Grand Hotel Bristol Resort & SPA

We had no idea what to expect from this hotel, but we were pleasantly surprised. We stayed in a room at the top floor with a terrace and a fairly spacious room. The terrace view was SPECTACULAR overlooking the bay, the Portofino beach towns and the surroundings. In my opinion this hotel has the second best hotel view ever (following Monastero Santa Rosa in Amalfi). The pool area was very neat, clean and accessing the different areas from room to restaurant to pool was easy. As a family, we really enjoyed the pool area and it is a strong selling point for the hotel both for its facilities, the adjacent restaurant and the view. The food was really good, but maybe the breakfast buffet could've been a bit better. Heading down to the ocean was fairly easy with the hotel's free cars going down to the private beach area 5-7 minutes away. As it is an environment with very steep roads and staircases, have strong legs helps indeed. Booking a car between the hotel and beach as not flexible as one would've expect given the price of the room, but it worked out in the end. The private beach area had a restaurant, a patio with sunbeds and a beach. I personally don't like how the set up is, but frankly given the environment and how italian beaches are, this was totally ok. Last, arriving with your own car requires you to find parking at the hotel. The days we were there had very few parking spots and we not able to find decent parking spaces a few times when we arrived day and night. If the beach towns in the areas, Portofino is 15-20 min away, but I personally enjoyed San Margherita the best. Portofino is just expensive and hard to reach. Is this a five star hotel, no it is not but is a 4,5 and really good compared to the alternatives in the areas and I would definitely be open to return to this hotel with the family and recommend it to anyone who is looking for a great hotel in the area.

Our stay here was fabulous from start to finish. We were welcomed with complimentary drinks and freshly baked focaccia on the terrace whilst we waited for our room to be ready. The views from the rear of the hotel are stunning. Our room was a good size and comfortable with amazing views. The spa was a very welcome addition on a rainy morning and they kindly allowed us late check out so we could use our room afterwards to get ready. The complimentary shuttle into town was a nice touch as the distance was too far to walk. I would definitely return to this hotel.

Wonderful staff, who were always courteous and helpful, particularly the concierge team. Breakfasts were superb, the hotel was conveniently located but there was a shuttle bus into the town, if you needed it. Swimming pool was large and warm.

Let us start with the positives: location & views, F&B staff attempt their best with limited mgmt support. Excellent SPA (we suspect managed separately). However outweighed by negatives, not enough space to write it all: 1/ we were 1x week in a suite (405) + room (408). no hot water for the shower during entire stay. At maximum heat, shower pressure was a bare trickle of lukewarm water; alternative being freezing water at normal pressure. We informed hotel 24hrs into our stay; we arrived Sat, we are leaving today (Fri) and it has not been solved. Hopefully the hotel will solve it for the next occupants. General manager claimed he had not been aware of the issue (..). We asked whether they would inform the next occupants, we didn’t get a clear answer. Unelegantly they offered money, which we refused. When asked what they would do to improve service, the answer was “90% of our clients are happy”. Shouldn’t anything short of 100% be a reason for action? 2/ 3 family members are coeliacs, we told the hotel 48hrs before arrival so F&B staff could be told. When we arrived pool restaurant staff didn’t know. They fixed it when we raised it. Yet it was disappointing they had not done it proactively. 3/ the gluten free bread was green mouldy. Issues happen with packaged goods but it is emblematic that food put out for clients is not systematically checked every day. 4/ one evening laundry was left in our room that wasn’t ours but some other client’s items. 5/ we ordered room service on at least two occasions and each time the order was delivered wrong or incomplete 6/ every morning at breakfast including as I write (!) I was offered other people’s orders. “Did you order a cappuccino?” Is now a family catchphrase. Yet our own orders had to be chased several times. 7/ equally we were often given other clients’ bills to sign. Yesterday at the pool I had to remark facetiously to the staff that while I was happy to only pay €46 for our family Linux we had more than a couple of coke zeros (we didn’t it was someone else’s check) 8/ if you have life threatening allergies (eg nuts) stay away — breakfasts foods of different types are handled with the same cutlery. List is longer and it seems to be known locally. A taxi driver told us last night unprompted “they are young managers and staff there, they don’t really know their trade, you should have tried some of the more established hotels”. Worse of it all when we told all of this to the hotel GM so that they could improve, he was defensive and in denial — more interested in his own (high) self-esteem than bona fide feedback. Potential for the hotel is there, with seasoned management it could be a real hit. As it is the beautiful Italian Riviera offers multiple better value for money in the higher range hotels.

Fabulously located within a 15 minute walk to town. Wonderful views from our 3rd floor room. Clean, updated, roomy and sunny rooms with a very comfortable bed! Breakfast had plenty to offer for all tastes. My only complaint is that the restaurant staff ( first floor restaurant not the upstairs one) seemed very stressed and perhaps poorly trained. Our waiter ( who was kind and helpful ) actually told us they were running low on olive oil ( in Italy?) and would not leave a bottle at the table. He also gave us a very jumbled and semi inappropriate hint as to how to tip him in the way that he would get the most money. I have all the respect in the world for service employees having been one in my younger days. It just felt inappropriate and in poor taste. We did not use the pool but it looked lovely and plus that the gym had a rowing machine!