Grand Hotel Miramare - Santa Margherita Ligure

We booked Hotel Miramare for our honeymoon and made sure to inform the staff of this twice in writing ahead of our arrival. Unfortunately, this was not once acknowledged on arrival or during our stay. My husband had arranged for roses and champagne to be placed in the room, but there was no recognition or special touch from the staff, which was disappointing. We paid over ???1000 a night for a suite, only to find it located next to the lift and a cleaners??? cupboard, resulting in a noisy environment that made it hard to relax. The building itself is an historic, well refurbished property with charm, but the service from staff do not reflect five-star standards, in our opinion and experience. In terms of example - we chose a ??200 bottle of champagne in the bar on our first evening, but it was always poured for my husband first and without a napkin, which led to drips on our clothing every time we were topped up ??? an unfortunate oversight. Breakfast felt chaotic; no one at the desk to greet us on arrival but were shouted back, as we walked through the dining room, for our room number as though we were trespassing. The breakfast staff laughed and joked loudly among themselves and service was inconsistent. One morning we received toast but no coffee, the next we received the coffee but no toast. They announced that the buffet was closing five minutes before the stated end time, urging everyone to finish quickly instead of just clearing the buffet at the end of the shared opening hours. It felt rather like last orders at a pub! The noise from trolleys being pushed around and the location right on a busy main road made the dining experience less relaxing. We were not thoroughly checked on to see if everything was ok, if we needed anything such as more coffee etc. When we asked for our car upon departure, the staff thoughtfully asked which direction we were heading in ???but then parked the car facing the opposite way, which is not a huge problem, but not sure why they asked the question in the first place!! After two days, we checked out six days earlier than planned. Upon departure, instead of asking us why, the receptionist felt it more important to immediately state we would have to pay a 100% penalty fee. We were fully aware of this and still decided we wanted to relocate and had rebooked alternative accommodation. The lack of curiosity or desire to try and rectify things was extremely surprising to us. When my husband volunteered that we were leaving early as it hadn???t felt special enough for a honeymoon stay, the response was simply ???I am sorry for that. I hope you are able to fix this in the near future.??? Ultimately you have to see the funny side. In comparison, we booked the Belmond Splendido just up the road in Portofino for the remainder of our stay. Before we had even entered the building, we were greeted from our car by three staff with a warm ???Happy Birthday.??? They gave us two celebratory cakes???one for my birthday, which was the day we checked out of the previous hotel (but they failed to notice this detail), and one to celebrate our honeymoon???along with a bottle of Ruinart and red roses on arrival. The explained that they had ensured we had a very special room for our honeymoon stay with them, with the most incredible view over Portofino. The cost was not significantly more than the Miramare. The check-in team introduced themselves by name and even asked to see our wedding photos???such a lovely, personal welcome. We had purchased goods the previous day in a boutique in Portofino, which were in our room on arrival without us having to ask anything from either the boutique or the Splendido team. Overall - we really wanted to share - given the ???100% penalty fee??? once you have arrived at the Miramare, be sure about your booking and if budget allows, absolutely ensure you book the Belmond Splendido for a truly special experience for your stay in this area. If not, the Miramare does have a practical location, nice building and lovely surroundings to explore ???I???m sure the staff are probably doing their best with the training they have been given, just don???t expect the service you might ordinarily anticipate from a five-star hotel. We would have been happy to share this feedback directly with the Miramare but they did not ask for any, despite the manager being informed of our early departure by phone while we were at the reception desk.

Absolutely wonderful although the weather was grotty. The hotel is superbly maintained, cleaned and is truly spick and span. Lovely staff, smartly uniformed , great rooms, superb garden, broad pool, beach club, nice bar and restaurant. Such kind sparky and professional staff all brilliant at sugggesting what they can do for you. Great soaps, towels etc in the room and we were hugely impressed and very comfortable.