Review: Grand hotel Arenzano

Review of the Grand hotel Arenzano, Arenzano, Liguria, Italy

Room: 111 

Where is everyone?

It’s a cold February monday as we arrive with no reservation in Grand Hotel Arenzano. We are looking for a hotel for the night as we are driving on in the morning. Grand Hotel Arenzano is right on the national road and a few minutes walk from the centre of Arenzano, perfect location in our situation.

The Neo-Renaissance building is beautiful and imposing. I walk to the reception of the Grand Hotel Arenzano but nobody is there. There is no bell to ring. I decide to wait a maximum of five minutes. Which I do. After five minutes I call “Scusi” and the receptionist arrives right away from the back office. She excuses herself and is extremely friendly and polite. Her English is nog very good but good enough.

She proposes the suite, as we are two adults and three children, for a low season middle of the week bargain price.

Not so grand

Once we walked into our suite, we were extremely disappointed.The room was not very large, not at all the size you would expect for a suite. There were four pillows , one shampoo and three towels for five people, a bit stingy guys, give us more shampoo!! There were brown spots on the walls, which looked like chocolate or according to the kids to something much less appetizing. The dropped ceiling was cracked on different spots and badly maintained. The decoration was plain and boring. Well, let’s say not really worth the name of “suite”. Grand Hotel Arenzano was not sweet at all.

When I asked for a city map and said we wanted to have a walk through the town, see what’s on in Arenzano, the very friendly receptionist gave me a photocopied map of the city. She showed me where the shopping street and the park were located. She did not think of indicating the church with the Sanctuary of the Infant Jesus of Prague for example, which I thought was strange as it is the most known tourist attraction in Arenzano.

Let’s have dinner

In the evening we had dinner in the hotel restaurant on the ground floor. The waitress was very nice. She did not speak any English but she was very friendly. The fact that she did not speak any English did result in an extra main dish which we had not ordered. But I think it was a genuine misunderstanding. The food was not very good. Actually, it was very bad, I surely wouldn’t have eaten there again. As the hotel is just steps away from the centre of the town, you might as well eat at a nice restaurant with more charm and better food.

The night was good, the extra pillows we asked arrived. You could hear the noise of the cars on the main national road during the night but it did not bother us that much, but then again we are used to lots of outside noise, it could be experienced as annoying for other people.

I love Liguria

The best thing of the hotel was the view. The view out of the window was a full frontal sea view + container ships + national road + palm tree + parking of the hotel (with a guy sleeping in his car??!!). But all together, great great view. I so love Liguria!

Last but not least, breakfast. The variety was ok… There was no refill though. When we arrived at 9h30 (breakfast until 10) some plates were already empty and were not refilled (for example the croissants). I wouldn’t write home about the breakfast but it was not bad really.

All together, I would not recommend Grand Hotel Arenzano. Obviously the hotel is in bad need of renovation and maintenance. The receptionist is helpful but the housekeeping staff is not polite neither friendly. The food is bad. Grand hotel Arenzano does not deserve 4 stars and is far too expensive for the quality it delivers.

Ciao