"The Excelsior Gallia is a regal, storied hotel in a beautiful building with stately surroundings. That's about where the positives of my stay end. My father was the manager of this hotel for the US Army for a couple of years at the end of World War II. My parents lived on the second floor in what is now room 121 (or "floor 1"). The hotel was kind enough to arrange for me to occupy my parent's room that was part of the suite they lived in at the end of WWII during the post-war era of the mid-40s.
On arrival, we had a nice reception and got into the room ok. But it was a quick and cursory run-through of the room's amenities. That was about the end of any real staff-to-guest service for us for the three days we were there (with the exception of meals).
Our main complaint began as soon as we asked for help. We called the service line, but no one answered. For example, we wanted an additional pair of large slippers. The room was outfitted for a male-female couple, but we were two males and we wear large slippers. We must have asked for large slippers three or five times during our stay. I even sent email to the guest services email address, but we never got an answer. It wasn't until the day we checked out that we found more slippers in a lower wardrobe drawer. If someone would have just told us, we would have helped ourselves. I recall attempting to reach guest services at LEAST seven times and never getting an answer. That is just unacceptable.
Other things about the hotel that were aggravating were that we couldn't figure out how to turn off lights in the room to sleep. Again, we called the service line for advice, no answer. Also, our shower leaked onto the bathroom floor and the shower also smelled like sewage on occasion. We sent email about these issues, but again, no answer. A couple of other things about the hotel seemed odd to us. The circuitous route you take to access the gym and spa was bizarre--a series of odd hallways and doors that seemed poorly thought out. Even with a good sense of direction, I got lost. The hotel's elevators are also terrible; tedious, slow as molasses.
Meals were another problem. The first night we had a good meal at the rooftop lounge. One of us is Celiac, so we were able to get a gluten-free meal the first night. Breakfasts were ok, but not great. The pastries and general food quality were very average. Some of the breakfast staff seemed unfriendly, stiff, and too formal. There was no smile, no "welcome to breakfast!" at all. There was a dour mood among some employees. The place felt almost soulless. A second meal on the rooftop on our night before departure was also problematic. The service was friendly and accommodating. However, a gluten-free salad was attempted but it was mixed up; one salad was gluten-free, the other wasn't--but which salad was which? We didn't know. This left us with a low confidence level that the Celiac won't be gluten-poisoned before we leave. We were right to be wary, because sure enough, there was another problem with the last breakfast (not to be confused with the "Last Supper," which is a famous painting in Milan). For "Last Breakfast," we pre-ordered an early delivery, and we specifically explained the need to have one set of eggs be on gluten-free toast. Nonetheless, though breakfast was delivered on time, the Celiac's meal was "eggs on GLUTEN toast." ARGH! The only person on duty at that time was one person, the poor guy who brought our meal. He had to run to the kitchen and have the egg dish redone. This took a while and it was a regrettable ending to a stay in a hotel that should have been a five-star experience, but which, instead, fell way short of our expectations.
I could not for the life of me imagine what tight-wads (cheapskates!) Marriott managers are to have such limited staff on duty for a hotel of this size and of this magnitude. Why? The place should be thick with staff members, but instead, there seem to be too few staff, and there is no real sense of service about any aspect of this hotel. My hotel bill was over $5,000. Shouldn't I have gotten better service for that sum of money? So disappointing!
The concierge service was good, but it wasn't "knock-out fantastic." We mentioned a few of our room problems to the concierge, and we asked for our room to be cleaned while we were gone. We got the impression that the concierge was going to take care of these things, but when we came back later, our room was still not made up, and we still didn't have our extra pair of large slippers. We got the impression that none of the staff at Excelsior Gallia "owns" problems. No one wants to answer the service phone. Are there just too few employees? Is the hotel poorly managed? Does anyone on the staff really care? About anything?
I learned an Italian saying, “avere le fette di salame sugli occhi." This means something like "going through life with slices of salami on your eyes." I think it means "to be oblivious." It perfectly describes the service at the Excelsior Gallia hotel, in my opinion. Yes, it was very nice that the management left us a gift of a mocca coffee maker, and they also granted us additional Bonvoy points when they learned, finally, that we had had so many problems getting service. I would rather have written a five-star review and skipped all of that, but this hotel barely deserves one or two stars. It's no wonder that when I left the hotel to catch my ride to the airport (I was aggravated about the gluten-free breakfast snaffu), I put my plastic key cards on the counter, and I said to the three men standing behind the counter in their suits that I hope to never, ever stay in this hotel again. I added that "My father once managed this place, and I have bad news: I think he would have fired ALL of you!"
I don't think the gentlemen at the front desk completely understood me. Well, they can read this review."
