REVIEW | The Channel View Boutique Hotel in Paignton

June 2022. Making the best of four weeks off, after the Mediterranean cruise for Danny and Mexico for Timothy, we organised a train trip in England. On the menu: Bletchley Park, the night train to Penzance, the Dartmouth Steam Railway and the Isle of Wight. On the last day, we roamed around London to sample the Elizabeth Line.

When first selecting a hotel I already had a sense that the seaside town of Paignton would be underwhelming as there where mostly mediocre hotels on offer. One of the few good looking hotels was The Channel View Boutique Hotel located about halfway in between Paignton and Torquay. It’s located in between the sea and the main railway line.

It is also a family run hotel, it appeared to us that both the owners, Ruth and Peter, where the only ones working there. One of the peculiarities of this is that guests booking through external sites can only check-in to their rooms at 18:00, only people booking directly with the hotel can get a check-in time of 15:00. Another peculiarity is how serious they took the COVID-rules, they are one of the few UK properties left where you are still required to wear a mouth mask when moving through public spaces and actively encouraging to disinfect your hands. They explained this to us that if they caught the disease they would have to close down the hotel and we would have no more place to stay, which is fair enough I can understand that.

As of course we had booked through an external site but arrived quite early after our trip on the Night Riviera, we were able to drop of our heavy backpacks at the hotel but did still have to spend a long time roaming around the somewhat underwhelming town of Paignton.

When we got back in the evening we had a personal check-in with the owner himself, seated in the couches in the communal area with a cup of tea he went through everything we needed to know and fill in. The entire hotel is decorated in a contemporary naval theme, and I really liked the design as it makes the hotel feel much more pleasant and upscale compared to the competition around it, they definably did a great job!

The room itself was at the back side of the hotel, overlooking the railway line instead of a Seaview, but it was the only room with twin beds, which is our preferred choice. It was remarkable how many power plugs (and all with USB plugs) where scattered around the room, we had no stress charging our devices! The room also offered a closet, a small seating area and a desk in the corner.

They provided coffee and tea facilities (with cookies!) and fresh milk available daily.

The bathroom itself was also in a nice condition, offering a bath/shower combination. The shower part of the tub was slightly wider than the rest, looking a bit peculiar.

There where multi-use containers for shampoo and body wash, which had a very nice scent. The bathroom also included a TV, but it was angled so weirdly that it wasn’t very practical to use.

Breakfast in the mornings was served from 8:00 onwards, and you had to fill in your breakfast order the evening before so the hotel doesn’t have any waste.

As we had the Round Robin trip leaving at Paignton station at 9:00 which is quite a far walk we asked if it was possible for an earlier breakfast time, this was only possible without hot items at 7:30 which was a nice gesture and we gladly accepted it. The items on offer where delicious and plentiful so you surely wouldn’t go hungry.

Thursday to Monday evening you can also have dinner at the hotel, it is by far the best option in the area. We had some delicious dishes there and you can choose between the fixed menu items and the dish of the day.

All in all we had a very good stay at The Channel View Boutique hotel in Paignton. We can highly recommend staying there if you are visiting the Torbay region. Do however keep in mind their strict COVID protocols, their strict check-in times and of course the fact that they are adult-only.