We have just returned from the Grand Palace last night. We spent 10 days in this hotel. Our travel agent had built it up very high, as you wld expect for the price, and when we expressed our concerns over other trip advisor comments, she claimed they were untrue to that extent. HOWEVER, i must say right now, that this hotel is in NO WAY a four star superior by our standard. On initial impression the reception areas are fine, but on lugging our cases into the tiny elevators and arriving to our floor(6th) i was a little less impressed as the walls were for sure very shabby and in desperate need of a re-paint, room doors were like a yellow tar stain, door frames not on, door handles loose and ill fitting. On entrance to the room it was actually fine, except it was sooo hot, suffocatingly so we tried to put on the air conditioning to no avail. The reception said they not have air con working in the whole hotel, only the heating works at the moment and that our solution was to open the windows. Which we did, but it did not help much and we were faing the very busy Via Veneto road so it was very noisy all night. I phoned the reception, explaining i was pregnant and could not cope with this heat and asked for a fan which they did provide. The outside temp was lovely and to this day i have no idea why the room was so hot, all i can say is it must be their heating from below as we had our switched off. We were offered two other rooms but we refused as they were horrific, no natural light, floor to wall wood panelling, dark teak may i add(7th floor)! So we stayed with our original hot but somewhat modern room. Despite a restless sleep due to noise (open windows)and heat, the beds were quite comfortable. On waking we showered and went to breakfast. OH DEAR, for those who dont have it included unlike us DONT GO TO BREAKFAST!!!! it was the worst i have seen, and if u do choose to try the eggs and bacon, get early or they will be cold! I stuck to cereal, bread and a coffee. We did eat most times however for breaky. Via Veneto is a great location, i think one of the most pleasant we walked around, plenty of restaurants and close to a good few sights! This area is full of grand hotels. For dinner i would recommend gran caffe Roma which is the first as u walk down under a canopy, waiters are very friendly(unlike a lot of roman waiters) and the food lovely...the pasta with mushrooms was good and the steak excellent! A little further down was a good one which sells lots of seafood, i had the grilled salmon which was very nice also. There are numerous restaurants some are great, others not so. Back at the hotel the swimming pool although attractive looking, is so small you can barely swin alongside anyone else. The spa is in no way like a spa here. My partner and i both booked a massage for the same time, his older lady was fine, but my younger lass gently stroked my back for 55 euros for 30 mins, despite me asking her to be a little firmer. I would not stay at this hotel again purely due to the fact it was not as high a standard as it charges, and lack of things to do(i.e pool too small and tv only has CNN repeated) it cost 18 euro for to watch the english movie! By day of course you are out sightseeing and for dinner also, but some nights we just wanted to relax and found it hard within this hotel. As for the staff, breakfast staff not friendly at all, bar staff never around and always on their mobile phones when they are rarely seen, reception staff i have no complaints over. Although not as helpful or attentive as our own hotels here in Scotland, they were for what we seen of some Roman manners good.
