Portsmouth (Havant) hotel

The hotel staff were friendly and helpful, the hotel itself is a little tired and could do with updating. The Rusty cutter restaurant need to be totally renovated; the décor is really shabby with split seats and drab decoration. There doesn’t seem to be enough staff in the restaurant but they do a reasonable job of looking after the few customers that were in there. The food wasn’t the best, the fish was overcooked and the chicken salad didn’t contain a great deal of chicken. We only eat in there one night, after seeing the state of the extraction system above the grill which was covered in grease and dirt.

Bed was good, TV a bit dated but OK. Hotel was quiet with only a little road noise. The biggest problem was the restaurant, woefully understaffed with 1 chef , 1 waitress.. Poor things were run ragged and it impacted the service not surprisingly. If you are going to offer a service, staff it properly. Premier inns are generally V good value for money , just a shame they fell a bit short on the food and service this time. Beds are always good and that's the most important thing but need to have adequate staff to run the service properly

Stopped overnight before getting early morning ferry. It’s way out of town but we knew that, and not many local choices for eating or a supermarket within walking distance. Typical Premier Inn just in need of a little TLC. We stayed in room 202 and the road was noisy all night with the windows open. If you end up at the back of the hotel go out of reception and walk up the hill to the side entrance instead of up and down all the sets of stairs internally. You will thank me later 😁

On arrival at reception, I had to wait a short time while two members of staff could take the trouble to break off their conversation and attend to a guest. The first thing pointed out to me above all else was the fact that there was only one member of waiting staff on duty in the dining room and that I must make an appointment for a specific time. I decided to eat out. On the second night I used the restaurant. What a disappointment. The menu item I chose listed a steak and ale pie, including chips with their skins on. The pie that I was looking forward to turned out to be a minuscule offering with tough overcooked pastry and clearly a frozen item of dubious quality. The chips were also of the frozen variety and definitely not as advertised. Exceptionally poor quality and false advertising at best. The glass doors to the restaurant didn’t look to have had a good clean in a while. Covered in hand/finger marks so I’d imagine the handles hadn’t had a wipe over either. The room was clean and everything worked and I did have two good nights sleep. One other point. I think in today’s tech age it would be useful to have charging points.

I’m a returning guest as I attend goodwood events and regularly stay at the Havant premier inn. I was greeted by Samantha who immediately remembered me from previous visits. It was so lovely to see her smiling face. She looked after me in the restaurant and provided excellent service and I had a lovely meal. I then saw her again the next day at the hotel reception again bubbly and smiling and made sure I was comfortable. Staff like this make such a difference so thank you. Hope to see you soon.