The Bell Hotel

I loved this hotel so much I sort of want to live there. Everything was much better than anticipated. The staff were absolutely lovely as well and whilst I was having dinner I could over hear management talking to them, everyone seemed so happy and like a great little team I thought what a wicked place to work. Nothing was too much trouble, the rooms are stunning with everything you need. Location is beautiful. Food was good and great value for money. I would have paid a lot more for this stay. Would highly recommend.

There isn’t anything to complain about. The only downside is the parking but there’s nothing that can be done about that, and there is a huge car park opposite, although it was very full so I had to walk with my case for 5 minutes, but I’m completely scraping the barrel to find a negative. Parking was free over night until 8am.

Location was great right by the river and centre of town, near lots of nice restaurants including the hotel's own bar and restaurant, and walking distance from the train station. Breakfast was lovely, I really enjoyed the berry compote, Greek yoghurt, melons and granola, and cooked breakfast was also great. The bed was new and very comfortable and there was a fan which helped as the weather was very hot. The staff were really nice and helpful, there seemed to be a good atmosphere among them. They said they would be happy to store bikes securely overnight if we retuned for a cycling trip around the coast.

The building needs some TLC especially to external brickwork and roof, and it would be nice to restore all the pictures on the walls that were removed during Covid for cleaning reasons but have not yet been returned.

The service at breakfast was absolutely faultless. One day my husband requested a banana but they had run out and were waiting for a new delivery. After we had left the breakfast room and were just about to go back to our room, the waiter ran after us with a banana on a plate as they had just had a new delivery - what service! Very generous amount of toast given for breakfast and the coffee was very good. The rooms were very well appointed and comfortable. The building apparently dated back to the 14th century and has been very sympathetically modernised. We were very impressed by the amount of hand sanitiser around the hotel. Better service at this 3 star hotel than we experienced at a recent stay in a 4 star hotel.

There were no locks on the inside of the bedroom doors which felt a little bit uneasy. The twin room only had a bedside table by one of the beds so we had to move a chair to act as a bedside table.

Our party of 4 loved this hotel. We will definitely stay again and for more than just 1 night. It’s a lovely town and we were right next to the quay for our boat trip River Runner to see the seals. All the food we had was really nice, sandwiches for lunch, fish for dinner and full English breakfast. But this hotel excels in customer service. What a lovely friendly team. Everyone went out of their way to enhance our stay. From booking in to checking out. My only negative comment is that the rooms were cold, but that’s more about our weather. Mid May shouldn’t require heating in rooms. So not the hotels fault.

Nothing it’s great

The hotel is tastefully decorated with some beautiful pieces around the property - it's homely and really comfortable. Our room was a really nice size and the complimentary beverages appreciated. We opted for a room over the river and we had a lovely square bay with a window seat which was really lovely. Beds were comfortable (we had Rm1) and the bathroom was huge with a beautiful bath and luxury finishes in the way of mirrors etc. We ate in the restaurant the evening we were there and had a beautiful meal - highly recommend booking for dinner and the breakfast had everything you could possibly want from a lovely selection of fruit and pastries to your full English.

My one very minor comment was the strength of the shower but I feel that's a common complaint in a lot of hotels because of the number of rooms and water pressure - it certainly wouldn't deter me from staying again. The person I was travelling with opted to have a bath - we were nearly late for dinner as she didn't want to get out...!!! lol

The staff were brilliant - helpful, friendly and very professional. The precautions that the hotel in general were making against the spread of Covid helped us to feel quite safe during our stay there. Breakfasts were excellent. Very tasty, great choice and beautifully presented.

I was disappointed that our room was much smaller than I had been led to expect from the photographs on the website although at the same time it was still very comfortable, practical and tastefully decorated.

Comfortable as usual. Good staff and a good breakfast

The smaller rooms are small and in mine the fan in the loo sounded like a broken lawn mower. There was obviously an issue with the plumbing to as once the taps had been turned on and then off, there was a whistling which didn't seem to disappear until you turned the tap back on again. Annoying in the middle of the night! No milk in the rooms and you have to remember to ask reception for those or its a black coffee in the morning!

The hotel is in a beautiful building and perfectly located for a weekend getaway via train (10 mins walk from Sandwich station). We were able to check in early with no problems (we had said prior to our arrival that we would be early). The room was nice, as expected. We didn't have breakfast during our stay, but used the tea & biscuit facilities in the room - this was ok, very basic.

The facilities in the bedroom were slightly lacking (no fridge, the tea/coffee was very basic). We found it strange that you leave the key at the hotel and ask for it back when you return, although this was never an issue no matter what time we got back. Overall we had a great stay and staff were friendly & helpful.

I always rate Hotel breakfasts by the quality of the sausages. These weren't your Richmond jobbies(?!?). These actually tasted of meat. Really enjoyed the breakfast. Justin's sense of humour when he suggested that his manager would 'check me out'. I arrived really late and even though the bar had just closed, they offered to open it so that I could get a cool beer. The room was clean and very comfortable and parking was really easy as well. Just a tip for future guests. There is a large carpark with free overnight parking between 1800hrs and 0800hrs. I moved my car at 0700hrs to Strand street, (closer to the hotel) where there is free parking from 0830 for one hour giving you an extra half an hour to enjoy the breakfast. Excellent. If a room is available when I'm next near Sandwich, I'll shortlist this one.

I didn't really dislike anything. If I had to be critical, I had to climb several flights of stairs to get to my room with heavy bags (the bags that I packed, making them heavy in the first place) and there were no spare parking spaces outside the hotel as they were already taken up by three other cars.

Excellent location and great food. There was a good choice for breakfast, all well cooked and well presented. We ate in on two nights and the food in the evening was excellent too. The public areas are spacious with plenty of different seating, inside and outside. All the staff were great, really friendly and professional.

Decor in the room was a bit drab, the paintwork was scuffed. Very little room to get round one side of the bed which could be a real issue for some guests.