Grand Galvez Resort, Autograph Collection — Hotel in Galveston

I have stayed at this hotel many times over the years, And have always had fantastic service. This weekend however , service was horrible ! If it was one bad experience , I would let this go, but it was several bad experiences. We checked in and our room was already ready , so this was great! It had been storming, So we were informed that the beach was not currently open, but would be opening later, but the pool was open. We decided to go to the pool after checking in. The entrance to the pool from the lobby was closed due to afternoon tea set up, so we had to walk around outside throgh the gates. Not a problem. There were no towels at that side of the pool however, so you had to walk over and check out your towels over by the closed entrance . We sat our things down on a few chairs and went to get our towels. We sat at our chairs and got in the pool , waiting for bar service which never came . We ended up going to the swim up bar to get our drinks . We had to do this each time we wanted a drink , As they had one server, it looked like, Who we saw attending to only one guest the entire time we were there . The majority of the time, though he was too concerned with hanging out at the bar with the female bartenders. We ended up getting several rounds of drinks and appetizers For the entire couple of hours, we were at the pool. About halfway into our time at the pool, The lady who we checked towels out with, Came to our chairs, Snatched our tumblers of water that we had brought to the pool with us up, And yelled at us that we were not allowed to bring our tumblers into the pool area. I explained to her that first of all, it was just water, and we were spending plenty of money at the pool, And secondly, that there was nobody there to stop us.On the other end, where we were forced to go in. She confiscated our tumblers, and told us we could get them back when we were done. So we went and closed our tab, Retrieved, our tumblers and decided to go to the beach.Since it had not been raining in hours at this point. We arrived at the beach and there were several people sitting on chairs that belong to Galvez, and several umbrellas up. However, there was nobody there greeting guest. We assumed they were open and just didn't have it manned . We sat down amongst other people And decided, we would enjoy a little time at the beach. This is one of the reasons we chose Galvez. Instead of cheaper options, Because of their private beach. I understand that it had been storming in the morning, and so I get the weather, However, it was bright and sunny and it had not rained in a couple of hours. After about five minutes, Two hotel employees, One look to be a manager, Came and started screaming at people to get up.This was private property, and we were sitting in their chairs, and we needed to leave. They did not ask first if anybody was hotel guest, They assumed we were all not, And started screaming at people. Several other guests, as well as ourselves, said that we were hotel guest. She said, oh, well, then you need to sit over there And moved us to the other side, Where the chairs were locked up. They unlocked a few sets of chairs for a few of the guests, But as I stood there waiting for them to unlock ours , They left. We were the only guest left. I'm waiting for our chairs to get unlocked. They came back shortly later and started yelling at some more people that they were on private property. I think a better way to have handled.This would have been to ask people first if they were hotel guest. So now, at this point, we have had bad experience at the pool, And a bad experience at the beach. We decided to do a little shopping and go back to the room to get ready for dinner. As we came back down we went outside to the smoking area before we left . A hotel employee was changing the trash, And she handed us a trash bag, And said, can you hold this open for me while I dump the trash. This was unbelievable and unacceptable! I have never been asked by a hotel employee, To hold a trash bag.!! At this point I decided to go speak to a manager. We have now had horrible service in two separate areas of the hotel, Now we have been asked to help with trash . The manager on duty listened, and he was nodding his head With empathy, However, I was not even offered as much as an apology for the way we had been treated. I wasn't looking for anything for free or anything, I just wanted them to know how we have been treated, But I did expect an apology which I did not receive. To me this is unacceptable. All I got was, Thanks for letting me know. I was going to let this go.But then I saw several other people with that experiences that i've left reviews this weekend, So clearly it wasn't just us. The hotel Needs to have a serious look at their employees and training.|I would like to be contacted about this experience. By...

We came from Houston for a quick staycation this weekend for our Anniversary and after seeing some good reviews online we decided to stay at the Galvez Saturday night. The exterior of the hotel is beautiful and the location is great. Aside from that, we were very disappointed in almost every aspect of our stay.

It started on an off putting note when we were checking in, we listened to the woman at the front desk check in the man in front of us and explain in detail the hotel grounds, the restaurant, and brunch experience on Sundays. Once he was checked in and we moved forward to check in, we received a rushed explanation of the hotel grounds, where our room was, and nothing about the brunch/restaurant/bar. When I asked about the brunch and making a reservation for my husband she seemed surprise and quickly made the reservation and then sent us on our way.

The lobby was also striking but had an unpleasant smell the entire time we were there.

We made it up to our room (354) which was beautiful and fully renovated and had a partial ocean view, we left quickly to go watch the sunset at the beach.

When we got back and got ready for bed we realized our bathroom sink would not drain. We also looked in the shower and realized there was sand and hair all over the shower floor.

I called down to the front desk to let them know and was met with the same woman who had checked us in earlier. When I explained the situation all she said was “So do you want to move rooms?” No attempt at an apology was made. I said yes we’d like to be able to use our bathroom so she sent up a valet to bring us different room keys.

The valet apologized for our experience and helped us to our other room, he explained that they’re going through some renovations and have been for over a year now.

We arrived at our next room (331) which was right next to the elevator, and realized it was only about half the size of our previous room, not renovated, missing a picture frame on the wall and faced the parking lot. There was also watermarks and smudges all over the bathroom mirror and mirror in the room. Quite the downgrade.

We were very disappointed in the service we’d received and the quality/cleanliness of the rooms but at this point just wanted to go to bed.

We went to bed for about an hour but we’re woken up every fifteen minutes by the elevator and guests getting off. There was no soundproofing at the bottom of the door, just an empty slot, so sound traveled through EXTREMELY clearly. It sounded like the guests walking through the hall way from the elevator were in our room. I’ll attach photo of what the door/lack of looked like. I also have video from inside our room where you can make out exactly what the people in the hall are saying.

We could not fall asleep so we had to call down again, at this point I just wanted to leave and drive home. There was a different woman working the front desk at this time (about midnight) and she immediately found us a room away from the elevator with a better view as well and brought the new keys up herself. This was the best service we received during our stay.

The next room (302) was much closer to the quality of our first room and we were able to fall asleep quickly. Although the beds were not comfortable.

The next morning we were so disappointed and put off by our stay that we left immediately when we woke and cancelled our brunch reservations.

I’ve read some other reviews now of this hotel being like lipstick on a pig and that was our exact impression after our stay. The service, cleanliness and quality was severely lacking. It seems like they reopened before renovations were done and half the hotel is unfinished.

Not usually one to write negative reviews but there are absolutely better hotels, Airbnbs and rentals on the island to choose from. ESPECIALLY for the prices the Galvez is charging, it felt like a scam.

Just wanted to write this as a caution to anyone looking to stay at this property and hopefully as a wake up call to management on...

I have stayed at this hotel many times over the years, And have always had fantastic service. This weekend however , service was horrible. We checked in and our room was already ready , so this was great! It had been storming, So we were informed that the beach was not currently open, but would be opening later, but the pool was open. We decided to go to the pool after checking in. The entrance to the pool from the lobby was closed due to afternoon tea set up, so we had to walk around outside throgh the gates. Not a problem. There were no towels at that side of the pool however, so you had to walk over and check out your towels over by the closed entrance . We sat our things down on a few chairs and went to get our towels. We sat at our chairs and got in the pool , waiting for bar service which never came . We ended up going to the swim up bar to get our drinks . We had to do this each time we wanted a drink , As they had one server, it looked like, Who we saw attending to only one guest the entire time we were there . The majority of the time, though he was too concerned with hanging out at the bar with the female bartenders. We ended up getting several rounds of drinks and appetizers For the entire couple of hours, we were at the pool. About halfway into our time at the pool, The lady who we checked towels out with, Came to our chairs, Snatched our tumblers of water that we had brought to the pool with us up, And yelled at us that we were not allowed to bring our tumblers into the pool area. I explained to her that first of all, it was just water, and we were spending plenty of money at the pool, And secondly, that there was nobody there to stop us On the other end, where we were forced to go in. She confiscated our tumblers, and told us we could get them back when we were done. So we went and closed our tab, Retrieved, our tumblers and decided to go to the beach.Since it had not been raining in hours at this point. We arrived at the beach and there were several people sitting on chairs that belong to Galvez, and several umbrellas up. However, there was nobody there greeting guest. We sat down amongst other people And decided, we would enjoy a little time at the beach.I understand that it had been storming in the morning, and so I get the weather, However, it was bright and sunny and it had not rained in a couple of hours. After about five minutes, Two hotel employees, One look to be a manager, Came and started screaming at people to get up. They were yelling that This was private property, and we were sitting in their chairs, and we needed to leave. They did not ask first if anybody was hotel guest, They assumed we were all not, And started screaming at people. Several other guests, as well as ourselves, said that we were hotel guest. She said, oh, well, then you need to sit over there And moved us to the other side, Where the chairs were locked up. They unlocked a few sets of chairs for a few of the guests, But as I stood there waiting for them to unlock ours , They left. We were the only guest left. I'm waiting for our chairs to get unlocked. They came back shortly later and started yelling at some more people that they were on private property. I think a better way to have handled.This would have been to ask people first if they were hotel guest. So now, at this point, we have had bad experience at the pool, And a bad experience at the beach. We decided to do a little shopping and go back to the room to get ready for dinner. As we came back down we went outside to the smoking area before we left . A hotel employee was changing the trash, And she handed us a trash bag, And said, can you hold this open for me while I dump the trash. This was unbelievable and unacceptable! I have never been asked by a hotel employee, To hold a trash bag.!! At this point I decided to go speak to a manager. The manager on duty . I have had to shorten this post To allow google to post it but I would like to be contacted about this experience. By...