Hôtel du Grand Lac Excelsior

Grand old hotel with a convenient lakeside position right on the promenade and a short walk to Montreux centre. We had a junior suite which was ideal for 3 adults although the shower room was very small compared to the size of the room. The junior suite was a good size with a small patio / terrace area overlooking the lake. Breakfast was ok - nice view but slightly lacking in variety e.g. fresh fruit. |Parking was available on the street outside the hotel - having arranged parking (10 CHF) for the Friday of our stay we were annoyed that the hotel failed to inform us of parking restrictions on the Saturday morning resulting in a 40 CHF parking fine - the hotel should have known about this and advised us to park elsewhere.|Otherwise a comfortable stay.

There are pluses and minuses to this hotel, but all in all, we loved it! Think of it as old world charm or that you’re staying in an historic chateau. The hallways are huge, ceilings high, and bedrooms and bathrooms large. There is great AC, double sinks in bathroom, gorgeous lake view from charming balcony, and very friendly staff who speak English. But it is tired and worn. The carpet could use cleaning, and the balcony furniture could be painted. We slept great in a dark, cold and completely quiet room with comfy bed and individual duvets on a king bed.

Wonderful view, clean room and soft linens. We stayed in the “off season” so the hotel was not full. We only saw other guests at breakfast. The pass to use local transportation was key! Although it took us several trys to understand how to cross train tracks to get to the correct bus stop. We could see where we wanted to go but not sure how to get there. The front desk staff was wonderful. Speaking English and some German we had difficulty understanding directions within the hotel. It took us 20 minutes to get to the correct elevator/hall that allowed us to swim in the large lovely pool.

Huge potential let down by dated and tired decor. The hotel is in a superb location and the breakfast and staff are fantastic. It is however in desperate need of refurbishment; the terrace is filthy with broken sun lounges and planters filled with weeds. The furniture is functional but dated. If these were updated it would be an amazing hotel, but the price would be alot more.

The bedroom and bathroom were both large and spacious . The bed was quite comfortable and extra pillow’s were provided upon request . The view from the little balcony was absolutely beautiful and I’m glad we booked a lake view - well worth it. The staff were very friendly and helpful - they gave us discount cards for travel and attractions. The hotel and room were “ tired “ but I have to say it was very clean . Also there are no tea / coffee facilities in the room . The hotel bar was closed by 8.30 ish when we came back from our meal and we were unable to get a drink from anywhere as there was no room service either. ( not sure if this because it’s not high season or it was Sunday ?). We were given a disc to park in the road near the hotel but it was very busy so we had to wait a while. As it was Sunday it was ok but on other days apparently you need to keep moving the car every 3 hours as that is the time limit with the disc ! We really liked aspects of the hotel but the parking and lack of facilities were not great.

We visited as part of a mini tour of Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and France so we had a lot to compare this hotel to. We booked a junior suite for 3 adults for 2 nights. The first thing to say is that the staff were all very helpful and polite throughout, but unfortunately that is where the good news ends. Our room was on level -3 which I believe is the case for all junior suites as they have a terrce and access to the lake side walk. ||The corridor is looking extremely tired with faded and stained carpets and a large pebble keeping a fire door open - an interesting approach to health and safety. The corridor smelled damp, but the smell got worse when we opened the door to our room. The room smelled of horses, particularly unpleasant. The room had clearly not been deocrated for some considerable time, the furniture was of poor, flimsy quality and the bathrooms were inadequate (shower screen too small, toilet too close to the basin meaning that one has to be careful where to place one's jaw in order to avoid fouling the basin). ||The interior decor and standard of accommodation is simply not in-keeping with the exterior of this grand old building - it is as though it is simply being neglected which is s real shame. It could be a beatiful hotel, but unfortunately it isn't. This is quite plainly not a four star hotel as advertised and I suspect that there are many more suitable hotels in Montreux. ||We asked to change rooms, but were told there was only one other room available - another junior suite - which it turns out suffered the same problems as our room. We therefore requested a refund (having been asked to pay in full on arrival) which the duty manager arranged without any disagreement. We were grateful for this as it meant we could escape this hell hole after only one night. ||We do feel sorry for the staff that work there, as I am sure that they have to soak up a lot of criticism for this ageing and inadequate hotel.||Don't be fooled by the photos of this hotel on the website - the photos are small for a reason. It makes it difficult to see what you are really getting, but trust me, it isn't great. If you are one of the people attending the Montreux Jazz Festival who thought you had "lucked-in" finding great accommodation here - I'm afraid you haven't - stay in Lausanne or Geneva and travel in.

We were booked in a deluxe room for only 1 night, but despite the room being large with glorious view of Lac Leman, there was no coffee machine or dressing gowns. We paid a fair surcharge to upgrade to a junior suite which gave us a coffee machine, although only 2 coffee sachets. The hotel is in desperate need of a refurbishment. Carpets are not only very worn, but torn in places with non-matching sections of carpet sitting loosely on top. The carriers are also really grubby, bordering on badly stained in places. However, regardless, the staff are very good and we enjoyed our cocktails in the lounge area. It's easy to imagine how magnificent this hotel once was and I hope they can restore it before fittings deteriorate further

Look out of your balcony and be blown away by the majesty of Lake Geneva from your room at Hotel du Grand Lac Excelsior! The hotel is a wonderful specimen of the Belle Epoque grand hotel genre, with stately public areas and those glorious views everywhere...be it your room, or from your breakfast table! A handful of historic hotels remain and the Hotel du Grand Lac Excelsior has perhaps the best views out of all them. Don't believe me, stay there yourself to check it out first hand!