Best Western Premier Hotel Du Vieux Port — Hotel in Marseille

The rooms were well appointed very clean and had all amenities. Breakfast was good for the price and the view of the "vieux" port was really nice from the private balconies of the front rooms. We thought the ambience of the port of Ciotat was equal to that of Cassis. So why the low grade? ||Because to start with we had booked a junior suite with port view. The pictures of the junior suite on the site are deceiving. We were just given a bigger room on the 4th floor with the same layout as the superior room with port view. (A member of our group had a superior room with port view so we could compare). Extra facilities of the junior suite were a bathtub instead of a shower, a vase with decorative twigs and an espresso machine. No big deal for the extra money. We complained immediately when we saw the room. Our complains were not received gracefully. We were told that junior suites are not the same and not all of them as pictured. We asked for a better price which was not accepted in the beginning. Finally we were offered a room like the one pictured at the site as junior suite. They told us we would have to wait till 4 o'clock for it to be cleaned since it was a room kept for "security reasons" and cleaned after all other rooms. We declined because security reasons may meant that somebody with Covid had used it and also it was on the second floor and exactly opposite the crane which yes it is vintage and a piece of art but you don't get the best view of the port. Finally we were given a 10% reduction on the initial price at check out. The whole experience was far from nice. We could overcome this first problem if that was all. The second reason I give a low grade and I say avoid between the 15th and 21st of August unless you go to sleep in the morning hours and noise does not bother you, is that from the 15th to 21st of August there are festivities at the port at an open space next to the hotel. There was a band on the 16th of August till 1.15 after midnight. Loud rock music which made it impossible to sleep. Closed windows didn't help at all. The least the hotel should do was to warn the customers when booking. Very bad experience. When we complained the answer was "You should take a room at the back. In front you have views" so it does not matter if one cannot sleep. The problem really is caused by the city of Ciotat but it is totally disrespectful for the customers...

Just a heads up.... Best Western have a policy where they charge your account before your departure/check out to verify your room, but then charge you for the room once you leave and hold the verification amount (the verification amount is the total amount of the room fee for the duration of your stay). The hold is anywhere from 7-14 days for the full amount to be released. The receptionist told me when I checked in that the verification amount would be released the day I checked out (and i asked about it twice). It's them who holds the money, not the bank, I checked... Just think of a week or 2 without your travel allowance when youre not expecting to be charged double???? How many of you have an extra couple grand???? If I had not have changed my credit card limit before this I'd be in a very bad situation right now...Because i can't get Best Western to release my money.... Unacceptable !!!! I would understand if there were damaged or excess extras on room service etc, but there were none of these issues.

P.S They said they don't have it in writing anywhere the fact that they hold your verification amount, again I checked. I've been traveling 16 years for a living and NEVER had...

Room with inefficient glazing directly above a noisy bar, receptionist commented that this is only a problem if you have good hearing (perhaps she shouldn't pursue a career in standup comedy) shrugged shoulders and said she could do nothing. Was overcharged for breakfast on the BW website and both receptionists stated that since I had reserved directly with BW there was nothing they could do. More shoulders were shrugged... Had to attend a call and came back later to finish breakfast only to find everything cleared away 25mins before closing and no willingness from the staff to restock the buffet. More shoulder shrugging... Everyone passing the buck around and claiming "we can't do anything" and since it was Saturday night/Sunday morning there was no management around to join the shoulder shrugging. Only good things are its proximity to the port where I needed to be and reasonably...