Some Frequently Asked Questions & Answers

What time is check in and check out?

Check in is any time between 3.00pm & 11.00pm, 7 days a week.

Check out is by 11am the following day.

Quite often people are coming to stay with us because they are going to weddings in the area and need to check in earlier. We cannot guarantee an earlier check in but we will always try and accommodate, just give us a call to discuss your requirements.

In some case, we may be able to give you a spare key earlier in the day (i.e. before your wedding reception) so that you can arrive in your own time after the reception.

You can also read a more detailed response to this question on our blog.

What are your meal times?

We serve breakfast from 07:30 – 09:00 Monday to Friday. And from 08:30 – 10:00 at the weekends.

Evening meals are served from 18:30 – 20:00.

If you wish to eat outside of these times, we can provide you with a list of local restaurants in the area, who are normally serving much earlier and later.

Is it necessary to book a table for dinner?

We are not open to non–residents so it's not really necessary to book for dinner.

If you would like to let us know your plans that could be useful, especially if a large number of you would like to eat at the same time. Otherwise, just let us know when you'd like to come down, or place your order.

I am not staying at the hotel but can we come along for a drink or a meal?

Sorry no. We do allow one or two guests of our guests to come along for a drink. However, many of our travellers actually prefer that our bar and restaurant is closed to non-guests, enabling them to relax in comfort.

Is the hotel suitable for business travellers?

Absolutely, as well as predominatly leisure travellers at the weekends, the majority of our weekday guests are in the area on business and we have many returning business customers - both men and women.

Does the hotel have internet access?

Yes, free wireless internet access is available throughout the hotel. We have wireless routers on each floor, and the current password can be provided at reception on arrival.

For the security of all our guests, this is a WPA-2 connection, so if you're trying to access some types of VPN (Virtual Private Network), unfortunately this often is not be possible via our wireless connection.

We can however often provide you with a hard-wired connection to your room on request, but this may be slightly limited by the length of the network cable available to the socket in your room.

Are children or pets allowed to stay in the hotel?

Unfortunately not (however well behaved they may be). You can read more about this through our blog post.

One of the reasons our hotel is so popular is the chance for our guests to escape from their daily schedule. Particularly our leisure travellers often come to stay with us, to temporarily ease the commitments of their children.

Pets are also unable to join you at the hotel for reasons of health and hygiene (although we do have a couple of rabbits securely kept in their own Wendy House outside, in our private courtyard area, but these are not for petting, nor do they have access to the hotel itself).

Do you offer the rooms for daytime lets?

As we get aircrew staying with us from the nearby Farnborough airfield, we try to make our rooms available for daytime lets.

The cost is still the same price as our normal overnight rate, and is typically only subject to availability on the day itself (you cannot pre-book a day let, unless you book both the night before, and the night after at our usual rates).

We of course still need to clean the rooms from the night before, and in preparation for the night after, and with only 8 rooms of course this can be a challenge in the limited time available.

Can you do me a deal on the room rate?

Unfortunately, we are contractually bound not to offer discounts to our rooms rates, from those published on our website. Our prices are fixed at the rates shown, at all times.

As you can see from our published rates, we do offer a saving to our rate for our Suites for weekday checkouts. Otherwise, all doubles and luxury doubles are available at £95 or £115 per night respectively.

We don't offer discounts for booking a year in advance, nor do we charge extra for booking at the last minute. (For these reasons, our prices do often work out cheaper than the large chains).

Don't forget though, that our standard rooms rates include all of the following at no additional costs:

Free Broadband WiFi for our guests, throughout the hotel (often charged at £15 per day at other hotels)
Free incoming direct dial telephone line to your room.
Free outgoing calls to 01, 02, and 03 numbers, directly from your room.*
A free, freshly cooked to order breakfast, from a variety of options (including smoked salmon, full English, porridge, bacon sandwiches, etc.)
A wide choice of free Teas, Coffee, Latte, Cappuccino, Espresso, Hot Chocolate, biscuits, yogurts, cheese, etc. throughout your stay.
Fine Egyptian Cotton Bed Linen, on all beds.
Powerful showers in all rooms, with baths in a few too.
Great staff.

*Please be aware that only the first 30 minutes of outgoing calls are free.

Is there a car park at the hotel?

Yes we have a car park at the hotel which is free to our overnight residents. There is however only one parking space available per room.

Which rooms have Love Swings?

This was a feature first only added to two rooms, but it became so popular with our leisure travellers, that it was rolled out to all other available rooms too.

Our Mirrors & Lace (our smallest 'Standard Double' room) is the only room without a Love Swing.

All other rooms have a swing discretely stored in a plain box under the bed or under the wardrobe. If you don't want to use it, you don't have to, and it won't leap out of the box by itself!

What about the local rumours for Hotel de Vie?

We are a small, professional, regular hotel. However, through working very hard, listening to our guests, and doing all we can to ensure the staff are as good as they can be, we are now independently reviewed as the number one accommodation in the area, by more guests than any other in the area. This seems to have upset some of the larger accommodation venues, who now seem out to tarnish our good name.

We are also closed to non-residents, but that is for our own guests comfort and safety, rather than any other reason.

We do not discriminate our guests, based on race, religion, sexuality, etc. and we welcome guests from a very wide variety of backgrounds.

Unfortunately though, a number of gossips in the local area have spread a particular myth about the hotel, and by the nature of rumour, it has been added to, exaggerated, and manipulated. We are now trying hard to undo this popular misconception, through a series of face-to-face discussions, open house events, and press coverage. We hope the slanderous comments will cease soon.

Is the hotel available for private parties?

It certainly is. This is an increasingly popular choice of use for our hotel.

Many people have now used Hotel de Vie to celebrate various special occasions, from birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, family get-togethers, and the occasional wake.

We can comfortably cater buffets for up to 50 people (with advanced notice of course), and accommodate up to 8 couples (16 people) overnight with breakfast in our various rooms & suites.

Please contact us for a visit to the hotel, and for further details.

Essentially, if you book all 8 rooms (at around £1,000), you will have secured the exclusive use of the hotel.

What is your cancellation policy?

Our normal cancellation policy is 48 hours but is can be longer for block bookings, or on special events. Please review our Terms and Conditions for further information.

Do you have smoking rooms at the hotel?

All rooms are provided as non-smoking at Hotel de Vie, and there is no smoking anywhere in the hotel, nor within 6 foot of any open doors or windows.

We do have a smoking area outside the hotel in our own private well lit courtyard.

Smoking anywhere within the building (including hanging out of a window) is now illegal, and as we do have to close out the room for at least a couple of days after, all guests agreements include acceptance of a minimum £300 cleaning charge should you decide to smoke anywhere in the hotel (and we do make this charge!).

The hotel has some mildly erotic artwork on the walls...

We do occasionally get comments in relation to the art-work on our walls, however, comparing our more modern artwork to countless older 'classic' paintings and sculptures, we are very mild (as can been seen from our photos throughout the website).

Generally people describe our hotel as luxurious and tastefully decorated.

Please review our galleries to get a better understanding for yourself. What you see is 'as bad as it gets'.

Can we have breakfast in bed?

A full breakfast service is available for guests staying in the Scarlet Suite only.

For all other guests, tea, coffee, juices and bacon, egg or sausage sandwiches can be served in your room.

Otherwise, we have an eating area downstairs for residents, and you're welcome to come down and eat in your dressing gowns if you prefer.

What facilities do you have for disabled guests?

Unfortunately as a small hotel expanded around a private residence built in the 1930s, HdV has limited provisions for disabled guests. Please check any specific requirements, before booking.

If we can assist in any other way though, please do let us know.

For a basic initial summary, please review the following.

Guests with Hearing Impairments:: We do not have induction loops fitted in the hotel.; The fire alarm is sound only.; We are not yet able to communicate effectively in BSL or similar.
Guests with Visual Impairments:: We do not currently have any of our paperwork, signage, or equipment available in brail (although large print formats can be normally provided upon advanced request, and/or dictated verbally as required).; There are some small slopes and steps around the hotel, which are not typically marked with highly contrasting colours.; Due to the age of the building, not all floors are completely even, but they are comparatively flat.
Wheelchair users and guests with restricted movement:: Our car park is gravel, and there are two steps from our paved area, into our front door (we do not have a ramp available).; There are a total of five paved steps from the public pavement to within our front door.; There is a small step up (2 inches), between our lounge and guests toilets (which are also not wheelchair accessible).; There are three steps down out from our lounge area to our gravel smoking area.; Most of our plug sockets are at skirting board level.; Most of our rooms are on the first floor, and we do not have a lift.; The first floor is also slightly split level between some of the rooms (although each room on the first floor in itself is on the same level).; The only room currently on the ground floor (the Scarlet Suite) does not have a wheelchair accessible toilet (due to it's restricted size) nor does it have grab handles anywhere in the room, nor overhead hoists or handles. Similarly, there is a 4 inch step between the bedroom/lounge area and the open plan bathroom area. The rim of the bath is also raised above ground level (around 2.5 feet high).