White House Hotel, Herm Island: An Honest Review

If you’re looking for accommodation on Herm Island, you’ve probably realised that your options are pretty limited.

With just one hotel, a smattering of holiday cottages, and a camp site to choose from, there aren’t many places to stay on Herm Island, but each option is totally different, so it’s important to choose the right one for you.

Recently, I spent two nights at the White House Hotel on Herm Island, and in this article I’m going to share my honest review of the hotel and whether I believe that it’s a worthwhile choice for accommodation on Herm.

Let’s get into it.

White House Hotel, Herm Island: An Honest Review

Herm Island at a glance

Chances are, if you’re researching accommodation on Herm Island, you probably already know quite a bit about the island, so I’ll keep this bit brief.

Herm Island is a tiny island, spanning approximately 0.8 square miles, making it one of the smallest inhabited islands open to the public. It is a part of the Channel Islands archipelago in the English Channel, located about 3 miles east of Guernsey, forming part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey.

Herm Island is entirely car-free, with only very limited use of quadbikes and tractors for maintenance, and it has a population of less than 100, making it about as remote as you can get in the western world.

White House Hotel

As I mentioned in the introduction, accommodation on Herm Island is limited, and the White House Hotel is the only hotel on the island, with a loyal clientele that comes back year on year.

The main building of the White House Hotel is a Grade II listed building dating back to the 19th century, and is the first building you see as you approach Herm Harbour. It looks like the quintessential English country house, and I wasn’t at all surprised to learn that guests can play croquet in the grounds, or take advantage of the private tennis courts or heated swimming pool.

There are two on-site restaurants for guests to choose from, a spacious lounge area, and a cosy hotel bar called The Monk’s Bar. There’s also a gorgeous terrace area with outdoor seating where you can enjoy the best sunsets on the island.

In addition to the main hotel building, the White House Hotel also has a selection of annexe cottage buildings, including the cosy Harbour Cottage, which has its very own garden.

Rooms inside the main building cater to just about every kind of guest, with the luxurious Crow’s Nest Suite being the perfect place for couples, a selection of family rooms with separate areas for children, as well as eight dog-friendly rooms for those travelling with four-legged family members.

In the next section, I’ll go over the different room types at the White House Hotel, Herm Island.

Room types at the White House Hotel

The White House Hotel has 40 rooms in total, ranging from stand-alone cottages to penthouse suites and more economical double or twin rooms.

Here are the room types (and starting prices) at White House Hotel, Herm.

Standard Garden View Cottage Room

The ground-floor garden view rooms are the perfect solution for families as they can accommodate a cot and/or an additional bed for children. Some of these rooms are dog-friendly.

These rooms are the most affordable room type, with prices starting at £195 for two people (bed and breakfast).

Classic Sea View Cottage Room

A step up from the garden view rooms are the sea view cottage rooms, which are on the first floor and offer gorgeous views of Herm Harbour.

These rooms also provide space for a cot and/or an additional bed for children.

Prices start at £225 for two people (bed and breakfast).

Sea View No Balcony Room

These rooms have a double bed and French windows overlooking the swimming pool and terrace area. They can accommodate a cot and an additional bed for children.

Prices start at £243 for two people (bed and breakfast).

Superior Sea View Balcony Room

This is the room type that I stayed in. These rooms have king-sized beds and either a balconette or balcony with sea views (perfect for a sunset drink!). These rooms are spacious enough to accommodate a cot and bed for children.

Prices start at £278 for two people (bed and breakfast).

Harbour Suite Room

The Harbour Suite Room is a stand-alone cottage with its own private garden in the heart of Herm Harbour Village. It’s only a few steps away from the main hotel building, and can accommodate up to four people.

The Harbour Suite Room also has sea views, perfect for sunset-watching.

Prices start at £280 for two people (bed and breakfast).

Crow’s Nest Suite Room

The Crow’s Nest Suite is the most luxurious room of the hotel, with a large balcony providing panoramic sea views of many of Herm’s beaches, as well as the island of Guernsey. The balcony comes with a table and chairs, and French windows, and as this suite is at the highest point of the hotel, the sunset views from here are unbeatable.

This room has a king-sized bed and a separate room that accommodates two children. It can also fit a cot and an additional child’s bed.

Prices start at £335 for two people (bed and breakfast).

Dining at the White House Hotel Herm

There are two restaurants at the hotel – The Ship Inn is a casual, brasserie-style restaurant, and the two AA Rosette Conservatory Restaurant which is a more formal, upscale option.

I dined at both The Ship Inn and The Conservatory Restaurant during my stay at the White House Hotel, and I thoroughly enjoyed both of them.

The Ship Inn

Although The Ship Inn is marketed as an informal choice, the food is still top-notch, with fresh local produce and an excellent range of dishes on offer. I would describe the menu as elevated pub grub.

I enjoyed half a dozen oysters, a delectable crab crostini, and the fish of the day (cod) with chunky chips, and everything was a solid 10/10.

I also found everything to be reasonably-priced. You can view the full menu here.

The Conservatory Restaurant

The Conservatory Restaurant is a much more formal affair, with a dress code (no ripped jeans, trainers, track suits or flip flops), and a more refined menu, which changes often.

The Conservatory Restaurant also boasts stunning sea views, perfect for sunset dining.

I started with Herm Oysters, followed by grilled sea bass and a deconstructed apple crumble.

My Experience at the White House Hotel, Herm Island

I stayed in a Superior Sea View Balcony Room which had a blue, beige, and white colour palette to bring that seaside feeling indoors, and canvas prints on the walls showing off Herm’s best beaches.

A set of French doors opened out onto a Juliet balcony. I will say that although the room description for this room type specifies that the balcony could be a a ‘balconette,’ I think that it’s a bit of a generous interpretation of what I had, as there definitely wasn’t room to step outside and take in the view (plus there was a palm tree that encroached onto it, making the space even smaller!).

The bathroom had a bath and shower, as well as basic toiletries, and there were also tea and coffee-making facilities in the room, with a decent variety of teas and some yummy shortbread biscuits.

Something that the White House Hotel is known for is the fact that it eschews TVs, clocks, and phones in the rooms, hoping that this will foster an atmosphere of relaxation. I must admit that I had mixed feelings about this: I didn’t mind being without a clock or a TV (who watches TV in a hotel anyway?), but the lack of a phone was rather annoying, especially as I found myself needing to call reception one night after I’d got changed for bed, and found myself Googling the hotel’s phone number and calling them on my mobile!

If I were a sceptic, I’d say that the reason for the lack of phones and TVs is more about cutting costs than prioritising relaxation, but hey, what do I know?

I also felt that for the price, the room was not as luxurious as I would have expected (or luxurious at all, for that matter). It’s not that the room wasn’t comfortable (it was), but for almost £300, I would have expected more.

However, I understand that being the only hotel on the island, there is no incentive to keep prices down, and maintaining a building like this (not to mention paying the staff!) is not cheap.

Breakfast is included in the price, and I really enjoyed the breakfast here.

You can order a Full English (I did this and it was excellent), and there’s also a well-stocked breakfast buffet.

FAQs

White House Hotel | Final Thoughts

I really enjoyed my stay at the White House Hotel on Herm Island.

The rooms are a little pricey and could do with some TLC, but overall, I was happy with my room. I really enjoyed both of the hotel restaurants, and the hotel bar was a nice and cosy place to have a nightcap.

I also loved the large terrace and garden area, where my friends and I enjoyed a drink at sunset, as well as the large lounge which is the perfect spot to have a coffee and get lost in a book.

If you’re planning a trip to Herm, I would recommend this hotel. The holiday cottages on the island are lovely if you prefer a self-catering holiday, but if you want to be looked-after, the White House Hotel is the place for you.

The location of the hotel is also fantastic, just steps away from the ferry (hotel staff will take care of your luggage), as well as the village shops and The Mermaid Tavern (the only pub on the island).

That’s all for this time, but as always, if you have any questions then be sure to let me know in the comments section below.

You may also like my article about The Best Restaurants in Guernsey if you’re travelling to the Channel Islands,

Until next time,

XOXO

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