BillBurn

Introduction This review is based a 3 night stay at the Excelsior Hotel Gallia Milan in early March 2019. This is my first formal FT Hotel review so I probably went a little overboard with the pictures and length, so my apologies in advance!Overall I should state up front this is a great luxury city hotel. It's especially well-suited for a business traveler that needs ready access to public transport and the train station. The recent rennovation was done to a high standard and the rooms are modern and stylish. The staff is well trained, professional and welcoming. Marriott should be proud to have this hotel as part of its empire. I would gladly stay here again, no matter the room, and reccomend it to anyone looking for a high quality luxury hotel in Milan, especially if you are in town for business. Room I reserved a Premium King but applied Marriot Suite Night Awards (SNAs) and fortunately the SNAs cleared 4 nights out and at the time showed a Signature Suite (the highest category offered) online. Upon check-in I was downgraded to an Atelier Suite (2nd highest category offered) which was actually fine with me as the Atelier suites looked a little more focused on function vs. style but if you are upgraded online pre-stay you may want to take a screen shot of your room category to show the front desk if you are similarly downgraded at check-in.The Atelier Suite was stylish, showed very little wear and tear and had a full complement of amenities including a mini-bar, coffee/tea maker, etc. The website says the Atelier suites range from 590-700 sq/ft, which is not huge by suite standards, but I will say that my room felt a lot larger than the stated square footage, likely due to the very efficient use of space and wealth of built-ins.The suite starts off with a small antechamber which has a half bath in it.Small half-bathroom off the ante-chamber at the entrance to the suiteAfter the ante-chamber comes the living room which had a large sofa, a couple of small chairs (including the desk chair) and a nice large functional desk which any business traveler would surely appreciate. The furniture was in good shape and, as one would expect in Milan, stylish. The living room is not particularly large (you couldn't fit a roll-away in it) but it was functional and perfect for a couple or a solo business traveler looking for some room to relax and spread out a bit.Atelier Suite living roomA functional desk in the Atelier Suite with a 55 inch flat panel TV above itA nice welcome gift of delicious chocolates! The live orchid in the living room was a nice touch!Minibar and complementary coffee/tea setup (along with high-tech phone)Many glasses to choose from should you decide to partake from the minibarFrom the living room, there is a sliding solid door between the living room and bedroom. The bedroom is dominated by the king bed with just enough space left over for a couple bedside tables. If there wasn't a living room attached the bedroom would be small but if feels more cozy than small with this layout. The bed linens were spotless and high quality (Frette). Most importantly, the blackout curtains, solid walls, and thick windows kept the room very dark and quiet making for an excellent night's sleep. Doorway (with solid sliding door) to bedroom King sized bedFlat panel TV in bedroom (entrance to dressing area to left)From the bedroom there is a door to the dressing room/closet. The dressing room has a small sitting area with a large mirror, two large open closets and plenty of dresser space. Lots of thoughtful extras were to be found including a hair dryer, umbrella, slippers and even flip flops (for the pool I suppose).Dressing room sitting areaClosets with very nice hangers!Don't worry if you forgot an umbrella!Some bedroom slippers are always nice ...... although the flip flops were unexpected!Door from the dressing room to the bathroomThe bathroom had two sinks, a large bathtub and a large rain shower (with a high-tech steam shower appliance in it as well). Plenty of high-quality towels and a plush robe were also available. About the only thing missing was some space on the vanity for a toiletry bag.A nice double vanity and steam/rain showerTub and Toilet/BidetTrussardi toiletries in case you are curious!In addition to a great layout and nice furniture, the room also had some easy to use high tech controls for lights and the AC. For those that care, there were separate AC units for the living room and bedroom and the cool setting maxed out at 18c or just over 64f.High-tech light controls and alarm clock, with integrated USB portThe separate ACs for living room and bedroom cooled down to 18c Overall the Atelier suite was an excellent room and I would highly recommend it both for couples and for solo travelers. Location The hotel's location right next to the main train station is great for a business traveler. I easily took trains to Zurich and central Italy in the morning and returned to the hotel in the evening. There are frequent express trains to/from Malpensa Airport and a bus to/from Linarte at the main station. There are also several subway lines at the station as well which makes it easy to get anywhere in Milan.For tourists looking to stay close to the main sites in Milan, the location is admittedly not ideal as there are other high quality luxury hotels such as the Four Seasons and Mandarin Oriental in the center of town, but that said this hotel is just a few subway stops to the center of Milan. Service Everyone I interacted with at the hotel was pleasant, professional and polished. The breakfast staff were particularly nice. Everyone spoke excellent english except for some of the cleaning staff. Dining The breakfast buffet is set up in the ground floor bar/restaurant area each morning and it is one of the better European city hotel buffet's that I have experienced with the kind of high quality food and presentation befitting of a luxury hotel. In addition to all the continental breakfast standards, they will also prepare eggs made to order. There are also several hot buffet items as well as some great healthy options, such as different kinds of salads. There also appeared to be a number of gluten free items. Service at the buffet was friendly and efficient. It was pretty hectic on a Sunday mid-morning but relaxed and empty early on the weekdays. During the day the bar/lounge area of the hotel is quite lively. From what I can tell there seemed to be a lot of business meetings going on with not just guests but also locals. Marriott Elite Benefits As mentioned earlier, I used SNAs for the stay, so I was able to test whether or not the hotel upgrades elites although other reviews I read indicate that they do quite often and the relatively large number of suites should bode well for an upgrade.I received a nice welcome note and gift of chocolates upon arrival and all Platinum and above elites received the full breakfast buffet for free.