The Gray Hotel, Milano: NEVER Stay there

Date: 15 February 2008
Reviewer: A TripAdvisor Member, Moscow Russia

I have chosen to stay at the Gray Hotel Milano during my business trip to Milan (what a mistake!). One good thing (and the only one) about this hotel is location - close to Duomo, shopping etc. The rest is just absolutely terrible.

The room (which was more than 300 euro a night) was very small (and they asked for the 100 euro extra for allowing me to stay with my girlfriend, although the room was single), the safe was not working and the aircon could be swithed on only from the reception desk downstairs! I asked twice and it still didn't work.

And the hotel staff is stealing from the guest rooms! While I was out for dinner, all cash and credit cards which were remained in the room were stolen (the thiefs checked my business case and the lady's bag). The hotel has a system which records everybody who entered the room and the manager knew who the thief was (and he/she already spent 150 euro in a restaurant before I blocked the card), but, first, they didn't want to call the police and then, when police came, it became even worse. They tried to prove that nothing happenned, then, after my complaints, police said (at 1am at night) that I need to go by taxi to the different police station (as if they were not policemen themselves) and write a complain and only after this, they can start investigation! And the manager said clearly that I should ask for a compensation not from them but from an insurance company!

I have never seen such an unpleasant and unprofessional management (and local police) as in the Hotel Gray Milano! I stayed in the different hotels all around the World and never experienced a theft from my room and such a behavior from the management as in this hotel.

NEVER stay in the Hotel Gray Milano!

The good:
the location is fantastic, literally a few steps from the Duomo, any closer to the Duomo you would be inside it. The (small) lobby looks good. The staff are courteous and smiling, if not exactly falling over themselves to help customers. The room was very clean.

The bad:
My room had all the gadgets (CD player, DVD player, small flat-screen TV), but was really quite small. OK, it was a single room, but in a five-star hotel I would expect a larger one. No room to swing a cat here, very cramped. The corridors were a bit dirty, and the finishes in the corridors were quite cheap, basically walls made of grey plastic.
The staff's English was so-so (just about acceptable in a five-star hotel); problem is the staff's ITALIAN wasn't very good either, which I find puzzling and unacceptable for a Milan hotel! I guess most of the staff were Eastern Europeans. But as I said, at least they were smiling and they were polite.
The breakfast buffet was definitely poor by five-star standards. Furthermore, the buffet was lit by a multicoloured light (the room has no natural lighting), so I couldn't tell if the food was fresh or not, because the croissants looked bright red, the milk looked bright blue, etc...

Ultimately though (although this is not inherently the Gray's fault) this hotel suffers from what I call The Tiny Five-Star Hotel Syndrome.
The Gray is very small. Call it bijou if you want, I call it tiny. When a high-class hotel is so small, what CAN it offer, apart from good service, cleanliness and a few gadgets?? There is nothing here.
Maybe I am old fashioned, but to me the mention of a five-star hotel evokes the idea of large elegant communal spaces, gardens, terraces, balconies, a pool, a spa.
A Very Small Hotel, no matter how you doll it up and no matter how smiley the staff are, remains a Very Small Hotel. But I guess that for some people that is a good thing.

I have stayed in many Milan hotels, and the Gray rates among the best. It is well priced, stylish and comfortable.

The location, right next to the Galleria Emmanuele shopping mall, is perfect (the hotel has a stunning suite overlooking interior of the mall itself - worth asking the front desk to show it to you, it's amazing). My room was small but immaculate - comfy bed, posh sheets, superb power shower. When I couldn't figure out how the ultra-modern faucets worked, someone came up right away to help.

As with most Milan hotels (the Bulgari and Four Seasons aside), the "restaurant" was a cubby hole with no windows. OK for breakfast, but don't get caught here in the evenings.

I considerd very intensively before I chose this hotel. It looked very stylish on the photos and is situated very central. On arrival we were shocked because the room was very, very small. Furthermore, the heating didn't work and we tried to regulate the ac, but it didn-t work. At the reception we were told that the ac can only be regulated from there, but not in the rooms (!!!). The night was terribly loud with lots of noises from the streets.

The next morning, we didn't have warm water in the shower and the pressure of the water was very low, too. I hurried down to the reception in my bathrobe to say that I really would appreciate a warm shower. I was offerd to take a shower in another room. Later on, we asked for another room. We were told that at 14:00 hours another (and bigger and warmer) room would be ready for us. At this time however, we were told the room wasn't ready yet and had to return one hour later. But than it still wasn't ready....Finally we got the room at 18:00.....The 2nd room was bigger, nicer, no problems. But when I checked out the following morning, they wanted me to pay a much higher price, beacuse the room was a superior category.....Incredible! If you want to spent a nice time in Milan without getting angry, choose another (and cheaper) hotel