Excelsior Hotel Gallia, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Milan — Hotel in Milan

After doing some research on Bonvoy group property in Milan, we decided to try the luxury collection Excelsior Hotel Gallia, base on the positive reviews from website. Unfortunately it did not live up to our expectations. We made our reservation through using points and cash and reserved a lovely suite room which seemed to be nice from the website. Being Bonvoy Ambassador Elite, we were being upgraded to a better "suite" ? As in usual case.. Well....however we were in deep shock with the horrible condition of room 644. It was a super long suite room with chairs, table and cabinet in the living room which doesn't coordinate with each other, the AC in the living room is not working, everything just didn't seem right. Most of the furnitures were tired and worn out. The water kettle was chipped and stained that we had to call to replace for another kettle immediately. The safe deposit box missing of the placemat layer that we had to line it with small towel in order to keep our watches and jewellery in it. This room must have been over abused by previous guests? We strongly think it is not ready to be sold to any guests, not to mention supposed to be a good gesture for upgrading their loyalty member on a special occasion, it was my birthday. The only plus about the room was the steam bath function in the shower room, only later that we found out our original Atelier Suite we desired has the same function. 🤔

We shared our concerns to the front desk after 3 nights stay, and told them we would like to stay at our original suite that we booked when we return from Venice 3 days after. The suite on the last 3 days in Milan was perfect, well maintained with lots of tall windows that could be opened in the morning. It's so European! And we love it. Since our feedbacks regarding the upgraded suite fell on deaf ears. We decided to share our dissatisfaction here. On my usual reviews, I seldom hang a price tag on it, but for using 60K-80K points + 600 Euro per night for total of 6 nights stay, I think we deserve a better treatment than this? At least the higher management team should reach out to us?

Hospitality team has been not quite welcoming during our stay, especially front desk team. Our departure flight was late at night and Emirates Chauffeur pick up was scheduled at 7pm. We asked front desk if we could extend another hour or 2, so we could go out have a quick bite before checking out, again our dear cold front desk told us it's impossible to extend the check out time unless we pay for the difference? Wow... After using total of 419K points plus 3600 Euro for staying 6 nights, all we got is to rob us more, being inconsiderate, and all robotic lines (respond) to their guests? We had such marvelous stay after horrible Excelsior this month of May at JW Venice Resort and Spa, JW Marquis Dubai and Biltmore Mayfair London. Especially Biltmore London, eventhough we're not in their loyalty programme, we were able to check in to our one king bed suite room as early as 9am and extend check out time till 3pm without extra charge, most importantly without having to face any rough treatment from anyone.

However there's few name we would like to mention here, Daniel and Zhen(Zheng?) from the breakfast team, they're the sunshine of this hotel. Daniel always so bubbly and Zhen has been really attentive to our different needs each morning (when we turned up for breakfast). Concierge Alexandro has been very helpful finding us nice vegan restaurants in Florence on my birthday. Alan and Paulo from Potter service were the most friendly and helpful people we met as front line guest service team.

We don't think we will recommend this property to our friends and families, from the unpleasant experiences we had during our stay.

Just found out that this review was not posted in May for some reason 🤔I wonder why. Now I've got something more to say. For a genuine sincere management team that we have encountered, would first apologise, then show that they feel your frustration, last try to leave their personal email to follow up...

My wife and I recently completed a 4 night stay at the Excelsior Hotel Gallia. Unfortunately, we experienced significant issues with the room and service, including cigarette/burining electrical smells, room left unlocked by turndown service team, air conditioning not working, mold and water damage in the bathroom, and a hole in the bedsheets.

Cigarette/Electrical Buring Smells: The first room we were assigned was on the first floor in the new annex of the hotel. It had a very strong cigarette smell, which upon calling the front desk, was confirmed to be due to it being a smoking room. We were assigned a new room on the second floor in the historical part of the hotel. At 7pm and 1am on that first night, and at 3:30am on the fourth night, the very strong cigarette smell also came into the second room, this time with a burning electrical smell as well.

We were concerned that we were assigned another smoking room because the emergency exit signs in the corridors mentioned that no smoking was allowed (see image 1), but no such ban was there on the emergency exit sign in the room (see image 2). Around 7:30pm on the first night we went down to the front desk to complain, and they said that “Usually all the smoking rooms are on the first floor”. No other rooms were available, and so they offered to run an air purifier for 10 minutes during the turndown service of that first night.

Given that there is no mention that smoking rooms are available on the hotel website, in online reviews, or in the booking preferences, we simply assumed that all rooms in the hotel were non-smoking. So, it was surprising that the front desk staff said that we should have selected the non-smoking room option when booking.

Upon check-out there was a guest from the fourth floor who was also complaining about the cigarette/burning electrical smell. So, we were not the only ones to experience this issue. It should also be noted that this smell was not present in the corridors or the hotel lobby.

Turndown service: On the second night the turndown service staff left our room unlocked. Thankfully no items were stolen.

Bathroom mold and water damage: there was black mold on the shower walls, floor, and ceiling, and orange mold on the shower walls. A significant amount of water also leaked from underneath the shower door, so we had to resort to using towels along with the bathmat to prevent an injury when using the adjacent vanity.

The door to the bathroom also did not close because of damaged hinges.

Air conditioning: the air conditioning stopped working periodically throughout the stay. This was particularly problematic when the smoke smells came into the room. Changing the temperature or fan speed on the control panel did not restart the air conditioning.

Hole in the bedsheet: we noticed that there was a hole in the bedsheets (see last image).

Service Issues: On the first night we requested table/cooking salt so we could do saltwater gargles. We called the front desk twice and no salt was brought up to the room. Thinking that it was lost in translation, we made the requested the salt along with some bottles of water via the Marriott app. The water arrived but not the salt. Talking to the front desk again, we were told that this request needs to be done via the room service team. This is perfectly fine, but there was no button on the bedside phone to call room service.

The room service menu was missing from the room. Upon calling the room service team, we were told to use the menu on the TV. This was very fuzzy, and so we called again, upon which we were delivered the menu.

The housekeeping staff did not replace the vanity pack at any point in the stay.

Coffee Machine: the coffee machine did not work and still had a used coffee pod from the previous guest. The machine was eventually replaced by the second person who came to have a look.

Bedside table light: the right bedside reading light did...

Day 1: I arrived the Excelsior Hotel Gallia Milan with a lot of expectation but with a little trepidation. My last experience there many years before their much-vaunted renovation was not pleasant memories. Anyway, I was ready to forgive all and move to a fresh start. After 21 years of attending the Milan design week every year, one was quite used to the price gouging from hotels in Milan. We have come to accept that as a small sacrifice to see new design trends in furniture and fashion and enjoy the best shopping on the planet. ||Right off the bat, I was in for a rude shock. I came off the airport taxi and was surprised to see no bellman at the door. I had to drag my bags inside with no help. For 1300 Euros per night, this was not the dream start I was hoping for. At reception, I was met by 2 receptionists.||After the usual check in process (passport + credit card), I asked politely if an upgrade was possible. I was told the hotel was fully booked and none was available at this time. I was not surprised given the season but the response that my current room was already very good was unexpected given that well...I already knew because I selected and paid for it! I continued by asking what could be offered if no room upgrade was available. I expected to be told a bowl of fruit or some non- alcoholic wine or something. Anything. I was met with a blank refusal again but this time, it came with an offer to call the 'manager' to review. It turned out to be the second receptionist who had been listening all along. To add insult to growing injury, the 'manager' proceeded to say exactly what she knew I had heard twice over from her colleague (as if I needed it to be said slowly). At this point, I gave up and went to my room.||The room was acceptably 'luxurious' and the renovation earned great marks from me. Spacious showers and good closet space with a well-lit desk. The lighting system was difficult to figure out but after some fiddling, I was able to turn off all the lights. After just a few minutes in the room, I got 2 AMEX charges from the hotel amounting to over $10,000. Alarmed, I went back to the reception to enquire and receptionist 1 (after a few minutes of confusion) admitted to making a mistake and offered to void one of the charges. I was quite upset given that she told me the charge would not be reversed for days. I asked for a manager and receptionist 2 came out to say no one made a mistake. It was a system error. This was quite infuriating as receptionist 1 was doing a better job. How could this be a system error? Did it mean every client gets charged twice? I asked for the matter to be escalated and expected contact from the GM or someone more senior that night or the next day. As I write, no one has offered an apology or even mentioned it despite my 3-night stay. I mentioned that I would leave a review of the matter, and the 'manager' said I was free to do as I pleased! In a 5-star hotel to a Platinum Elite client. This was new low in customer service. I have not written a review in 5-6 years, but this was a story that needed to be told.||Day 2: Attempted to go for breakfast before I realized no one told me where to go. The usual introduction to the facility had been omitted by these 2-front desk officers. Breakfast at the Gallia is good and the service team quite responsive BUT expect wait time of 10minutes to be seated at peak periods. ||Day 3: I extended my stay in Milan but checked out to another hotel. I hope my luck changes in Milan.|||In summary, not a great way to...