Grand Hotel Excelsior

Solid Stay but Feels Like a 3.5-Star Hotel - Dated Property. I recently stayed at the Grand Hotel Excelsior in Valletta. The experience was generally positive, but the hotel definitely feels more like a 3.5-star property. The best way to describe it is: an old cruise ship that’s been docked for 10+ years—charm in some places, but dated in many others. Check-In: Check-in was slow, more of an island time pace. Guests who arrived after me got their rooms before I did. It also genuinely felt like a certain demographic was being preferred, which was disappointing. Mei lied to us at pm that our room was almost ready and we will call us shortly. She didn’t and her body language clearly showed she was never going to. Mei left as her shift got over and Roweca finally got us a room and offered multiple times to buy us drinks but i just needed to get to my room. Not a great start! Rooms: Rooms are decent sized, clean and spacious, but the design is old. A big annoyance: there is no charging outlet next to the bedside, which is very inconvenient—especially for business travelers who rely on their phone alarm, watch chargers, or medical devices. Bring your own adaptors. They are stingy on towels as well. Water: Hot with Pressure or Cold without. Seriously there’s a water pressure issue in the hotel. Either you get really hot water or moderate / cold water seems to have low/no pressure. Taking a shower the first day was a challenge. Housekeeping: Housekeeping is very good, and I appreciated the evening turndown service, which is a nice touch many hotels no longer offer. WiFi: Surprisingly good. Strong and reliable throughout the hotel. Dining: Breakfast is ok ish. the omelette station could be better. Shockingly, they didn’t have tomatoes, which is odd for an omlette station. Service is slow and get packed during the morning rush hour. Go early to get a good omlette or skip it. Not ideal if you are in a hurry. Marita is wonderful. Also had lunch and dinner in the restaurant on the 4th floor which was functional. There are better choices in the city for food. concierge team is excellent, genuinely fun to talk to, and very helpful with recommendations and bookings. Jordan, the greeter, is fantastic—warm, welcoming, and a big asset to the front-of-house experience. Shuttle service is good for the most part. You are generally speaking better off walking though. It’s not a long walk. Overall: A comfortable stay, but the hotel needs modernization. Great staff (with some exceptions), good WiFi, solid housekeeping, and convenient location but dated rooms, slow check-in, limited adaptors, and poor bedside charging setup bring the rating down. Still, a decent option if you adjust expectations.

What an anniversary experience!! We checked in early as we arrived on an early flight. We were informed by a very friendly receptionist that we couldn’t go to our room before 3pm, which was fine, but that they would call should the room be ready earlier. This never happened! When we did go to our room it had single beds, not what we’d booked, so we asked for a move. We were told it would be a further 30 minute wait. After an hour I complained and we were only than able to move to a different room. We unpacked but then found there was no hot water. I got dressed again as my telephone complaint was ignored! Upon complaining we were offered a 3rd room which was an upgrade! By this time it was 6pm and we’d lost our restaurant reservation as a result! Throughout the staff were polite and apologetic but this really spoiled our anniversary. The hotel is in dire need of investment as it is very dated (even in our upgraded 3rd room 627 the toilet did not flush properly) but its location and views are fabulous. The breakfasts are definitely good and all staff we had an interface with were very customer friendly.

Definitely not a 4.5 star experience. Deluxe side sea view did have a glimpse of the sea but had a big naval engineering hanger with angle grinding being done constantly all day and evenings. Room was shabby and not what we expected from the standard of hotel that we supposedly booked. The breakfasts (hot food) was freezing cold every day. Complaining didn’t matter. Would not go back to this hotel unless their standards improved. On the plus side, the waiters and waitresses were lovely.

Just had a lovely week at this hotel, ideally situated ,10 min walk in to Valletta if you can manage the steps out of the hotel , otherwise a shuttle bus runs every 20mins. Take the lift down to the harbour and boat across to the 3 cities or you can Turn left out of the hotel and walk down the hill for 10 mins and you can get a ferry across to Sliema and a lovely promenade walk to St Julian’s. There is a Lovely pool area with access in to the sea Breakfast buffet style and excellent choice We had a superior side sea view room with excellent views across the harbour.

Our initial thoughts on entering the hotel, was wow! How splendid. Was a bit taken aback by the 150 euro security deposit that was taken straight away. Not sure what this is for as it is not for building up a tab as that is separate. Also be warned it could take up to 30 days to get refunded onto your card. So, our intial thoughts on room 608 which we paid an extra 140Euros to get upgraded to. Dated and dark mahogany furniture. We both went rather quiet at first, like "have we made a terrible mistake coming here" But the room was enormous and the bed really comfy. The shower was also piping hot and excellent. I did have to leave a little note for the cleaners to leave me extra towels ( which aren't very good quality), but other than that the service was spot on. As for the staff in general, extremely helpful and courteous. Very busy at breakfast so don't expect cheer from those in charge, as they do take some grief from demanding guests who want the sea view tables. We didn't swim or eat there as Valletta has too many restaurants to choose from, but a guest we spoke to said, the meals were ok. Make of that what you will. Will we go back, definitely, as the location was spot on and the 80 steps a breeze, if you can walk ok. Loved Valletta, and the hotel grew on us. Just needs a little bit of TLC and tarting up, to match the grand entrance. I suppose this is difficult to do, with the hotel being open all year round. Didn't have any issues with noise. Air con, was a little lacking. Could take a leaf out of the Seaview Hotel in Bugibba and have state of the art oscilating fans in the rooms as well. So all in all, a great hotel.