I used to be a regular guest at this hotel when it opened, and absolutely adored it. It's in a lovely building, in very easy walking distance of the centre of the city. And it was one of the pioneers of the more design-led hotels in the UK, winning awards. But having not visited for about six years (although I've stayed at most of their other hotels since and loved them), I was a little worried that the Glasgow Mal might have lost its edge having read a few slightly negative reviews on this site.

Fear not! It seems as though the hotel's had a significant amount of investment of late, and been spruced up. Our room was gorgeous - very, very stylishly decorated, spacious and extremely comfortable. Equipment has been updated - flat screen TVs and free broadband (with rumours of iPod docking stations in the posher rooms). The bathroom in particular was lovely, and the Arran Aromatics toiletries are great.

Staff are professional and friendly. We even managed to let us check in at 10.30am, having been warned in advance of our early arrival. The bar and restaurant are lovely, and breakfast is excellent. (If I had one minor whinge, it's that their new menu doesn't seem anything like as good as the old brasserie menu).

And the hotel has retained its reputation for exceptional value, with a good deal from the hotel's website. Great to see the hotel back on top form. The Mal strikes just the right balance between relaxed style and real professionalism. Very highly recommended.

The room we had was wonderful, a fine choice of furnishings with lush dark wooden furniture draped in vibrant reds, creams and browns. The room had all the extras you'd except and more, including a CD/DVD player, digital TV, a well stocked (and almost affordable) mini-bar and free WI-FI in public areas. A free milk delivery to our room was also a nice little touch.

This stunning hotel is a converted Greek Orthodox Church, although you wouldn't guess it from the interior which is lush and subtly designed. The hotel also features a rather gorgeous Champagne Bar in the crypt downstairs overlooked from the top of a metal spiral-staircase and covered by an intricate glass roof. The only concession to the original church is the use of the subdued and atmospheric crypt to house the restaurant.

Our stay was really relaxed & chilled and we found the staff really helpful, efficient and accommodating. Despite a small mixup on our arrival they quickly sorted out the problem and upgraded us. Throughout the rest of the stay they were always more than happy to assist.

We found the location to be perfect as it was a short walk downhill to the city centre. To be honest we were slightly concerned after reading some of the reviews, especially as we have stayed in several design/class hotels in the last few years. That said we checked out the other hotels, we'd considered whilst walking around town and we were very happy that we had gone with the Malmaison in the end.

Don't be deterred by the slick marketing of the Malmaison group, this place and its staff are superb. Highly recommended.

We were only in the Malmaison from about 1700 until 0800 the next morning, but we had a fantastic time there.
The room was a wee bit small, but with a large firm bed and a flatscreen TV with a DVD / CD player; having your own music makes a huge difference when you're travelling.

The champagne bar is funky and has big fat sofas you can sink into, and the range of whisky, gin, wine and champagne pretty fine- there's not many places you can get Cloudy Bay from Marlborough in NZ, but there it was sitting on the short but well put together wine list.

Music is cool but unobtrusive, and from micro Bose speakers throughout.

Staff were friendly and informative, especially in the restaurant, where the chorizo and asparagus salad was outstanding.

Breakfast was full of mini pastries, juices, breads, and the coffee woke us up nicely.
Try the excellent bar "Bia" down the road on West Regent St if you like cocktails or indie rock...!

We got allocated a corner room, and it was tiny.

After moaning we got moved to a MUCH bigger room. Great bed, decor, bathroom etc

Lots of free stuff in the rooms as well.

Staff need to smile a wee bit more though!