Grand Burstin Hotel

The hotel’s 550 guest rooms all have a TV, tea and coffee making facilities, ironing facilities and en suite bathrooms. However, the furnishings are old and the beds are hard and uncomfortable. Some of the cheaper rooms have no windows but the more expensive rooms have balconies and sea views, some of them with views of the White Cliffs of Dover.

Although there are some signs of maintenance being undertaken throughout the property, it needs a lot more attention than what it is getting. Other reviews of this hotel mention that it is falling apart and that is literally true. A large section of the hotel’s wall collapsed in November 2022 landing on a parked coach and leading to two people being rushed to hospital with head injuries. This is something that should never happen at any hotel, regardless of how cheap it is.

The hotel’s public areas include a ballroom, which is often used for bingo, a lounge bar, with a mish-mash of seating options and the Victoria Restaurant. The restaurant looks nicer than the rest of the hotel and it would even be considered fancy if the hotel was maintained properly. While the food won’t win any awards, at least the food and drinks are cheap.

Some of the public areas around the hotel have claw machines like you would find in an amusement arcade, which makes the hotel look even cheaper and tackier than it already is.

Free Wi-Fi wireless internet access is available in the hotel’s public areas but you have to pay £7 per 24-hour period per device if you want Wi-Fi access in your room.

The hotel has a good location near the harbour. From here you can walk to the Folkestone Harbour Arm in around five minutes, with a further 5–10 minutes to the lighthouse at the end. Most other points of interest in Folkestone are no more than a 5–10-minute walk in the other direction.

Car parking is available but it costs £5 per 24-hour period and you need to pay for your parking as soon as you check in, otherwise you risk getting a fine. If you can, try to park above ground as the underground car park feels a little eerie with unmarked spaces and random areas used for storage.