I was planning to go to the Isle of Wight on holiday with my wife and two kids and the cheapest deal I could find was for the altavia hotel. But when I checked the reviews out apart from one very good one the others were very bad. I decided to take the plunge and booked anyways, and I did not regret it. I spoke to the owner, John, to book a ferry at first. He sounded very nice and got me a good discount. On arrival I was amazed at the location of the hotel as it was a few minutes walk from the beach and in the sandown town centre. John is an amazingly nice guy. When I got to the hotel quite a few rooms were empty, he showed me all of them and let me choose the one I liked. He did mention that breakfast was at 8am and he would knock at the door if we were not out by 9. Even though he never did that but this was very good for me as we got the kids to breakfast nice and early then had the whole day to enjoy instead of staying in bed till late.yes, the building is a little dated but it has recently been redone so all the old reviews about the state and condition are defunct in my opinion. If I went to Isle of Wight again, I would definitely book this hotel again. Me, the wife and our 5 and 1 year old loved our stay here. And as sandown is so close to many of the attractions in the island it was amazingly convenient.