The staff were lovely, friendly and helpful. The hotel, unfortunately, was not. I suspect the Grand was grand, in the same way I was young. Both statements were true once. Unfortunately the passage of time has done for both of us. Hotel was very tired in a number of places- both public (the pool/gym area and general exterior had definitely seen better days- some time ago) and private (we had a two bedroom/lounge suite- bedroom and bathroom were in good condition, whereas the lounge was very tired with watermarked furniture, old plastic chairs on balcony etc). All felt like modest investment would make a real difference- but clearly had not been done. Small example- having checked in to the suite for the week (quoting price impolite- but let us say it was middle 4 figures for the week)- first thing we did was go to the supermarket to buy some water for the room. For the money, I would have thought that they could have stretched to a couple of bottles of Buxton. Ordered a coffee at 10:15pm, to be told I couldn't have one as the machine had now been cleaned. There was no bottled water in the restaurant bar on Sunday (fair enough- hot weekend/wedding reception may have caused stock issues)- but still no water by Thursday night- seriously? Overall impression was that where money could be saved, it would be. Unfortunately the price asked was at odds with what was given in return. Real shame- as the location is brilliant and, as mentioned, the staff are an asset.
