Latest Review of Leonardo Southampton Grand Harbour Hotel

I know many of you book pre-cruise hotels in Southampton. This is one we stayed in in August 2022.

The Leonardo Southampton Grand Harbour hotel is in a very convenient location, both for the cruise port which is a five-ten minute walk depending on your terminal, and for shops and restaurants in West Quay which is practically on the doorstep.

Whilst the building and reception are quite dated, the rooms (particularly the Executive Rooms) have been given an update and are quite contemporary.

We were looking for accommodation in Southampton for our press trip to Enchanted Princess for the premiere of their new production show, “Spotlight Bar”. As we needed some R&R, I decided to find a spa hotel with a nice pool for a couple of days. I did some research and found the Leonardo Southampton Grand Harbour Hotel on offer on Secret Escapes, a members-only travel club offering discounted luxury hotel breaks. The offer was £100 cheaper than Booking.com for two nights B&B in a Superior Room with Balcony and access to spa and pool. I booked it on the spot, knowing that it was part of the same group as well-known Jury’s Inn, and that Secret Escape selected the best hotels..

Parking

Prior to arriving at the hotel, I emailed to ask about parking arrangements. Guests Relations responded that there was onsite parking at £14 for 24 hours and that payment was at machine in the carpark payable by coin or card. When we arrived we were about to pay at the machine when we saw signs instructing hotel guests to use the payment machines within the hotel. When we checked in we were told to key in our registration number at a terminal on the front desk, and handed an information sheet saying parking was discounted to £7 - glad we hadn’t followed the original instructions. It is worth checking out any Cruise and Stay packages they may have if you are driving.

First Impressions

The exterior of the hotel is quite harsh concrete and glass reminiscent of a hospital - possibly Brutalist architecture like the Barbican or our old secondary school in Pimlico, now demolished. The reception area looks a little more opulent, but dated with its 80s dark wood. A nice touch is a welcome table with glass urns of fruit-infused water, containers of apples, oranges and bananas and, randomly, containers of popcorn. The concierge was jovial, and welcomed each guest on arrival. Check-in itself was efficient and we were directed to our room on the 4th floor.

First Impressions - Our Superior Room

On entering the room, we were underwhelmed by the stretch of dated, varnished, honey-coloured wooden wardrobes, but were pleasantly surprised as we walked forward into the bedroom itself which appeared to have been recently refurbished. There was a king sized bed dressed with crisp white bedding with plenty of pillows, backed by a contemporary navy-blue geometric patterned wallpaper. The carpet seemed quite new also, and was a good quality in navy and grey. There was an on-trend tripod standard lamp and a modern desk, plus tea and coffee making facilities.

Patio doors opened onto a balcony overlooking backstreets behind the hotel, I was a little disappointed not to have a harbour view, given that it was supposed to be a superior room, but accepted that I hadn’t actually checked that when I booked. The compact bathroom consisted of a bath with shower over, a bog-standard loo (excuse the pun) and a black marble-effect vanity unit.

We had brought some fizz with us but realised there was no fridge or mini-bar in the room, surprising for a 4 Star hotel, especially in a superior room. At least there was air-conditioning although initially there were some error messages and it took a while to override them and get it working.

We were disappointed to notice that cleaners had missed a sock/clingfilm covering the smoke detector (apparently an established trick of smokers), and a few small suspect items under the bed but this was swiftly dealt with once reported. In fact we were immediately given an upgrade to an executive room.

Executive Room

Our new room was much improved: the wooden wardrobes had been given a coat of grey paint, we had a Super-King bed, bathrobes, a side table, tripod standard lamp and two contemporary blue-grey occasional chairs. There was also a furnished balcony with harbour view for my ship-watching.

Obviously we checked everywhere, as our first impressions from our previous experience had cast doubt on the cleanliness of the hotel in general. The upgraded room was almost spotless The bathroom had had a glow up, although the shower had obviously not been replaced, and it still had the original plastic shower head. The shower itself lacked any power and the temperature changed, presumably when others using water elsewhere.

The ‘Spa’

The Spa is on the Mezzanine floor and we signed in at the desk and had to request towels. We were then given a code to use on the changing room doors, through which we could access the pool. When we exited the other side of the changing rooms, instead of being poolside as we imagined, we found ourselves on a small landing at the top of a wide metal spiral staircase. You need to take care when using the metal stairs as water pools on them as people go back and forth to the changing rooms. Poolside there were several loungers (no cushions). We had unwittingly timed our visit with children’s swimming lessons so the pool was really busy.

Leonardo Southampton Grand Harbour Hotel - Only route down to swimming pool is via this metal spiral staircase.

We always shower before entering swimming pools out of courtesy to fellow swimmers, but there were no showers poolside, therefore we had to go back up to the changing rooms to use the showers there. This meant we had to come back down the staircase soaking wet, adding to the ever-growing puddles on the treads and risking slipping.

It wasn’t the most luxurious ‘spa’ pool we have used but possibly the treatment rooms are more so.

Dining

The breakfast was good and the efficient restaurant staff kept the hot food replenished. There was a proper coffee machine for your favourite brew, fresh fruit, a limited continental section but a good full English. The breakfast room doubles as Celebrity-chef Restaurant Marco Pierre White’s Steakhouse in the evening, which we didn’t sample.

Summary

For location the hotel is hard to beat, but there are signs of wear and tear in public areas, and we personally had some issues with cleanliness in our first room. The spa was disappointing, so if this is of importance to you, do more research.

I understand that there is a programme of refurbishment planned for the hotel, plus ongoing enhanced training for new cleaning staff which will go a long way to improving things.

Breakfast was good but I cannot comment on the Marco Pierre White restaurant as we didn’t sample it.

Would we Return?

The hotel has a lot of happy returning guests and you should check out their reviews on Tripadvisor. However, as a result of a few issues we had, which sullied our view of the hotel somewhat, we would probably choose elsewhere (for luxury & spa probably the 5 Star Southampton Harbour Hotel & Spa; for location and ship watching the Holiday Inn is hard to beat and for a fun vibe The Moxy).

Review - Leonardo Southampton Grand Harbour Hotel

Leonardo Southampton Grand Harbour

This is a review of the Leonardo Southampton Grand Harbour hotel - not to be confused with the excellent 5 Star Southampton Harbour Hotel & Spa