Isle of Wight Sandown (Seafront) hotel

We arrived after 8pm, and a young lady came in from 'going for a puff' to book us in. She gave a disinterested welcome, whilst talking to a colleague. The lift was grubby and sticky and the hallways were grimy. The room (106) sits next to the laundry. You are rocked to sleep by the sound of tumble drying and the fast spin cycle. The air conditioning vents are on the roof outside the sealed window, which is of little consequence, as the a/c was broken. This made the room stuffy and uncomfortable. The view is of a wall and rear neighbouring gardens. Hallway doors slam so hard that the bedroom door rattled but the terrible hygiene standards of the room surpassed all these issues. The toilet seat was broken and urine stained the wall. The sink plug was full of hair and the soap dispensers dirty, the mirror - broken at the bottom, the bath handles - filthy along with the overflow pipe, the badly dented bin and the skirting boards. The door was covered in grim and the handles sticky. The bedroom was no better. The skirting boards were dirty and scuffed, the chair was stained, the spare bed had springs sticking out of the dirty cover. The wardrobe was broken at the base. The television was pixelated and Channel 4 is not available. The bed sheets just reached the sides of the bed and were tatty. Under the bed, we found several different types of sweet wrappers from previous guests, along with copious amounts of fluff and dirt.The door stop was hanging off the wall and the carpet was discoloured and dirty. I have used many Premier Inns, both for work and privately. This is by far the worst one. Recently we visited Lewes and Gatwick, which were both clean and the staff friendly. The staff at Sandown, never acknowledged us once during our three night stay. Each cheery 'good morning' totally ignored by the bored looking staff. I usually use Premier as I find them reliable and friendly. Not so this one. I will book the Travel Lodge in Ryde on future visits to the Island. As a footnote, The Isle of Wight is delightful for walking and we found the local people very friendly and kind. Sandown is like a lot of the UK and needs a little TLC but the seafront is stunning and it is worth a visit. From our experience, just don't stay at the Premier Inn. I have left this review twice before and it has not been posted on Tripadvisor.

Great location and fantastic views, payable parking outside, very friendly staff. Good restaurant with bar and cafes and restaurants close by too.

We were several times at this Hotel in the last years. We booked the room well in advance in September 2025 for September 2026. We got a room at the back with a beautiful look against the cliffstones. When we dicussed this with the manager on duty he said we should booked a romm with a view. There is no twin room with a view to book on the website. From former experience there was no need to specifiy. So we were ask for an additional fee to change to a room "with a view". After some dicussion we were graciously given such a room with seaview. Four nights for nearly GBP 600 and you have to look at a stone wall with no view. Maybe it was because we were not UK Residents.

Great sea views from the front facing rooms. Very clean premises. Friendly and helpful staff, Waqar in particular was so helpful in changing our room to a sea facing room (my error when booking) and allowing us to check in half an hour early. He is a great asset to the company at this site. The restaurant/bar below, whilst an independent, is also very good and useful that you do not have to go outside to enter it in bad weather. We did not have a car but I understand this Premier Inn has no car park although there is paid parking right outside if you can get a space and as it is on the sea front and the Isle of Wight is very hilly you have to climb a steep hill to access the town. Not an issue for us. One of the nicer Premier Inns we have stayed in. The only downside is that you cannot open the windows and it was impossible to regulate the temperature of the room. Sadly Sandown itself does seem to have deteriorated a lot since we came several years ago (much the same as many other towns on the mainland) but the pier amusements were very good and we had a nice meal with great service in the Chinese restaurant on the High Street. Getting around the Isle of Wight on the buses is very easy and a pleasant way to travel without the hassle of driving yourself.

It would have been a 4 out of 5 due to there being no parking as views from the sea view rooms were extremely good and couldn’t fault anything. However on last full day there i needed towels changing so gave my room number to reception about 8.30 for room to be cleaned as had to do before 12. On returning to my room about 5pm this hadn’t been done and cleaning staff had finished. Breakfast really good next door in the bar.