Grand Hotel Excelsior

We stayed at the Hotel Grand Excelsior Malta recently and unfortunately came away feeling rather disappointed overall, although there were certainly some positives. On arrival we were met by a very friendly driver who helped with our luggage and made an excellent first impression. Check-in staff were also welcoming and efficient. Sadly, the initial room was extremely tired and worn, particularly the bathroom. The floor was stained and cracked, the shower was grimy with black marks and generally unpleasant, and the toilet seat was clearly the wrong size for the toilet. The room and wardrobe also smelt slightly damp. To the hotel’s credit, Guest Relations did respond positively and moved us to a larger room with a spacious terrace. However, this room still had issues. One of the two sun loungers was broken and despite reporting it nothing was done during our stay. There were also no table and chairs on the terrace despite adjoining terraces having combinations of both, which made the space feel underused and incomplete. The air conditioning was ineffective and after around an hour would simply start blowing warm air. Again, the bathroom felt tired and grubby rather than properly maintained. Breakfast was extensive and reasonably well organised with no major delays being seated. Staff throughout the hotel were a mixed experience — some were excellent and very efficient, while others appeared uninterested and service in general was often quite slow. The courtesy shuttle bus was helpful if you did not want to navigate the steps and dangerous road crossing on the walk from the hotel. However, it only runs three times an hour and operates on a first come, first served basis which can be inconvenient at busy times. The real standout during our stay was the transportation team. We booked a tour and our driver, Valentine, was absolutely fantastic — friendly, informative and never rushing us. He dropped us directly at the sights, parked nearby and allowed us to enjoy the day without feeling under time pressure. Easily one of the highlights of the trip. We understand the hotel is due to be renovated next season and, based on our experience, that renovation cannot come soon enough. At present this hotel feels far below what its star rating and photographs suggest. Whilst there were some good staff and positive aspects to the stay, we would not choose to stay here again whilst the hotel remains in its current condition.

We stayed for 3 nights and had a wonderful time. The hotel is in a great location and we loved the view from our window over the harbour - we brought binoculars and enjoyed watching all the boats. Our room was huge and very clean with everything we needed. The hotel was so thoughtful and left wine and birthday cake as I had mentioned it was my birthday on booking. All staff were friendly and helpful, there are a lot of them too so the level of service is very good. We loved the pool area and balanced being there with enjoying Valletta. The little beach area is very nice too. Waiter service from the bar made time there even more relaxed. Breakfast was good although the juices should be upgraded. Very good Maltese yogurts! We want to return after the refurbishment as this hotel is just perfect for a stay in Valletta. We would recommend it to anyone.

The hotel is slightly old fashioned in that some of the furniture is heavy, but overall everything was very comfortable and well run. We had a really good room that was a good size, kept really clean with a comfortable bed. The bathroom was also good size with a separate bath and shower. Again it was kept immaculate by housekeeping. I would praise our chamber maid Josephine, who noticed our wedding anniversary cards and made a fuss of us and scattered rose petals on the bed together a lovely message. The food in the hotel is good and in price more than comparable with outside restaurants. Overall we really enjoyed our stay at the Grand Excelsior. All the staff were attentive and did their very best to ensure good service and a happy ambiance.

Booked this hotel for my Birthday last year and just getting around to catching up with reviews. I am going again in June this year for a big birthday, and so looking forward to returning both to the hotel and beautiful Malta. The hotel was beautiful, strangely built on a hill, so when you arrive at the entrance, which is at the back of the hotel, you enter on the 6th floor. Staff were warm and friendly. I had a room on the 9th floor, which was lovely, very clean, and had lots of space. The breakfast buffet had lots of options, which was a lovely start to the day for sightseeing. Used the Spa Services a couple of times, and the treatments were great and very relaxing. Went with a friend who was on a different floor, and her room was also really good. Both of our rooms had a pool view, which also gave a bit of a sea view. We used the pool on spa days or if we got back early - the water was a lovely temperature, and the pool area was very clean. They have bar service by the pool, and there are 2 or 3 restaurants /cafes around the pool area where you can go and sit down to eat. One of them stays open until about 5 pm, so nice to grab a bottle of wine as it was closing and sit and watch the sun start to set. I would have preferred it to stay open a little later but as I said, you can order a bottle of wine and stay later The only flaw I found was that to get to and from the entrance, you climb the equivalent of about 3 flights of stone steps to get back up to the road, but it gets your extra exercise in. The hotel does offer a small mini bus which picks you up and deposits you back at the door if you want to give the steps a miss, and drops you at the Tourist Information centre at the main gate at the entrance of Valetta. However, it is only about a 5 - 8 minute walk to the main gate of Valetta, walking from the top of the steps.

Although it was a nice hotel i have given it 3 stars because of the shortcomings - we were in a superior deluxe twin with limited sea view. Good points Friendly staff Nice decor Nice pool area Nice breakfast Good shower Shuttle to the top of the hill but we waited half an our and we could walk it in 5 minutes we found out but if you have limited mobility it is useful Bad points Around the pool area all you could hear was so called music which was like a slowed down rave beat - dum, dum dum dum was all you could hear - we had to move to away from the pool to escape it . I had a word with a manager who said it was chill out music when it was the opposite , he did change it to jazz for a couple of days which was better but still with too much bass , then it changed back to dum dum dum dum again . It would be better with light classical or no music at all. The balcony light came on automatically and you couldn't turn it off , I rang reception and they said they couldn't turn it off and it would go off at 11pm which was wrong as it was still on approaching midnight . With a nice harbour view it is much better with the light off when sitting on the balcony. In addition to the above the curtains in our room 730 wouldn't stay closed so if going to bed before midnight it would be very light in the room and in the morning , luckily I had taken some pegs with me so we had to peg the curtains together - not what you expect from a 5 star hotel The hotel is badly in need of a paint The balcony is not safe to leave kids on alone due to a poor design - there is a sign to that effect on the door The plumbing was noisy in our room after flushing the toilet or running a tap Despite the annoying things above which could be easily fixed with a little effort we enjoyed our stay