Originally Posted by
Epicura
I fully agree and I feel your pain
. I've had very similar issues at other "stellar" SPG properties, for some reason however it's always a St Regis in my case.
Thank you very much for your detailed review although I am slightly worried now because I have an upcoming stay at the Gallia next weekend. I've also invited friends (locals!) over for drinks (and maybe dinner, depending on what I could expect from the inhouse restaurants) and we still need to arrange private transportation to San Siro. Would you mind to send me the email of the GM via PM please? My husband insisted on booking the PH or the FS and I am getting worried that he was right. Many thx!
I had dinner and drinks at the hotel and had pretty good service both times. It's not the level of service you'd get at a five star hotel in the US, but you wouldn't get that at the PH either (never stayed at the FS). Service is just slower in Italy and there are typically fewer servers so they come around less often. That said, I think you'll enjoy it here. The suite we received blew away our room at the Park Hyatt, and I can only imagine that it's much nicer than the FS as well. The spa and gym area was very nice too and definitely a step above the PH.
If I were bringing people to Milan to only do sightseeing, I'd probably choose the PH just because it's so nice to step out of the hotel and be right in the middle of everything, but other than that I'd choose the Excelsior Gallia every time as an SPG platinum member. I thought the hotel and rooms were much nicer, and it's typically several hundred Euro cheaper per night than the PH. Not to mention, the free breakfast at the hotel was probably the best breakfast we had on our entire trip (which included the first class terminal in Frankfurt, the PH Milan and Gritti Palace). Only taste wise of course, the views certainly couldn't compare to the Gritti.