Hotel Cannes Gallia — Hotel in Grasse

Keep in mind we were coming from a bad experience at B&B outside of town which is not even worth naming. So, perhaps some small inconveniences here may be overlooked. We were just very happy they even had space halfway into the festival. ||||The pros: Wonderful, friendly multi-lingual staff greeted us cheerfully but not insincerely. They had a box of wall plug adapters of all kinds, in case you forgot yours. We were given a fairly large room for standard. A good size tv but instant coffee. There's a Casino supermarket a few steps away where we bought real cream for our coffee and some nice croissants and yogurt which we kept in the handy little fridge in the room. ||There was a little hallway/foyer with a wardrobe to hang your tuxes or gowns and shelves to put your shoes. A couple extra pillows there too. ||The bed itself was comfortable and the light switches were right there beside the nighttables. ||The housekeeping was thorough - in fact we were in such a hurry one day we left the room a mess and felt guilty since the housekeeper worked around our mess without touching our things. We cleaned up for them that night, albeit to her relief. ||The bathroom was okay with an extra shaving/makeup mirror and little stool to sit upon. The soap/shampoo was apparently 'green eco'. It took me a day to figure out you had to squeeze the bottle for the product to come out. Too simple! There was a good strong hairdryer which was nice since we didn't pack ours. Nice big fluffy towels and bathrobes and slippers. ||The view wasn't bad, it looked out upon the street. But, understandably during the festival, it was a bit noisy on the weekend nights.||The lobby is small but welcoming and the outside has a couple little chairs and tables to lounge and wait for your slow colleagues or family members. ||||Cons:||We did, indeed, have a small issue with the internet for a short period on the second day, but the rest of the time it was just fine.||Seemingly, no fan in the bathroom - a minor thing but a bit uncomfortable in the heat and if you have to jump right out in a hurry to do your makeup in front of a steamed up mirror. Also, not much counter space for your toiletries - and we had a lot. Perhaps they could put in a little toiletry trolley. Just a suggestion since there would be a bit of room for it.||||Although neat and tidy, the breakfast could use a wee bit more variety, but they had good, strong coffee and cream, which was fine for me. 12 Euros and not included in our room rate though. Coffee, tea, hot chocolate for the kids, juice, fruit, boiled eggs, individual swiss cheese in packages so you can nick some for a snack during the day ;), sliced ham and turkey, yogurt and croissants and bread. ||||Close to the train station, but if you're not used to walking or have a tight schedule, a bit of a trek to the Palais - about 10 -15 minutes, depending on your pace. If you have small children, it might be far for them if you're walking into or back from town for shopping. However, this could be in the 'pro' section if you need to tone up for your gowns or tux anyway. ||||We didn't use the pool, so can't comment. But we did hear people playing in it and it sounded like they were having fun. ||||We would perhaps book this again on a vacation but because of the walk perhaps not for the festival. But that's just us. This hotel is perfectly fine for your needs if you are casually visiting...

Was surprised that checkin was at 4pm which seems late. We got to the hotel at 1pm to leave our bags and were advised that our room would be ready soon so we waited, we waited for 3 hours… and the room wasn’t ready until after 4.30pm. As compensation we were offered free breakfast however I don’t eat breakfast and nothing else was offered. I wouldn’t advise paying for the breakfast as from seeing it there was little to eat plus there are many more options in the bakeries of Cannes.||After waiting for 3 hours and noticing that the maids were sitting outside talking, hence the delay, we got to our room but there were no towels. On my way to reception I informed a maid who quickly got me towels and water.||The decor and f the hotel confused me as it’s like they have tried to modernise things by giving the a lick of paint, which has then chipped and looked unkempt. We had broken furniture on the balcony and some plug sockets that didn’t work. Water pressure in the shower wasn’t good, lift was small and there’s no internal lock on the room door, we also found it difficult to open the door with the key. Buttons on the safe were temperamental but worked.||On the plus side the bed was comfy, room clean and there was a TV, hairdryer, fridge and working AC. Staff were friendly and there’s nice furniture outside. ||There’s a supermarket less than 10 mins walk and the centre of Cannes/ train station is 10/15 mins walk. There’s a bus stop nearby. The hotel is up a hill so wouldn’t be good for walking if you have mobility issues.||Hotel isn’t staffed 24 hours so make sure you note/ take a picture of the main entrance door.||Pool was run down and although clean there was chipped paint that made it look dirty. The jacuzzi wasn’t working either.||On the last morning the maid came in before check out although there was a dnd sign...

Don’t look under the bed!

We stayed at Hotel Gallia for 5 nights as part of our tour of the riviera. First of all, please don’t let the images on booking.com fool you, it is a scruffy hotel.

We were very disappointed by the quality, cleanliness and lack of attention to detail. The staff were friendly, smiley and mostly polite - however there was a severe lack of communication. The reception closes at 7 or 8pm each night and you need to use a pin code to get in after that - but the reception failed to let us know they had changed the code mid way through our stay and we were stuck outside one of the evenings waiting for another guest to come along and get us in as they were not answering the ‘out of hours telephone’.

In addition, I would like to elaborate on my cleanliness comment; I can honestly say I’ve never been to a hotel with such a filthy room. I have attached images to support my comments so please, see for yourself. I was so unhappy with the cleanliness that I complained (something I rarely do). The staff said they would move us to a new room - great - except they never called or sent an email letting us know how to access the new room key so we were forced to stay put. The rooms are very small.

The shower is decent and the bathrooms have recently been renovated.

The doors to the rooms are awkward to open and they slam so loudly - no soft closers - I was woken on more than one occasion by other guests entering / leaving their rooms. One of the cleaners was blasting their odd music at stupid o clock in the morning which also woke me.

The hotel is about 15 minutes to the beach front.

I can’t comment on the breakfast, pool or hot tub as I did...