Grand Hotel Palace

Too far away from the center. Not a 5 star hotel. It is really a 3 star hotel at best. The surroundings need power washing and painting. The swimming pool is good but was dirty. The breakfast was good, but the staff slow and arrogant. The view was literally to a train track.

I have thought long and hard about this review as I have never written a negative one before I wanted to ensure I was being fair to the hotel. I have been in touch with them direct to express my disappointment rather than simply writing this review. Our main issue relates to the misleading information given in their website:-

The hotel appears to now be called the the New Palace Hotel.

They mention 2 restaurants. One appears to be the breakfast room and the other in the lobby of the old building through which guests have to walk to access their rooms. i cannot imagine they are among the "most exclusive" in the area as it seemed they offered only 1 set menu choice for dinner which had to be pre-booked.

There was no restaurant by the pool as shown on the website.

The pool bar was closed.

We had to ask at reception whenever we wanted a drink which then involved them radioing a member of staff to make and bring us a drink. We asked for a gin and tonic and had to explain which bottle held the gin!

The bar is located in the breakfast room without any lounge chairs and is certainly not "delectable" as stated on the website.

The rattan furniture referred to is in need of repair and is in poor condition.

The atmosphere is bleak.

The swimming pool was lovely and a welcome relief from the heat but you had to pay for pool towels.

We were not aware of any lounge chairs in the garden except the rattan tables and chairs.

The room was comfortable and the bathroom large. The shower took 5 minutes to reach full power and the temperature fluctuated a little but overall the shower was good.

The staff tried to help when we asked for things but it seems there are perhaps not enough of them as they have to radio to other colleagues to sort things out.

We had laundry done and after a bit of debacle our clothes turned up a day later than expected in the neighbouring room but the staff were apologetic.

I feel these comments are fair because whilst they would not be an issue in hotels of a lesser standard this hotel purports to be 5 star. Without wanting to sound an idiot I do travel quite a lot and I have never experienced such poor value for money. We transferred to Marsala after a lovely week on one the egadi islands so the lure of air conditioning is what drew us in. Because we were travelling I was unable to read my full booking email confirming the price and this is my fault and not that of the hotel but I was staggered that they charged me a supplement of 100 euros per day on top of the advertised price on their website for the same period because the management had decided to charge more due to the national holiday on 15th August (although we checked out on 14th). I was told the rate applied to the period 12th to 15th August although we in fact arrived on 11th and were charged the supplement for that day too.

It was about a 25 minute walk into Marsala.

The nearby restaurant I Bucanieri was excellent.

The hotel is certainly not 5 star and was the most disappointing stay we have experienced during our travelling of the past 10 years. I would certainly not recommend it.

First time I'm welcomed in a "palace" without a free bottle of water in the room. First time I pay 4 euros for two swimming pool towels in a "5 stars hotel". The breakfast is disappointing. The view from the room 123 is probably the uggliest... 150 euros for one night is way too expansive. Overrated