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Isle of Wight Hotels - a beginner's guide

If you aren't travelling with a rabble of children, animals and other hangers-on then might consider an Isle of Wight hotel for your holiday. Of course, there are families who stay in hotels but I can only assume they are less raucous and embarrassing than mine - and that's just the wife...bazzzing!

Ahem. Anyway, here's our beginner's guide to the Isle of Wight's hotels for those grown-up visitors who are able to enjoy lie-ins, leisurely breakfasts and evening meals later than 4.45pm...

Lakeside Park in Wootton is one of the posher hotels on the Isle of Wight

"Is there a good choice of Isle of Wight hotels?"

By my guesstimate, there are about 100 hotels on the Isle of Wight, or many more if you start including B&Bs and the like.

However, there are far fewer chain hotels than you will find on the mainland, with big names like Marriott, Hilton, Mercure, Jurys Inn and Holiday Inn not having any presence at all on the Isle of Wight.

You might see that as a positive or a negative, but there are certainly loads of highly rated independent hotels and guest houses as well as a handful of chain Isle of Wight hotels to consider.

There are loads of independent hotels, like The Hambrough in Ventnor

"I'd prefer a chain hotel - what are my options on the Isle of Wight?"

Chain hotel options on the Isle of Wight are admittedly a bit limited, but there are currently eight by my counting.

Maybe there's a 500 bed skyscraper Hilton Hotel in Chale that I've never noticed, but I don't think there is. Contact me if I've missed any...

Travelodge is in Newport and Ryde town centres. Newport is not an especially scenic location (it's inland, so no sea views), but it's good for getting around and has plenty of eating out options if you don't fancy anything more adventurous than Prezzo and McDonalds on your Isle of Wight holiday. Ryde's Travelodge opened in 2015 and is convenient for Wightlink's passenger ferry or for the Hovercraft. Ryde has plenty to do, but in my view isn't as pretty as some Isle of Wight towns and villages. As you are no-doubt aware, Travelodge offers a simple place to stay without many frills and is cheaper if you book further in advance. You could walk to either Travelodge from their respective bus stations.

There are two Travelodge hotels on the Isle of WIght, including this one in Newport

Premier Inn has three Isle of Wight hotels. The Sandown seafront Premier Inn is the newest and it has terrific sea views. The 'Merrie Gardens' hotel is pretty new and is between Aldi and Morrisons in Lake. It's well placed for getting to the busy resorts of Shanklin and Sandown, but you won't get a sea view so I'd see it more as a base rather than somewhere you will spend your days reading the paper and falling asleep in a comfy chair. The Premier Inn in Newport is alongside a river in the middle of the Island on the Isle of Wight Festival site so is a bit more picturesque but is further from the coast.

Newport's Premier Inn is on the river

Warner Leisure has two hotels called Bembridge Coast Hotel and Norton Grange Coastal Village which is in Yarmouth. They are both only open to adults, so that will either be bliss or inconvenient depending on your point of view. Both are very well equipped and are more like resorts than just hotels. They've got things like swimming pools, various sports and evening entertainment. My feeling from the marketing is that they are particularly popular with baby-boomers. We've done a fabulous comparison of Warner Leisure's two Isle of Wight resorts which includes more detail than a government enquiry and was much less expensive to produce.

Bembridge Coast Hotel is a popular hotel with older groups

Best Western has a hotel in Cowes called New Holmwood Hotel. As you're probably aware, Best Western is a looser chain than Travelodge or Premier Inn so there's more variation in their different hotels. This one gets good reviews and is on the seafront.

The New Holmwood is a Best Western Hotel with a view

So, for those travellers who want to know exactly what they are likely to get, there are a few options. It certainly isn't true that there is only 'one main hotel' which is what a member of staff in a McDonalds off the M40 told my wife recently (yes, I was also puzzled how ordering a Filet O' Fish turned into a discussion about Isle of Wight hotels).

"I can't stand chain hotels, I want an Isle of Wight hotel with character..."

You might feel that if you are travelling on holiday to stay in a chain hotel and then eating all your meals in chain restaurants that you might as well stay at home.

If you want something a little more authentic to the Isle of Wight, then I'd consider one of the sizeable number of Isle of Wight hotels which are small, independently run guest houses. Don't assume these are all doilies and ancient crockery - lots of them have very modern decor and get top ratings on TripAdvisor.

The hoteliers I've met are also very passionate about what they do, so if you pick carefully you'll have a local expert on hand rather than a 16-year-old who would rather be at the beach with his friends.

There is a mass concentration of these independent guest houses and hotels around Shanklin. Some streets are almost entirely guest houses with bay windows. However, there are also plenty around Sandown, Ryde and Ventnor (see our guide to which town to stay in for a bit more guidance).

So far, we've compiled guides to some of the best reviewed hotels in Shanklin, Newport and Cowes and will one day get around to doing similar guides for other towns (don't hold me to that, I've got a toddler pulling at my arm as I speak).

Anyway, for what it's worth here are the top 5 hotels and guest houses in the main Isle of Wight seaside towns, according to TripAdvisor in September 2021:

Deckchairs on Shanklin beach towards Luccombe

(Usually) sunny Shanklin is home to loads of independent guest houses

Shanklin's 5 best hotels

Haven Hall Hotel (outdoor swimming pool) ** - posh hotel with a small number of rooms and an outdoor swimming pool
Rowborough Hotel - guest house a short walk from the coastal path
Hambledon Hotel - guest house, five minutes walk to the esplanade
The Chestnuts - nine bedroom guest house, five minutes walk to the beach
The Swiss Cottage - guest house, eight minutes from the beach

Haven Hall in Shanklin is highly rated

Sandown's 5 Best Hotels

The Wight - hotel with indoor swimming pool, two minutes walk to the beach
Trouville Hotel - large seafront hotel
Broadway Park Hotel - hotel with outdoor swimming pool. 10 minute walk to the beach
Wight Bay Hotel - hotel, three minutes walk to the beach
The Sandhill - guest house, eight minute walk to the beach

The Trouville on the seafront has terrific sea views

Ventnor's 5 Best Hotels

Hillside Hotel** - posh, 12 room guesthouse with sea views, 10 minute walk to the beach
The Royal Hotel** - large, historic and posh hotel with outdoor swimming pool, 3 minute walk to the beach
The Hambrough** - small, posh hotel with sea views, two minute walk to the beach
St Augustine Villa/Harbour View Hotel - seafront guest house
Eversley Hotel - B&B with outdoor swimming pool, five minutes to the beach

The Hillside Hotel is a small hotel, but it's popular with reviewers

Cowes' 5 BEst Hotels

Best Western New Holmwood Hotel - seafront chain hotel
North House - small posh hotel with outdoor swimming pool
Villa Rothsay Hotel - 14 bedroom hotel with a tennis court
Albert Cottage Hotel** - historic hotel which is actually in East Cowes, on the other side of the river
The Fountain Inn - pub with some accommodation, near to the foot passenger ferry

Albert Cottage Hotel has royal connections

Ryde's 5 Best Hotels

Travelodge Ryde - budget big chain hotel
Ryde Castle Hotel - Greene King pub with 11 bedrooms
Lakeside Park Hotel and Spa** - large and classy hotel with indoor swimming pool and lake views. It's actually in Wootton rather than Ryde
Royal Esplanade Hotel - large hotel near to the beach and travel connections
Appley Manor Hotel - mid-sized hotel, 15 minute walk to the beach

Travelodge in Ryde isn't an exciting choice - but reviews are very good

*A few caveats to this... I ranked them according to TripAdvisor's 'traveller ranked' criteria. It's also worth noting that a town like Shanklin has many hotels with 5 out of 5 which don't make the top 5, so don't overlook them. Also, I didn't look at rural locations outside of the main towns and went on TripAdvisor's classification of a 'hotel'.
**These hotels are included in our guide to the really posh luxury hotels so are likely to be more expensive.

"Guest houses aren't really my thing, I'm looking for a bit of pampering from my Isle of Wight hotel..."

I'd say there's a choice of about 10 or 15 Isle of Wight hotels which I'd consider 'luxury'. My advice would be to plump for one of these if you are organising your Isle of Wight accommodation as a surprise, rather than enduring the look of disdain when you arrive at a campsite with your wife in November.

If you want a larger luxury hotel with onsite facilities then I'd try:

Lakeside Spa in Wootton
The Royal Hotel in Ventnor
Bembridge Coast Hotel also has loads of facilities, but doesn't have quite as many stars or rosettes or whatever it is they have on hotels nowadays

If you'd prefer a luxury hotel which is a bit more of a small boutique hotel or spa then your options include:

Haven Hall Hotel in Shanklin
The Hambrough in Ventnor
Hillside Hotel in Ventnor
Seaview Hotel (in Seaview, surprisingly)
Albert Cottage Hotel near East Cowes which has links to Queen Victoria.

You can find out more about the Isle of Wight's luxury hotels in our guide.

Ventnor's Royal Hotel on the Isle of Wight

Ventnor is home to the Royal Hotel - one of the poshest Isle of Wight hotels

"I'm on a tight budget, which is the cheapest Isle of Wight hotel?"

We did a comparison to find the cheapest place to stay on the Isle of Wight...and we concluded that hotels are not the cheapest option per person. We concluded that camping at a campsite such as Whitecliff Bay was the cheapest accommodation option on the Isle of Wight, if you exclude things like a house swap or house sitting which isn't practical for most people. Holiday parks also worked out as good value for a larger family.

The big chain hotels like Travelodge and Premier Inn came out as the cheapest Isle of Wight hotels in our very limited study. They certainly have the potential to offer the cheapest hotel accommodation on the Isle of Wight with offers frequently popping up for rooms as cheap as £20 or £30 per night, but only if you book long in advance and generally off-peak. Nearer the time they can actually be amongst the most expensive hotels on the Isle of Wight.

Independent hotels and B&Bs worked out as more expensive in our very limited study, but that wasn't really a fair comparison as their prices fluctuate less wildly than the chain hotels.

My advice would be to start with a search for Isle of Wight hotels via Expedia or a similar website and then filter by price.

Perhaps not wise for a surprise romantic break

"I'm looking for an Isle of Wight hotel with disabled access"

I've not been out to inspect places which offer disabled access or adapted facilities, but a couple to get you started:

Premier Inn in Lake, Sandown and Newport (they have 'universally accessible rooms' according to the website blurb and they have a detailed disabled access guide here)

Travelodge in Newport and Ryde (they have 'double twin accessible' rooms though they recommend contacting the hotel first to find out what's available). A few people on TripAdvisor mention that the entrance to the hotel is very steep.

Please note: I'm wary of recommending any one hotel for accessibility as one person's needs will be different to another's. Anyway, that's enough apologising, just don't send me angry emails...

There are more suggestions of places to stay for people with a disability in this guide.

The-Isle-of-Wight-Guru-Don't-Blame-Us-Disclaimer™ The information on this website is correct, as far as we know, but please do check directly if you are planning a long journey - and please contact us if you find anything inaccurate.