The Queens Hotel St Ives

Lovely food, we didn't stay for the hotel but the food we did get was great. Amazing scones and a lovely selection of tea. The sandwiches were also very tasty. It's also a good venue for weddings.

Very nicely located hotel with pretty views and easy to walk to the beach and St Ives town. Our room is absolutely tiny and impossible to walk around the bed you have to climb around each other. You can’t open the wardrobe due to the bed being in the way. The coffee machine is in the wardrobe as there is no other room in the space. It’s a bit silly and should be a single room really and shouldn’t cost £300 a night. It’s very loud as it’s on the road side of the hotel which is very busy all day and night. The room isn’t very clean it has lots of dust and mould in the bathroom. Sadly the shutters do not close fully and so it is not dark at night and the room is overlooked by guests in the bar. The package including breakfast is very stingy unless you pay extra for hot food. May as well do room only and eat somewhere locally that has nice local and homemade produce rather than frozen cakes and sliced white bread.

After many fond visits to St Ives growing up, my mum and I booked a long-anticipated break at the Harbour Hotel, hoping for a luxurious, relaxing stay after an incredibly difficult year. Sadly, the experience was nowhere near what we had hoped for, and we left feeling disappointed, frustrated, and let down. We chose the Harbour Hotel for its reputation and premium price point, expecting top-tier service and clear communication. Upon arrival, however, we were immediately met with confusion. The booking stated that breakfast was included, but we were told that only a continental breakfast was provided, and if we wanted a cooked option, we’d have to pay an additional £10 per person per day. This wasn’t specified during booking and felt misleading. Parking was another unexpected hassle. There was no visible signage, and after circling the area several times, I eventually ran inside to ask where we could park. I was then told I’d need to hand over my car keys to a valet. Again, this was never mentioned during booking. To make matters worse, no photos were taken to document the condition of our car, and access to it was limited unless requested well in advance—an inconvenience that should’ve been made clear ahead of time. Our room brought further issues. The television repeatedly lost signal and showed an error message. I alerted reception twice, and although they claimed maintenance had resolved the issue, it was clear no one had even checked it—the remote hadn’t been touched. Additionally, the housekeeping was unreliable. Despite placing a card on our door daily requesting fresh towels and cleaning, one day we returned from a long, relaxing day at the beach to find that our room had been completely ignored. We called reception, only to be met with a rude response insisting we hadn’t requested cleaning and claiming staff had taken a photo of our door as proof—an unsettling and unnecessary approach, with no attempt to show us the photo or resolve the issue kindly. When we requested towels, they never arrived. Two hours passed, and a second call to reception led to more frustration and argumentative responses. It was clear that customer service was not a priority here, despite the hotel’s premium branding and pricing. The final blow came at checkout, when we were presented with a surprise parking bill—£10 per day. We had explicitly confirmed that parking was included when booking, and even called ahead to secure a space. No mention was made of this additional charge. We don’t like to complain, and all we wanted was a relaxing, restorative holiday. Unfortunately, this experience was stressful and disappointing from start to finish. There were multiple opportunities for the staff to make things right, but none were taken. For the money paid and the expectations set, this stay did not deliver. We will not be returning, and we would not recommend the Harbour Hotel to others seeking a truly relaxing and professional experience.