we stayed in sofitel for 4 nights recently, arriving from the uk, and the first thing you notice is that france is still not smoke free. everyone reeks of it. its in the restaurants, all over the hotel, by the pool, everywhere and we were suffocating in it. apart from that, the hotel itself is lovely. you get a picture perfect view of the med and the port with the mountains in the background, its truly gorgeous, but hardly worth the money on its own.

we found the hotel service polite but pathetic. every time we asked for a bucket of ice it took an hour and we had to remind them, in french as hardly anyone understood english. our room wasnt cleaned until around 4pm, and also after we moaned about it not being cleaned. they dont do a very good job of it, either as things werent dusted or polished or scrubbed (bathroom floor was dirty).

the included breakfast buffet was decent, although as my son put it aptly, 'scary.' they bring you a cup of coffee the size of a child's tea party. you wonder if its espresso, but it isnt. its just coffee. 2 sips of it. then, they were out of both juices and water, so i had nothing else to drink one morning as it wasnt quickly replenished even though they had tons of staff. the guests looked unhappy, the vibe was kind of sullen and snobbish, and again, smokers everywhere.

the pluses - the worlds most gorgeous jogging path is right in front of the hotel, and runs along for miles overlooking the med. its simply brilliant. bring your trainers.

the beach nearby. more normal, ordinary folk go to this public beach, and its better for it. friendlier feel, gentle waters as its sheltered by reefs. within walking distance to the hotel, plus a little child's play area right on the beach too.

if u have a car, drive to la ciutat for a day on the beach. its a lovely, unpretentious beach town, more quiet than where sofitel is and just nicer all round apart from the ice cream vendor who moaned when i took too many napkins for my son, so i gave her an extra 20 centimes to shut her up, which worked.

the thumbs down - the pool, as lovely it looked, was THEE most freezing pool ive ever not been in. no one went in apart from 2 norweigans and they looked tortured. it was impossible to go into. it froze my foot as i dipped it in. one wonders with what they charge why they couldnt be bothered to heat it? my son was disappointed, as was i, as were nearly everyone looking at it longingly.

then there's the scary french men and women who cant be bothered to wear knickers. i saw a man with shorts on without pants, and everything dangling out, and it was like he didnt care. and i saw a woman with white linen trousers and no knickers, about 55 years of age. not pleasant. then there was the bloke kept roaming the corridors of the hotel with his courtesy robe.

if you have small children, the restaurants arent open until 730. on top of that, we found french women, waiting staff in particular, to be [--] at best. one of them, the second i responded with a french 'desolee' as she spoke too fast, tut tutted and hastily walked away, and never came back to the table. we went for chinese and found it really to be vietnamese and they had frog on the menu. had a prawn curry but it wasnt really proper curry. and the old man had no idea what hot & sour soup was either.

location wise (south of france), its great. but next time im gonna spend my money on italy instead or other places as the general attitude of the french, that sort of [--] superiority thing, makes this destination undesirable by comparison (italians are far warmer as are spanish).

We stayed 5 nights 22-27 December 2006 and occupied one of the ground floor rooms (R 27) which has a balcony overlooking the old port.
The location, at the mouth of the Old Port, is superb with magnificent views over the Vieux Port. The Sofitel and its sister Novotel share a single structure, but with separate drive ways in from the street. The hotel is 3 stops away by bus No 83 from the nearest metro station (Vieux Port) and the best way of getting to the Airport is by taxi (cost about EUR 50) rather than the airport bus to the main railway station.
Our room had a large double bed with very comfortable mattress and light but warm duvet. It had been refurbished and looked grand. But it lacked cupboard space for clothes, and the bathroom (which had shower cabinet as well as a bath) did not have hand rails for its older customers (like us). Some of the surfaces were slippery and the towel rail was much too high up.
The 4th floor restaurant, where both breakfast (EUR 22) and dinner is served has glorious views. Ask for a window table. The menu option offers the possibility of having a different wine with each course; we thought that very good.
Staff in the hotel was uniformly friendly and helpful.
The self-service business centre had 2 PCs, which cost EUR 15 an hour to use with a pre-paid card.
The outdoor swimming pool is not is use in winter, though was filled at the time of our visit.
On average, we paid EUR 225 per night, plus breakfast.
We would definitely stay again

We were in Marseille for business and decided to stay at the Sofitel mainly for their incredibly comfortable beds. We were not disappointed. The view from our room was so incredible that we woke up early each morning to watch the sunrise. One morning it was so amazing that we took some photos which we will post as soon as we get them on the computer. The hotel staff was sometimes disorganized and the left hand didn't know what the right hand was doing, but we have found this to be the case with all Sofitel Hotels in general. The thing that keeps us coming back is the beds which are so comfortable that we could hardly get up in the morning. The room service is amazing. When they say ten minutes, they mean it!! The pool area is too smalll and the gym is very meager. The breakfast buffet is wonderful but you must be there by 9:30 or you miss it.

I recently stayed for a few days at the Sofitel Vieux Port and had an excellent time. Prevous reviews read on this website about the hotel were spot on, and as recommended, I upgraded to a room with a harbour view which was fantastic, both by day and night. The room was expensive, but lavish, the staff were all very helpful and the breakfast from their rooftop restaurant with panoramic views over the port, superb!
I was slightly disappointed with the size of pool and lack of sunloungers and found that it was also shared by the Novotel next door. Sadly people still seem to claim their chair from very early in the morning, only to then leave and return to it much later in the day.........but this seems unfortunately to be the norm in many places these days.
Be wary of the price of drinks near the pool Two gin and tonics gave very little change from 20 euros! Also, as another review stated, do check your bill very carefully, I had quite a few mistakes on mine.
I would love to return again when my bank balance recovers and would certainly recommend it again. I was a middle aged lady on my own and felt very confortable there.