Grand Hotel Excelsior Malta

To celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary we booked the Excelsior and was not disappointed. We arrived to an upgrade to deluxe room, with harbour view, folded towels and a bottle of local fizz with chocolates. WOW. ||Our stay was fantastic, the pool, bar area and sea terrace are fab, the indoor pool and spa facilities- great.||The communal areas of the hotel are very grand and well appointed. The bar with harbour views is superb as was my espresso martini. We did not eat at the hotel. The shuttle bus up the hill is great if you can’t manage the 100 or so steps. ||Yes the rooms could do with a little updating and a more powerful hairdryer but other than that is a great hotel. The staff are accommodating and hardworking.|It’s not a modern boutique style hotel it’s a classic comfortable glamorous place.||Our experience was grand.|Thank you

We had a great stay in this hotel. The pool area is lovely with amazing views, and there are three bars outside which are perfect for a drink in the sun. The food was really good too. The only downside was the pool service-we had to wait quite a while for drinks a few times. Everyone was very friendly though and the place was spotless. It’s definitely a bit dated now (especially the bathroom), but it still has a really nice feel to it. We didn’t feel it’s a 5star. Great location with an easy walk into town! A relaxing stay.

A very nice hotel with very attentive and friendly staff. The 'night time' service where they bring you chocolates before bed was a lovely touch. One member of staff that really stood out to us was Xiying, who we talked to in the little gift shop by reception. She was very friendly and lovely, shared information about how and where the Maltese glass is made. She was very helpful. We felt welcome as soon as we stepped through the front doors, with the smiling staff bringing us welcome drinks. The hotel is huge, very clean everywhere. The rooms could have been a bit bigger as well as the balcony but still very nice and I understand this isn't something that can be changed easily so not too much of a complaint. The private beach was nice however cannot be walked on without shoes, so maybe could fill it with actual sand instead of stones. All round great place great breakfast great service.

My wife and I would not choose any other hotel in Malta.The friendly hard working staff make you feel so welcome in fact its like staying with family or one's best friend.||The hotel is furnished to a very high standard that successfully promotes a truly comfortable and relaxed atmosphere. Food and service is second to none. The evening entertainment makes for an enjoyable evening in the lounge. ||We have just had our 5th visit, 3 glorious weeks, the photo says it all we never stooped smiling. Thank you Mr Norbert Grixti for making every thing perfect, you and you staff must be very proud.

Nice hotel but not 5 star. Poor power from the shower head. Slow bar staff at pool tiki bar, nice staff but slow. One lady on phone all the time. No snacks or crisps at the tiki bar and they ran out of cisk beer. Wifi at pool and tiki bar weak. Gym OK, needs to be maintained better. Reception check in and out a bit slow. Lovely pool area and nice big rooms and a great location. Nice inside bar area too. Would stay again.

Just back from a 5 night stay. Mixed view of the hotel.|Good location, on the waterside, lovely pool area but no parasols !|Bar at the pool was lovely good service from staff |We had a lovely room overlooking the pool|Towels were very poor quality - 3 star at best and room service was very poor, only one hand towel provided, then on three days, no hand towel provided |Waiter service in the Admiral lounge was poor, plates left on the table, (had to bring them back to the bar myself) as were glasses on another day. On three visits to the lounge, no waiter / waitress came to take our order|Outside walls in bad need of a coat of paint|As per heading in our view, not a 5 star hotel, main failing was the service and the towels in the room|Not up to the standard of the Phoenicia - a proper 5 star

Very, very disappointed with this hotel. We are fortunate enough to be able to choose to stay at 5* hotels, so we have a good idea of what to expect, and this is definitely NOT 5*. An upper 3* - on a good day. Our suite was horrible. Cavelike, with worn out fabrics on dated furnishings & very questionable carpeting. The toilet never flushed properly & had to be unblocked on 4 separate occasions. To be fair, they did send someone quite quickly to attend to this. After our 5th reporting of a blockage they moved us to a suite one level down. This was equally dire - & the private balcony proved to be far from that. The low balcony sides allowed you to see anyone sitting outside along the entire floor. The furnishings throughout are dark, heavy & depressing. We disliked it so much, we left the hotel as much as possible. Thank goodness it didn't rain or it would have been truly dismal! Why isn't there a lovely open balcony on which to enjoy a drink somewhere attached to the hotel?? The pool is OK, but the sunloungers are crammed around it like sardines. The pool staff are pleasant enough, but they don't do much other than help move/erect an umbrella. The sunloungers only seem to be 'hosed down' every so often & the little side tables were filthy. We never witnessed anything being cleaned.🤢 The tiling around the pool is dirty & uneven & the depth of the pool itself is a concern. Approximately 3/4 of the pool is at least 1.5 metres deep, so not great for low confidence swimmers. Also, it didn't always appear clean... The 'beach' is laughable! It's a flatish piece of rock with a sandy surface. Again, the sunloungers were crammed in. The lifts took forever to arrive & using the stair access was a grim option. The cleaning/ maintenance staff were also having to use the guest lifts as their service lift was out of order - & apparently had been for some time! The staff on the hospitality desk were extremely attentive - Heathcliffe in particular 😳

Enjoyed my stay at the GHE . However there were a few niggles, hotel is in need of a major refurbishment as the bathrooms are certainly dated! My room had a corner shower which was fine apart from needing to be a contortionist to squeeze in past the toilet which blocked the dor! Location is fine for Valletta but traffic in the area is crazy! Service was OK mostly. Breakfast team were a bit gruff and snappy...