Harbour Hotel & Spa Chichester

Lovely hotel, lovely greeting. I had an amazing neck and back massage from Marisa, it was five stars all the way; the best I have had for a long time. The room is well appointed with everything you need and the staff have been really helpful. Looking forward to dinner.

Uncaring, inflexible and lacking empathy. We will not stay here again. Over the past 24 years, my wife and I have stayed at The Ship Hotel, now Chichester Harbour Hotel, on many, many occasions. It has always been a nostalgic, home-from-home stop-over venue for us whenever visiting family in West Sussex. Sadly we will not be returning. A few weeks ago we booked a one-night stay on a Sunday, including dinner, which was at a special rate and payable in full at the time of booking. The terms and conditions stated that in the event of cancellation, no refunds or transfers would be allowed. A week before we were due to travel, my wife suffered an accident, fracturing her kneecap requiring surgery, and she also broke some ribs. We had no choice but to postpone our trip. We understood the terms and conditions of our booking, but, as we had stayed here so many times previously, we hoped they might show some sympathy and understanding of our circumstances and allow us to re-schedule. I emailed explaining the situation, stressing that we were not looking for a refund and asking for a little flexibility on this occasion to move dates to when my wife was able to travel again. Three days on and there was no reply. I emailed once again asking for a response. Again, no reply, so I turned to Harbour Hotels group customer services complaining that our emails were not being answered. They responded immediately, apologising that we hadn’t had a reply, and said they would forward my original message to the General Manager at Chichester. I then received a phone call from the receptionist at Chichester, who appeared to be understanding, saying that she would see if the General Manager would apply some discretion on this occasion and allow us to re-schedule. I said that we were very happy to pay any difference in price if applicable. The General Manager obviously dismissed our request out of hand as an email the following day reminded us coldly of the terms and conditions of our booking and that it was non-refundable nor transferable to a different date. All they offered was a “competitive” rate (whatever that is) should we wish to re-book again in the future. We were very disappointed and upset by the General Manager’s dismissive attitude and impersonal lack of empathy towards long-standing customers. A little flexibility and goodwill on this occasion would have cost him absolutely nothing and meant so much to us. He had the power of discretion and chose not to use it. I have no doubt whatsoever that if this was a privately owned hotel, the outcome would have been very different. If we had been allowed to reschedule our stay we would have added more value to our visit with drinks and possibly other purchases, and been happy to return again many more times into the future. As it is, we will never stay here again. As with other similar reviews of this hotel, the General Manager will very likely answer my comments here with the usual impersonal response about t

We booked this hotel quickly after deciding to go to Goodwood in April. £440 a night for 2 nights, then £295 for our last night. Dinner, bed and breakfast. Quite expensive! Our room on the top floor was a standard double room. It was tiny, and only just bearable for a 3 night stay. We had a bit of a mix up as to what dinner actually included. We put this down to perhaps some new staff for this very busy weekend.Anyway, the hotel was gracious in sorting it all out. Sandrine in the office was excellent in her customer service skills. We would recommend this place, but would book a larger room if possible.

The room was reall comfortable and the food in the restaurant was very nice. Staff were extremely polite

Elegant historic building with modern facilities. Super comfortable bed and pillows. Excellent breakfast selections, carefully prepared and very competitively priced. Welcoming, friendly staff throughout the property.

Stopped for lunch and it did not disappoint! Great chicken club sandwich - thank you Megan and Elle for your lovely service!

The harbour hotel clearly cares about the details. They only had standard rooms left when we booked and we still had a coffee machine, a tea tray, comfy pillows and a few glugs of gin. This is a small hotel that somehow manages to squeeze in a restaurant, spa, gym, a number of rooms and a bar. The breakfast was great and the staff were friendly. Our room was rather hot and it’s a shame there is no air conditioning and that the window wouldn’t open more than a bit, but I assume the lack of a/c is due to the building. The fact that two fans were provided in the room was testament to the fact that that the staff were mindful of this. We would happily stay here again!

All areas fresh and clean. Room looked very recently decorated. Eco-friendly wash-room products. Approachable, polite staff. Super vegetarian breakfast.

Food was delicious and service was excellent and friendly. Well done Ewan and Mollie. Highly recommended. Thank you. Kim, Sue and Gina