Grand Hotel Excelsior

perfect location with the view of harbour , full service for transport , with inhouse courtesy car,

Great location, large and comfortable rooms, friendly staff. Very enjoyable stay.

Housing keeping was excellent.

Front desk and Concierge were terrible. I was at the desk complaining and so was the person next to me. The staff did nothing.

The staff were nice, the facilities are, in general, quite good.

Air conditioning in the room was very loud.

To enjoy the hotel to the fullest, recommend that one books a room with full harbour view. Hotel facilities are luxurious and quiet. Staff are courteous and helpful. Location is 10 minutes walking from Valletta city and main bus terminus

Hotel site is somewhat isolated. Shopping / entertainment areas in Sliema and Paceville require a ride by public bus or taxi (fare 20 Euros).

Good facilities

In hotel restaurant and bar service almost non existent. Rooms not replinished properly, coffee, tissues, toilet rolls etc.

I appreciated to find exactly 3 persons good at their jobs, who enabled me to bear my stay and make it less painful.

Basic rules are not respected : toilet paper is not given systematically, so aren't the goodies (body lotion, bath and shower cream, etc.), the rooms are only apparently clean (I found out at the end of my stay that crashed biscuits were hidden under the bed, and the couches in the lobby are full of dust and are gray instead of yellow sometimes), most of the personnel is unpleasant and unwelcoming as soon as you have a special request (I often heard them moaning, in the restaurant I was given a table already occupied and another one full of the dirts of the previous customers). Plus, there's no transparency on prices. All in all, this is not a five star hotel, rather a 2 star hotel in France with plenty of additional services.

Excellent location, great service though services of conceirge, room etc which i had to access via room phone were a tad too slow!

I stayed at the Grand Excelsior with my family (4 adults, 2 toddlers) for a 1-week vacation in Malta. We chose this hotel because we wanted to be close to the city of Valletta and have sea view at the same time; also, we liked the idea of having both a (indoor and outdoor) pool area and access to a little beach from the hotel premise We had booked 2 sea front rooms and were assigned two rooms on the second floor towards the pool area (rooms 218 and 219). Pros: The hotel is located on the north-western rim of Valletta’s peninsula and lies within walking distance of Valletta’s bus hub. The view over Marsamxett harbor and to Ta-Xbiex were stunning, and this applied to our room (balcony), to the outdoor pool area, and especially to the breakfast restaurant n the 4th floor and the other two restaurants on the 5th and 6th floor. The rooms are adequately sized (although not as roomy as other 5-star hotels). The outdoor pool was quiet, clean and featured plenty of chaise lounges and sun umbrellas. The outdoor waiters were courteous and efficient. We had enjoyed one buffet dinner in the outdoor restaurant that was superb. The breakfast buffet was excellent with a wide choice of food. Housekeeping did their job well and were always friendly.

Cons: Large groups (weddings and benefit gala dinner) had their lively and loud open-air party on 3 out of the 7 nights we stood at the hotel – all of them approaching midnight. Also, the hotel then closed all dining facilities for all other regular hotel guests. This meant that on those nights, we had to dine somewhere else when we wanted to be outside, and it also meant that our kids had a hard time falling asleep. Since our room was on the 2nd floor and near the pool area, the (small) balcony was of little use to us. The bathroom featured just a small tub but no walk-in shower. The decor in the hotel, especially the bathrooms, is decrepit and showing heavy wear (see pics), and the air-conditioning is not working as you would expect - definitively substandard for a 5-star hotel. Also, we found the layout and the design of the pool area quite shabby with a leaking fountain, no green but a few scattered planted pots around the pool. The hotel is connected with Valletta by an extremely busy road that must be crossed if you want to walk to the central bus station or to the city. As there are no traffic lights, crossing that road with two toddlers becomes particularly challenging and dangerous during rush hours. Upon checking-out, the front desk person screwed up completely: she obviously was unfamiliar with the process, charged my credit card twice, and was unable to resolve the issue within a timely fashion. In short: The Grand Excelsior definitely does not deserve 5 stars. The hotel employs junior people who – although friendly – are inexperienced and lack attention to detail. The location with a view over one of Valletta’s natural harbors is a big plus that sure made us feel the Mediterranean atmosphere. Do expect noise and sleeplessness on every outdoor party night but do not expect the management to give you a heads-up!

the pool side and view was magnificent

the food could be better.

Very comfortable, fantastic sea view, caring staff, excellent breakfasts - and just a short walk (uphill) to the centre of Valletta, which is a fascinating city. The bus station, where you can catch a bus to almost anywhere on the island, is also very close. Down the hill from the hotel is a great Italian restaurant, which makes a nice change from the walk into the centre.

It's a big hotel, and attracts big conferences. But it seemed to cope well with large groups, and did not interfere with our stay. And the walk up the hill into the centre started to get a bit tiresome, but there is an hourly courtesy car you can take if you organise yourself accordingly. All in all, the hotel is hard to fault.

The hotel can not be 4 stars: 3+. The location is nice and a view from pool area and restaurants is also nice. The room is also acceptable and breakfast is OK. But the Spa facility closes too early and not allow the guest to use the changing room. The taxi service is too expensive.

The spa closed at 7PM and they do not allow guest to use even the locker room, let alone the shower in the changing room. We were also assigned the room opposite to the restaurant: no privacy. They did not change the room. The taxi service of the hotel charged 10 minutes distance 25EURO. The cleaning service came during our breakfast and kept us waiting outside of our room for 15 minutes.

So close to Valetta, the World Heritage city. All areas of Malta easily accessible. Large outdoor pool and interesting indoor warm pool. Gym. The friendly courtesy of every staff member. A la carte cooking in main restaurant - the salmon on barley was delectable. The themed buffet dinners were very generous.

Gym didn't open early enough to go before tour pick up. The hotel is down a hill and has many steps up to road level but there are courtesy cars if this is a problem.