The Excelsior

"Booked a suite for 4 nights. It’s a Small Luxury Hotel of the World so expectations are high and they should be. Enjoyed our stay and were pleased, but with some disappointments. The hotel is in a great location. Parking is difficult, but to be expected. However, the doorman was very helpful with information about our options. Check in with Elizabeth was efficient, professional, and she was very helpful. Any contact with the hotel, replies were quick and we had assistance with making dinner reservations. This is not a purpose built hotel, but a retrofit. Therefore there are quirks. Our suite was comfortable however the bathroom for a suite (#15) was very small. Possibly this should not be categorized as a suite but a large room with a small bathroom. Given the large windows, the room is dark, natural light is nonexistent in the bathroom and the lighting in the bathroom and room is quite poor. The bed is very very comfortable however, when our linens were changed, we experienced cigarette smoke smelling linens. Very very unpleasant. The A/C worked well along with Wi-Fi. An unusual problem, it was difficult to get cold water, and often the water was hot no matter what you selected. Some maintenance is needed in suite 15 as the towel bar was broken and difficult to hang a towel on. Complimentary bottles of water daily were provided and a complimentary bottle of wine on arrival was very much appreciated. The goodies daily at reception were a nice treat. Breakfast was good with a small buffet and a menu for cooked to order items. Maybe not an extensive buffet, but the cook to order items were nice to have. Service is excellent at the hotel. It is beautifully decorated and we had a good stay."

"We thought our stay at the Excelsior was jinxed but not so. We spent 7 nights (deluxe room) at the Excelsior September 7-14th, 2026 and in that period we ended up sleeping in 3 different rooms. The problem: only very hot water in the showers. In room 39, the maintenance man said that the problem was that the mixer in the shower needed changing. We were moved to room 29. We did not think to test the shower in room 29 before moving our stuff but the next morning again the shower only had very hot water. We were then allocated room 24 which we accepted because by letting the hot water run for 10 minutes in the shower we were able to get water that was slightly cooler and not burning our skin. Reviews on Booking.Com show that this hot water problem was not unique to our stay: (i) On September 13th, 2026, “Ivan” wrote: “The faucet in the bathroom had hot water only”; and (ii) On August 1st, 2026, “Oklay” wrote: “No cold water in the shower”. And on TripAdvisor, a guest wrote in May 2026 “Shower almost impossible to make it work”. On Saturday, September 12th, concierge Elizabeth was very concerned about us having had to move room again and offered us a massage at the spa next door. However, we had just returned from a day trip and it was around 5:30 pm and we did not feel up to it at the time; the spa was not open the next day. She then offered us dinner in the Mezzanine restaurant which we accepted. We had a pleasant meal of risotto and desert, with a glass of wine. However, given the 5-star rating of the Excelsior, a member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World, and the inconvenience that we had to go through, we felt that this was not adequate compensation and we applied for a refund. Instead, we were offered a complimentary 2-night stay at the hotel but, since we will not be returning to Thessaloniki, this was in effect a non-starter. The hotel says that it cannot offer a monetary refund because the reservation was made through a 3rd party. We don’t see why it cannot do so. Disappointed."

"We stayed in the Excelsior Hotel for three nights. Overall we were pleased with our choice, but there were a few minor things that could have made it better and induced us to leave a five star review. Firstly the good points: The location is great, being a very short walk from the ferry terminal, the popular eating area of Ladadika and Aristotelous Square with it's bars. We were given a room on the fourth floor (44) which although quite small had a huge rap-around terrace with a sea view. The room was comfortable and the bathroom was spacious with enough surfaces to place the usual items you take with you. The air-conditioning also worked well. The bed was comfortable for sleeping. There was an espresso machine and a selection of coffee capsules, including decaf. A fresh bottle of water was also provided every day. The breakfast was good, with a reasonable, but limited selection of items. All the staff were pleasant and polite. Now for the areas that I think they could improve: The bathroom has a frosted glass door and the bathroom window had no blinds. This meant the room was lit as soon as the sun rose. Not good if you are used to sleeping in the dark. The TV displayed BBC World News on channel 1, but when selected it showed a Greek channel. I asked reception if this could be corrected, but it wasn't. Incidentally I see this was mentioned is a previous review! The hairdryer, although working, was in need of repair/replacement. The outer cable was split and the end filter was broken and fell off. Despite leaving it in a broken condition on the bed, housekeeping placed it back in the wardrobe. The brakes on the bed wheels did not work. When we sat up in bed the bed kept sliding away from the headboard. To fix this I resorted to placing the complementary slippers under the wheels. The bath had a showerhead which was difficult to use as it's very small. A larger head would offer a better shower experience. I have mentioned that the breakfast was good, but the prepared fruit was limited to melon. The cooked to order omelette and Benedict Royale were excellent, but the pancakes with honey and raspberry we're poor. There were three pancakes that didn't taste fresh, and the wild raspberries were two small sliced strawberries. As I said earlier, we enjoyed our stay but expected better from a five star hotel."