Sofitel Strasbourg Grande Île — Hotel in Strasbourg

My husband and I like to travel from the Uk down to Abruzzo in Italy and chose the Sofitel in Strasburg as a one night stop over, after a long journey from the UK. We had prebooked and paid for a nights stay, breakfast and secure parking. We regularly use the Acore chain through our business, staying in the Novotel and Sofitel hotels throughout UK and Europe regularly, as we associate these hotels usually with a good standard of cleanliness, comfort and amenities; we require good secure parking. I can say now that the Sofitel Strasburg is the worst hotel I have ever stayed in. It was dirty, shabby and outdated, the carpets filthy and old and an awful smell in the corridors leading in to the 1st floor rooms we stayed in, comparable with a municipal building, like an old school or old peoples home. The staff were polite when we raised issues, paid lip service to our concerns but these were never followed up with actions. On arrival, the concierge wanted to park our car in their basement garage; I assume they acquire their extra tips from this, which is perfectly fine, and as other reviewers have said, it is extremely difficult to navigate exit, as we found out. We declined, however, because of previous unrelated to this hotel, parking problems elsewhere; it’s a shame the concierge was not so on hand to assist us with our heavy cases up a flight of stairs to the mezzanine floor, as the lift did not stop there. The safe didn’t work, which we needed to store our iPads, passports and other personal items. We reported this but maintenance did not resolve this as we were promised and I dare say this was left for the next customer to deal with. The restaurant staff were polite but took ages to firstly notice our arrival, then to take our order and finally to deliver our order, to the point I had to go to the bar to remind them, where 3 staff members were standing cleaning glasses. The food was not exceptionally good and over priced (chicken Caesar salad they used chicken schnitzel with a horrible taste of over used deep fried fat and hard boiled eggs, which is not a combination I have come across). The beds, however, were clean and comfortable. The breakfast was good quality and plentiful. The bathroom had a bath with connected tap shower but no bath slip mat. I chose not to shower that night for risk of slip in the bath. Finally, we have since found out that they charged the shadow reservation of €100 to secure the parking, which we had already prepaid for in our booking and which we now have to challenge. Strasburg is a beautiful city but I do not recommend staying at the Sofitel, which needs updating and staff retraining. This is not a 5 star hotel. We have stayed in all sorts of accommodation but we booked the Sofitel after a long drive for comfort at great expense. We stayed in a B&B a couple for days later for a third of the price with ten times better service and cleanliness. If I book and pay for a 5 star hotel, I expect a 5 star service. Do not stay here, it is an awful place. With any luck, they’ll...

SOFITEL STRASBOURG: WHERE 5 STARS DON’T SHINE BRIGHT

At Sofitel Strasbourg, my 5-star expectations met a nightmare reality. It started at check-in, where my booking's promised complimentary upgrade was conveniently unavailable. Requesting a room with two single beds instead, the check-in employee initially obliged, only to then claim it was a higher class room costing an extra 30 euros per night. When I reminded her of my complimentary upgrade, she suddenly stated the room wasn't available anymore. Smelling deceit, I checked their website and, unsurprisingly, found both king and twin-bedded rooms available. Confronted with this, she hesitated, consulted her manager, and ultimately sent us to the bar with drink vouchers that barely covered beer or water.

The room saga continued. After a long wait, we were given a king room that was a disgrace: dirty towels stained with what looked like blood or sauce, a filthy sink, stained carpets, and furniture layered with dust. Ironically, the king bed was closer in size to a queen.

The following morning, both my friend and I woke up with a mysterious skin rash, reminiscent of bed bug bites, though we didn't see any actual bugs. We reported this to the reception, where the manager, slightly more accommodating, offered us a room change, but not until after 3 pm. This left us roaming the city, unable to rest in our room.

Everywhere we looked, the hotel screamed neglect, with dusty common areas adding to our disappointment. Reflecting on this experience, I am baffled at how Sofitel Strasbourg holds a 5-star rating. It was a masterclass in trickery and greed, masked under the guise of luxury. I strongly recommend avoiding this hotel to escape a...

I am not someone who writes reviews, but feel compelled to warn others. The issues relate to cleanliness and attitude. This is a sadly tired hotel that is in bad need of renovations. Carpeting in hallways, virtually everywhere, is badly stained, as well as in our room. Photos on the website misrepresented the reality. Dirty and stained upholstery in the room as well. We had booked a "luxury garden view" room and when we entered, there was a pungent smell throughout the room, most resembling a mildewy basement or the inside of old sneakers, but hard to describe. Both my wife and I immediately smelled it. We were able to open the window in the room and went out for lunch, hoping that the smell would abate when we returned, but it did not. We called downstairs and someone from hotel guest services came up and agreed that there was a pungent odor in the room, but they could only offer us a downgraded room, which we took, as there was no other option, and we were exhausted from travel. We had to repack our bags and move to another room. The following morning, they refused to refund the difference. Furthermore, the hotel management (including the guest services supervisor who had come up the previous evening) blatantly lied, saying that there had been no smell, and that this was just our "subjective opinion". One would have to ask, why would we have lied about this - who would want a room downgrade? Aside from the monetary issue, the attitude of hotel management was not apologetic (we were not asking for an apology but just a courteous acknowledgement that they had inconvenienced us) - really an appalling way to treat people. Best to...