italoamericanotravel
7 juli 2024
The Grand Galvez has been restored to a beautiful grand hotel inspired in the Great Gatsby period. We are a couple in our mid 40s/early 50s who travel a lot and spent 4 nights over the 4th of July 2024 weekend. The rooms are bright, fully renovated and freshly painted, comfortable beds, and pleasantly quiet. The common areas of the lobby, bar, restaurant and pool area are top notch decor and quality. We found all the staff were friendly and accommodating, from the front desk checkin to the maid service, valet team to the maintenance guy touching up scuffed corners in the hallway. The valet service ($35/day) was fairly quick and utilized a snappy text service to request for your vehicle - 5 to 10 minutes to get your car - although there is a self park garage across a side street for about $20/day. We took full advantage of the new Beach Club: a reserved section of the beach with umbrellas, 2 chaise lounges, towels, and a small side table, staffed by room service attendants ready to bring cold drinks and food. There's no fee, but it's first come first serve. We were surprised to have no problem getting an umbrella both days we went to the beach. We did a "ghost tour" of the Grand Galvez we found through Eventbrite. Hosted by Melissa, a longtime concierge at the Galvez and avid ghost historian. It was a 90 minute walking tour of the hotel filled with interesting stories about the history of the hotel and its famous friendly ghosts. Sadly, room 501 was occupied by a guest, but she had plenty of pictures of various sightings over the years. The tour cost $30 each, plus Eventbright fees, put the total about $75. The downside of our stay was related to rude guests all around. The pool area is rather small. A few guests brought a bluetooth speaker and played their loud hiphop, which clashed with the hotel's piped in cool beach vibe. A quick comment to the pool deck attendant resolved the issue (a placard of pool rules states no speakers allowed). There are not enough lounge chairs to accommodate the size of the hotel. There were tons of toddlers---a real irritant to couples and older families looking to enjoy the splendor of a grand hotel (the San Luis Resort and plenty of other "family friendly" hotel resorts dot Seawall Ave as a better alternative for young families). The rooms are small by today's standards. About 350 sq feet. There's a closet to hang about 8 pieces, and a small chest of drawers. The connector room doors are not soundproof-- an issue at every resort. During our stay there were no suites in service (they are on the 7th and 8th floors and have not been renovated). The restaurant served a good breakfast but they were sadly understaffed and seemed to struggle with the basics. The bussers seemed lost, and the more experienced staff had to do everything. And when the food arrives before the silverware rollups, it's an immediate turnoff. The hotel restaurant was pricey. We had two egg entrees, two coffees and one screwdriver (vodka/OJ
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