My Sister and I stayed at the Queens Hotel over 4 nights. She was attending a Conference and I went along to keep her company. The hotel room was large with a double bed and single bed and faced out onto the Laines. Unfortunately, we also had a well known Gentleman's club and other bars and restaurants to look out at! The room was at the back of the Hotel and far from quite morning or night. Also the hotel windows badly needed cleaning. I would like to say though that the staff were extremely pleasant and helpful in all areas of the hotel. We had meals in the restaurant 3 nights out of the 4 and the menu was basic, but the food tasted lovely. The situation of the Hotel was great for shopping and also a short walk from Brighton's Museum and Art Gallery. As I spent a lot of the time on my own, I felt safe wondering around Brighton. The only time I felt threatened was on the Saturday, when there seemed to be a lot of groups of men wandering around. If you wish to book this Hotel, request a seaview, although it might be still noisy, I don't think it will be quite as noisy as the one we were in.

I stayed in the Queens Hotel this month for a conference for the fourth or fifth time, so I am by now quite familiar with it!

The plus points are the location, which is right on the sea front, within five minutes walking time of the Brighton Centre, 30 seconds' walking time of the Lanes, and about two minutes of the Pier. The rooms I have occupied have always been spacious and the furnishings are to a high standard of design.

The minus points: the location! It can be quite noisy precisely because it is on the sea front. Access for the disabled - this is not good. There are steps in many parts of the hotel, and although the management has installed a wheelchair lift to allow access to the lifts, this only gives access to about two rooms on each floor. Wheelchair access from the outside is via a ramp which was probably never tested out with a real wheelchair when it was made - it looks as if it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to use in practice. And the conference/event facilities in the basement are quite dark and have a number of different levels as well as restricted headroom at one point. Room quality - the hotel makes a big thing of having had a refurbishment in 2005. All I can say is that it wasn't done very well. Bathrooms in particular appear to have been codged together with poor paintwork, ill-fitting bath panels and some odd and original use of the wrong fittings pressed into improvised service for uses they weren't designed for. And window cleaning anywhere other than the windows on the frontages appears (on past experience) to be ignored. Many of the rooms I've had on the landward side of the hotel have had serious salt encrustation. Views from the landward rooms are unspectacular unless you like chimneys and backstreet views. The kettle in my room on this most recent visit would not switch itself off, and had a cord too short to reach the nearest power socket. (On the other hand, the rooms are kept stocked with very good shortbread biscuits, which makes it a winner in my book!)

Car parking and drop-off facilities are very problematical. The area immediately in front of the hotel is uncontrolled, and cars appear to be left there for periods of hours or even days without any indication as to why. Are they disabled guests, cheeky staff or opportunist parkers with no connection to the hotel? Who knows? The hotel takes no steps to limit or control parking on their frontage, or to set out who may or may not use this facility. Even accessing the frontage for pick-up and drop-off can be a problem.

(Other reviewers have commented on the nearest car park, an underground NCP about two minutes away. I prefer to use Regency Square, also on the sea-front but further to the West [beyond the Metropole] and about ten minutes' walk away. Whilst also underground, it is slightly more salubrious -as car parks go - and is also slightly cheaper [£12.75 per 24-hour period]. [Hey, I said 'cheaper', not 'cheap'. The cheap car park is unknown in Brighton.]) Regency Square car park is also handy for Brighton's 'street of a thousand restaurants', Preston Street.)

The health club is popular with local residents., However, a nervous visitor might be concerned at the way in which locals using the health club stroll into the hotel without any indication as to their business, and their street attire might make guests concerned for their own security. They should not be - I have never had any security concerns in this hotel - but it could look off-putting to some.

I find it amusing that this hotel promotes itself as somewhere fashionable and chic. It may appear so on first glance, but closer inspection shows it up as lacking in the details. But the staff are reasonable, the location is good, the quality of food provided is quite good (though the bar is shockingly expensive!!). I do suspect that the hotel gets mistreated by some of its clients, as Brighton feels as if it is tending to move a little down-market compared with previous years.

All in all, I am happy with the Queens and would stay here at my own expense (if I could get the right price!). But i wouldn't call it a superb experience and it would probably not be my first choice if I wanted the visit to be a special experience.

Wow. £160 for a dismal view in a shabby room with mediocre standards. Nothing about this visit said 'quality' or 'luxury' including service, room or breakfast.

I cannot believe they can justify such a hefty price tag on such basic room. Towels threadbare, bathroom poorly lit and the bed squeaked.

Breakfast was equivalent to an industrial canteen with slices of white 'Mother's Pride' bread piled high, tinned fruit and unripe melon as the fresh fruit choice. The staff's only purpose was to clear tables and replenish the giant vats of 'Happy Shopper' tinned tomatoes/baked beans and economy sausages and bacon. Tea and Coffee was help yourself from the giant tea urns on the buffet. Why this couldn't be served was beyond me though I guess it would have interrupted their chatting.

Save your cash. Stay in a student dormitory or a camp site.Either way you will have the same level of luxury.

This is the second year I have attended a conference in the Queens Hotel and once again I was impressed. The location is excellent and it has that lovely Brighton 'wedding cake' exterior. The entrance lobby is nice, the staff very helpful. On both visits I have had a large, spacious room - last year with a sea view and a huge bay window, this year two windows giving a glimpse of the sea and a lovely view of The Lanes. Bed large and comfortable and I like the cow-hide bolster! Large flat screen TV, plenty of desk and storage space, free wi-fi. I am a vegetarian and the meals provided were excellent. A colleague required kosher meals and these were sourced and delivered much to her delight. Bathrooms perfectly adequate - perhaps shower could be more powerful but in the driest part of the UK a bit less water pressure is no real problem. I like it a lot and hope to return.