We are booked to stay (on our Starwood Points) at the Le Meridien in Nice in the end of August.

I have been keeping up with the reviews on Trip Advisor which have been very mixed. I am getting nervous (again) about this hotel choice.

I do not mind paying a bit more for a nice hotel- does anyone have recommendations?

I am extremely picky about hotels- prefer newer or remodeled hotels that are exceptionally clean. Also prefer a balcony as I smoke but don't smoke inside.

Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated. Has anyone stayed at a hotel they liked despite Trip Advisor reviews?

Thank you!

Here is a reply that I received from "Underhill" - hope "Underhill" does not mind my pasting this response to help Kathryncee out.






Author: Underhill
Date: 07/28/2006, 12:41 pm
The Château des Alpilles is very nice. As for hotel restaurants, we like to dine where we stay to avoid having to drive out and back at night...and it allows us to drink all the wine we want that way.

We didn't especially like the Bastide de Moustiers. Our room was pretty, but the noise from the adjacent service room was annoying, and dinner at the restaurant was v e r y s l o w and not all that good. And it's all very expensive.

Le Meridien is Nice is good, but much nicer is La Pérouse, if you can get a room with a sea view. Both hotels are within easy walking distance of Vieux Nice and all its restaurants and shopping.

you cannot beat the location of the meridien in nice....just opposite the beach and very close to old town and to the shopping area....

my daughter stayed there in may after we dropped her off and continued to italy....they paid almost 200 E per nite...she said the room was very small and just ok, but loved the location...

french rooms tend to be small....we chose it for its international chain appeal: location and standardization...guess we sort of missed on that one...

we stayed a couple of weeks later at a "3" star near the airport and it was a total dump as are all the others out there...stay in town...

nice is tough....

forgot to add that there was tons of construction going on in may around the hotel area

Thank you! I am okay with small.. just dingy and run down kind of freak me out. Did your daughter mention if that hotel was clean? We are staying for three nights.

Jennie, thanks for pasting.. Underhill has been a huge help for me in my planning thus far- so I'm sure that this is one less thing to reply to.

What did you find out about La Perous? When are you going? Which hotel did you decide on?

What about the Hotel Suisse?

ttt

This past May we stayed at Hotel le Grimaldi in Nice for three nights. It is a very nice four-star hotel, comprised of two Belle Epoque buildings. Good location, about four blocks from the promenade. An easy walk to Vieux Nice. No views of the water, but little balconies off most rooms. Our double was 170EUR per night, including a nice hot/cold breakfast buffet. Very clean. Good service at the front desk. Comlimentary computer use, with internet and printers in a little room off the lobby. Highly recommend it.

Thank you Maureen!

I too stayed at Le Grimaldi a couple years ago and liked it a lot. I agree with Maureen. Room and bathroom were large and tastefully done--and I had a "standard" room. If you don't want to have breakfast at the hotel, there's a good bakery just down the street.

Jeff's right-- if you don't want the breakfast buffet, it takes off 10EUR per person each day. You only get that rate if you buy the breakfast everyday. To get it just once is 15EUR per person. We liked it, because they had hot eggs, pastries, fruit, ham, etc., and they served till about 10:00, I think.

Kathryncee - in answer to your question - am still undecided on hotel.
Am very confused. My husband wants at least a 4* hotel, which there are quite a few but I am still unsure which to confirm! Am planning to be there mid Oct.
What did you decide?

Your husband will have to settle for a 4* hotel; France does not have 5* hotels as rated by the board that assigns the ratings. The highest level is a 4*L, for luxury. Hotels of that caliber would be the Hôtel du Cap, in Cap d'Antibes, and the Grand Hotel de Cap Ferrat. If Nice has a 4*L hotel it would be the Negresco. But there are very nice 4* hotels: the La Pérouse, the Palais de la Méditerranée, the Palais Maeterlinck, for example.

My question is, why does your husband want a 5* hotel?

We loved La Perouse. We got a great internet rate and they still bumped us up to a better room when we got there without us even asking! The location is perfect and the pool under the rock cliff is awesome.

We've stayed at the Maeterlinck and if you don't need or want to be in the tourist area it is a gem. But, it is on the Cap de Nice, a 2 minute drive from the harbor.

www.palais-maeterlinck.com/

We stayed in the Golden Tulip and it was really lovely -nice big rooms.

kathryn, you posted replies to some of my posts. I hear there is a lot of road construction in Nice right now and for this reason I am going to stay outside of Nice. (also, Nice seems too "big.&quot If I were going to stay in Nice though, the research we have done shows that the Hotel Suisse seems like an excellent bet and good value given the apparently beautiful sea views, newer, nice rooms, good location, and good price; however, I do believe that it is affected by the noise and congestion of the construction, but since I have not been yet, I do not know for sure....

I'm still trying to decide. I was looking at the Hotel Suisse- but they are booked solid. I was also looking at the Palace. I think the big question is going to be whether my husband is willing to forego the "free" Starwood hotel at Le Meridien and pay.... however, he knows how miserable I can be if I am not happy with the room. We switched hotels 5 times on our honeymoon for this reason.. it's amazing I'm still married.

I know I am going to have to make a concerete decision over the weekend.... Underhill- any other thoughts on the Meridien?

The Hôtel Suisse is a good distance away from the construction, which is over in central Nice around the area of the Place Masséna. Vieux Nice and the nearby hotels are farther east.

Since you have a free stay, take the Le Meridien. If you don't like it you can probably move. But...since you are picky about hotels (join my club!) and are concerned about the Meridien, perhaps you should check out some other hotels in advance, just in case. You could try the Windsor, the Palais de la Méditeranée (which was renovated and reopened only about a year ago), or the Negresco.

I wish you luck, knowing how important the right hotel room is to one's happiness.