The Ocean Hotel is the new hotel at the Butlins Bognor Regis Resort.
The bedrooms are modern, spacious and brightly coloured while the reception area is uncluttered, clean and airy. We stayed in one of the Atlantis Rooms which have a comfy king sized bed and two full sized single beds as well as a balcony looking out over the sea. The two single beds are in their own den with a separate TV and there is plenty of storage space. The lighting in the room is fun with the lights above the bed changing colour. The bathroom is lovely - all modern and white. There's a fantastic power shower and a nice big bath with another spotlight above it which changes colour.
We were on the dinner, bed, breakfast deal so had breakfast every morning in the Kaleidoscope restaurant in the hotel and a three course meal in the evenings, although we could have chosen to eat in a few other restaurants on the Butlins site. For dinner, there is a choice of starters which are brought to your table, the main course is a buffet as is dessert. Each night the food on the buffet was different and there was a good variety, including vegetarian options. The breakfast buffet included cooked breakfast, cereals, fruit and croissants. I was looking forward to having a croissant as I never have them at home but for some reason they were kept in the refrigerated section so were a bit too stale to eat. Other than that, the food was tasty and you could eat as much as you wanted.
The Ocean Hotel has its own spa where you can relax and even have a treatment if you like. We really enjoyed the two hours we spent in the spa. Like the rest of the hotel, the spa is very modern and bright and it wasn't too crowded so we had the chance to use all of the facilities - the disco shower, hydro pool, sauna, hot tub, heated loungers..... The only part of the spa we didn't like was the snow cave. It was just too cold and the floor was slippery from the compacted snow! The spa provides magazines for you to read and you can even order cocktails which are brought through to you. The spa isn't included in the price of your room but it's definitely worth treating yourself!
Staying in the Ocean Hotel gives you access to everything in the Butlins complex. There's loads to do, especially for children with puppet shows, kids clubs, play areas, outdoor activities and, of course, the swimming pool. The pool has lots of slides, a wave machine and a baby area. The changing room is big enough and there are plenty of showers. You can also walk along the sea front into Bognor Regis or, if it's warm enough, spend the day on the beach.
Unfortunately, while we were staying at the Ocean Hotel somebody fell ill with Norovirus. We were really impressed with how well the hotel coped with this. Hand sanitisers were placed around the hotel, a letter was delivered to our room which explained how we could avoid getting norovirus and what to do if we did think we were ill and all of the staff in the restaurant wore plastic gloves. We weren't allowed to serve ourselves at the buffet (the staff served us) and everything such as salt, pepper and menus were taken off the tables to minimise the chances of it spreading. Well done to Butlins for coping so well with what must have been a bit of a nightmare for them.
The Ocean Hotel is probably suited more to families with older children with the Shoreline Hotel being perfect for families with babies and really little ones. The Ocean is a lovely hotel which we would definitely visit again and which we would highly recommend.
Helena Carr & Co.
July 2011
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