tongs with his hands! Staff disinterested not helpful. Do not stay here . I wonder if the owners are aware or care

It’s my first time at the Imperial Hotel and I found a young lady called Mandy very helpful, friendly and professional in the bar
The sandwich was also delicious

Having lived in Torquay for many years the Imperial was always the pinnacle of hotels in the region. However on arrival for a weekend stay we were appalled at the state of the outside, really shabby and in need of a good coat of paint. Well worn chair arms in the lounge and a very small room with a bed against the wall - a big negative. Good breakfast but this place needs a good overhaul. Views magnificent as always.