The Royal & Fortescue Hotel

What a wonderful guest house. The hosts Stephanie and Andrew were so friendly and helpful. If you are a first timer like us they are more than happy to point you towards some of the lovely beaches and places that you maybe wouldn’t ever find yourselves so do ask them. They are more than happy to help. We booked the King Premier Ensuite 2nd floor and weren’t disappointed. We were informed beforehand that it overlooked the back so I wasn’t expecting much but it was beautiful. The back overlooks the walled garden which was really lovely as, being built into a cliff top the flowers could be seen from the window. Absolutely no noise from the road out the front just the sound of bird song if you leave the window open. In the evening there was room to sit out on the balcony at the front of the guest house and enjoy the sun setting in front of you. The room itself was lovely. Comfortable bed, really efficient shower and a fridge (Heaven) and plenty of room. The breakfasts were plentiful and excellent The free parking is a real bonus as I would imagine trying to park in Looe during the high season would become quite stressful. Thoroughly enjoyable stay and I would definitely use it again if staying in Looe

Our room was spacious and comfortable. I ended up needing to work while I was there, and a comfy chair in a corner with two windows was a perfect place to do that. (I don't know that all rooms in the hotel are as spacious as the one we stayed in.) Staff were very friendly and helpful. The breakfast in the hotel restaurant was top notch, including their espresso offerings. There was a lot to like about the hotel itself.

The main window of our room just looked out at the roof and at someone else's window four or five feet away and directly in front. The other window was on a perpendicular wall just beside it, and it just looked down along a narrow and unpicturesque alley area between wings of the hotel. So there was no nice view of anything from the windows of the room. The town of Barnstaple itself seemed very touristy and also maybe slightly seedy. So it's not likely we'd travel back there for anything other than just a night in a hotel on the way to somewhere else. But if you need to do that, this hotel is a good choice.

Hotel staff were really welcoming and friendly. Room was spotlessly clean and well presented. We ate in the restaurant one night and the staff there really are a credit to the hotel - absolutely fantastic service. Great location right in the centre of town.

I wish I'd booked directly with the hotel rather than through booking.com - our friends booked directly and for the same nightly fee as us, they had breakfast included and a 10% discount on their restaurant food....plus they had a cheeky room upgrade. The hotel is very old so it is creaky in hallways etc. Our room was on the alley side and we did get noise from drunken people staggering home between 11-2am both nights....sleeping with the window closed helped reduce this and there is an air con unit in the room.

The room we had was surprisingly large. According to the evacuation map and the beams, it might have been 3 rooms originally? The bed offered a good nights sleep. Breakfast, served in the restaurant included a decent full cooked breakfast including novel mini hash browns rather than the standard fare. These proved popular. Being only a short walk from the railway station, it was a handy starting or stopping point on the SWCP.

The bar was empty apart from us so the member of staff was reduced to sitting at the bar waiting for us to order another (but then disappeared just before we wanted to). It was probably the least attractive part of the hotel that we visited. Being in town, there was the danger of noise from the street but it was quiet overnight apart from the same couple of blokes talking loudly to each other at two times during the night, possibly employees. There was no vehicle noise until the morning.

The location is central well signposted with easy access and there is car parking behind the hotel. The Atmosphere is buzzing, with a lovely cocktail bar on the ground floor and a more sedate bar off to the left. The Receptionist is slightly hidden from view and off to the right. Lovely staff, sincere, warm, and friendly. Room 302 overlooks the town, it has a huge and extremely comfortable bed with lovely linens. The bathroom is very modern, clean with products and fluffy towels. The shower is wonderful with just the right water pressure. Breakfast is in the most fabulous rooms with vaulted ceilings, with a mix of continental choices, hot breakfast items, fruit juices and lattes made to order. Our problems with ventilation in the room were taken seriously and we were more than satisfied by the solution, so thank you. I will definitely stay here again.

The windows are painted shut. In the secondary glazing a window can open once you have fought against a grubby, holey net curtain..but no air can enter as the outer windows are painted shut. The Giant fridge sized air-conditioning unit in the room sounds like a jet engine roaring beside the bed making the floor jump! Without the aircon unit the room has no air..The hotel facade is obviously listed which is why the aircon units can't be outside the rooms..but still a better solution needs to be found. The seagulls seem to splatter all the buildings....I would get the window cleaner to visit more frequently.

The main parts of the hotel are beautifully designed and decorated. As you go upstairs to your room there is a slightly jaded appearance to the decor but nothing that you would worry about. The room was spotlessly clean with everything you could want, really thick duvets (slightly too heavy for the summer) and a lovely modern bathroom. We had an amazing welcome from a lovely lady on reception, she is a real asset to the hotel.

Parking facilities at this hotel are really the only thing that lets it down! There are 2 very small car parks which were both sadly full when we came back to the hotel at 9pm. We had to go and find a public car park for the night with 2 children in tow. My bed was ok in terms of comfort, mattress had a slight valley down the middle but the quilt, pillows and bedding were crisp, fresh and spotless.

- Staff very friendly and welcoming, always smiling and happy to help - Room was spotless, they even changed our bath towels after the first night which I wasn’t expecting! - Breakfast was hot, plenty of choice, very well cooked, lovely - Good location, right in the town with plenty of places to eat and drink. We didn’t eat at the hotel but judging by breakfast I’m sure it’s lovely, but if you’re looking to eat elsewhere the fish and chip shop on the corner is the best I’ve ever had, and lush bar just up the road was incredible - The bed and pillows were super comfy Everything about the place is more or less positive, for a 3 star hotel it exceeded our expectations and I think that’s a harsh rating, would definitely say it’s better than some 4 star places we’ve stayed at. We will definitely be staying here again we didn’t want to leave!

Nothing really only that the hotel car parks could be signposted a little better or made clearer on the email as we were unsure of whether or not we could drive down the road where the parking was. Could do with a touch up of paint in places but you can never expect it to be perfect :)

The position was ideal for what we wanted, going to the theatre. We didn't have time to look around the town but it seems ideally placed for that too. Staff are very welcoming and knowledgeable and the faciliites are excellent. A good menu in the restaurant with some unusual dishes which is a bonus.

This is an old building and the floor above was extremely noisy when being walked on, I suspect the room below us had similar experiences, also the bedroom door banged very loudly during the night due to (unusually high) winds creeping into the corridor, keeping me awake. But this was mentioned to reception when we left and has probably been dealt with now.

Extremely clean. Lovely room and bathroom. The most conveniently situated hotel. It was virtually on the doorstep of the show I was going to see so you can't ask for better. Helpful, friendly staff at reception. I was able to check-in a lot earlier than expected, which was fantastic.

I wouldn't normally spend that much on accommodation but as the place I was originally booked in to cancelled my reservation last minute without an explanation I ended up paying double the amount so it was rather a surprise to find that the floor in my room was extremely uneven for the high price I paid. Alas, very typical for the South West so not exactly an easy job to fix. Unfortunately, the uneven floors became very loud when walking over them and especially loud from the other rooms at night and the lifts too! All the loud bangs made it impossible to sleep even with the sounds of thunderstorms playing in my ears to try to drown it out.

The hotel is very well positioned, being a few steps past the end of the bridge that leads to the railway station. The lady at the reception desk gave me good directions to get to where I was going next, and checking in and out were both very quick and straightforward. I arrived fairly late and left very early, so I wasn't making extensive use of anything, but I had access to everything I needed. I had a good dinner in the restaurant, too.

The shower took a bit of time to warm up.