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All reviews the baby listening service bouncy castle contemporary suite excellent family hotel kids club zip wire indoor pool soft play body boards watergate bay family holiday surf shack table tennis no lift families with young children sea view crazy golf
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Reviewed August 6, 2018 via mobile

We booked Sands because we wanted a hotel from which we could explore Cornwall easily, that had good facilities and childcare for our young children and which could provide accommodation that would allow us to all stay together, but not have to sleep in the same room - Sands had all this and good reviews, so we booked it expecting it to be very child-centric (as we have discovered our holidays need to be these days) but in doing so to make our holiday more enjoyable because the kids would be happy!

On entering the building, however, I was very pleasantly surprised to be in a large, calm, recently-refurbished (or at least it looked it) nautical-themed reception area, and despite it being a Saturday was able to walk straight up to the desk and check-in (slightly earlier than the check-in time). On making our way up to our room, again the decor was in keeping with the hotel's position, all clean and tidy, and despite there being no lift it was easy to carry our luggage up the stairs (we were offered assistance in doing so by reception). We had booked a Comfort Suite for the two-room option, and the fact it came with a restricted sea view was a bonus, but not essential to us. However, walking into our room (which was much bigger than we expected it to be) and seeing what we would class as an unrestricted sea view through our floor to ceiling windows had us grinning with delight. And the holiday continued in that vein.

I can't fault anything about Sands. The children's facilities (trim trail / park, zip wire, maze, bouncy castle, toddler-friendly park, tennis, basketball, bug hotel, ping pong, table football, soft play, children's clubs (morning and evening) and evening entertainment) were all well-thought out and in good condition. The hotel was always clean and tidy inside. The grounds were well kept. The gym was well-equipped and air-conditioned. The pools were clean and the indoor one was lovely and warm, with a separate area that our pre-schooler could splash around in. Mealtimes were easy, with a table always ready for us, plenty of food at the buffet and numerous options to choose from (for us and the children) - the quality of the food was excellent. And the surfshack was great for hiring out wetsuits and bodyboards.

And last but certainly not least, the employees: all friendly, helpful, welcoming, efficient. If you approached reception about something for the room, it was generally seen to within 15 minutes. Booking tickets for the Eden Project through reception was easy. Booking children's clubs straightforward, and the childcare manager was happy to talk through the format of the clubs and happily talked to my son as we lwere booking him in.

The only (very minor) thing that I would change is the breakfast coffee. The free stuff is not great (you do have the opportunity to purchase a 'proper' coffee, which is delicious). I had become hardened to it by the end of the week, but a decent filter coffee at breakfast in the morning would be hugely appreciated after a 6am wake-up with the kids.

So, if you got this far (or just skimmed to the end), in summary: the kids loved it, we loved it, their grandparents loved it, and we will be returning next year.

Date of stay: August 2018
Trip type: Traveled with family
Thank I_love_globetrotting
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Reviewed August 5, 2018

After looking forward to trip for ages and hoping the hotel would be as good as on internet we were not disappointed. Stunning sea view bedroom with extra large comfy king size bed, nice duvet and pillows. A French window over looked the sea and we slept with the curtains and window open listening to the waves. Coming into the bedrooms from the hall way you entered a bedroom with two single beds and a cot, there was a to and DVD player in this room too, it lead through to a passageway where there was loads of storage shelves, tea and coffee making facilities and a small fridge, the bathroom was here too. There was a safe in the room, although it looked like you needed a key, but there was no information at all regarding its use. We had three course evening meals which were fantastic. The breakfast buffet was very good we went early as later on it did get a bit busy with families with small children ( although they had their own seating are). There was ping pong, crazy golf, playpark, zip wire, bouncy castle, maze ,outdoor pool with loads of loungers and also indoor pool. All the decor was spot on and gave the hotel a fresh holiday feel. Thanks

Date of stay: August 2018
Thank Birdfromblighty
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Reviewed August 5, 2018

We stayed for 4 nights and had a very pleasant time. The room was big with a double bed and a three single beds in a different room. The view was exceptional.
The staff very friendly and motivated. One night a duo from Newquay was entertaining : great musicians ! The music quiz another night was fun but difficult.
The food was good. Nice surrounding for a walk just across the street.Good place for exploring all the lovely places around Newquay.

Date of stay: July 2018
  • Trip type: Traveled with family
    • Location
    • Sleep Quality
    • Service
Thank mott04
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Reviewed August 2, 2018

Rooms: Pretty big, clean, everything is how it's supposed to be, but not much more than that. Bathroom was surprisingly big, but the bath was rather small. Be careful with the shower: sometimes the water becomes really hot out of nowhere. In all the hallways with rooms you must be careful that small kids don't get lost.

Facilities: The pools are nice, but the outside one is pretty small. That's fine though, because most of the time it isn't warm enough to swim outside anyway.
The gym is big and has a lot of different machines to use.
The spa is very nice, offers lots of different treatments. The teenage treatment doesn't really do anything, but that's okay.
We didn't use the kidsclub, but heard it was nice, it looked fun and the supervisors looked kind and enthusiastic.
The sports facilities are fine. Only one tenniscourt, were you need to make sure you have a reservation, otherwise it'll be full. We didn't really use the other facilities.
The game room was a nice surprise for my eight-year-old, but several machines were out of order.

Food & restaurant: The breakfast assortment isn't that big, but it is pretty good. The bacon isn't baked or fried properly, but the rest is fine.
Dinner is really nice. A new menu every night, with lots of tasteful meals. You do have to pay extra for drinks, but they are very reasonably priced. I actually do think a lot of the food is pre-cooked, because of the short windows of time witchin they would have been able to cook the food. I don't really mind though, because you can barely taste that.

The location is great! Beach near, village near, and a lot of their own suggestions of things to do were also close by.

Room tip: For better accessibility try to book a room with lower room-number, cause they tend to be way closer.
Date of stay: August 2018
Trip type: Traveled with family
Thank lurrybol
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Reviewed August 1, 2018 via mobile

Very nice and friendly staff. Clean and pleasant hotel. Food at the restaurant was not as nice (ordered a carbonara dish) tasted really bad. But they gave me a refund. Our room had no air conditioner which was very uncomfortable, and had very small TV screen.

Date of stay: July 2018
Trip type: Traveled with family
2  Thank SolangeDom
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
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