We stayed at the Arrandale for 3 nights in a superior double room. I was a little surprised by the hotel after reading the excellent reviews as we thought it was in need of a thorough redecoration and modernisation - it seemed to be stuck in the 1970s. Our room overlooking the bay was large but let down by the awful suspended ceiling tiles - the sort found in offices fitting into a gridded framework, which you can poke up and out with a broomhandle - several had broken edges and one was stained with water ingress. The decoration was let down by poor attention to detail - the skirting boards were just painted planks, not shaped skirting, for example. The bedhead was screwed to the wall with the divan unit pushed up against it. The furniture was a bit tatty with bits cut out of the wardrobe where it had once been fitted into another room, and with only two drawers available in the dressing table storage space was inadequate for anything but a short break. There was an almost empty fridge in the room containing only a tray of half a dozen or so olives - priced at £2 - which baffled us completely. The bathroom was let down by the provision of a small hand sink, of the size normally found in a toilet, rather than one of a sufficient size to actually get a wash in, which there was adequate room to acommodate. No face cloths were provided, nor shower caps.
The owners were helpful and friendly throughout. The cooked breakfast was good with good choice, but cereals were limited and there was no fruit available. The room was very clean and the bed comfortable but some aspects of service let them down - on arrival there was only half a toilet roll and no spare, when this was used we expected it would be sorted but although the tube was taken away we were left with none at all! A towel put in the shower for replacement (as per the bathroom notice) was put back on the rack to dry, not renewed.
It is difficult to recommend the Arrandale but the problem with the Isle of Man, from experience of 20 years of visits, is that the standard of accommodation in Douglas is universally poor, even by the standard of faded seaside resorts. The owners are usually friendly but they have not kept pace with the changing demands and expectations of visitors. They get away with this owing to high demand during TT fortnight when anywhere with a roof can get bookings a year in advance. In the light of this the Arrandale is no worse than your average Douglas B&B - you could certainly do worse but you will struggle to do much better. The bottom line is that if you're looking for something special you're probably in the wrong town to start with.
