LondonElite

I've stayed at the Martinez many times, and recently for the first time as a Hyatt property. I would agree with the general drift of the posts above. It has Definately improved since he days when it was owned by the Taittinger family / Societe du Louvre in 2005. Some of the rooms have been renovated, but many have just been given a once-over refresh. From what I have been able to determine from my two most recent stays is that the bathrooms in general need to be refurbished, as they are the same from the last 1980s refit. Many of the common area carpets are new, and the lobby has been refreshed as well. The Palme d'Or is the best hotel restaurant in Cannes, and is very smart indeed. The pool remains a small and fish-bowly mistake. The beach is the better option. I met the manager at my last stay and he told me that there was a more comprehensive refurbishment programme in the works.

waribai

Ok, I asked quite a few questions on here before we went so I wanted to return the favour to anyone going to or thinking of going to Cannes Martinez. We just got back from there and all I can say is 'wow'. I've stayed in more exotic beach destinations which is not hard once you leave Europe and higher end properties but the service and overall package I felt in Martinez was second to none and 90 minutes from London difficult to beat in terms of high end beach options.
As I mentioned before, prior to leaving I had enquired about a better upgrade beyond a junior suite and was politely informed of the prices for a seaview suite. I dropped the matter but just before leaving booked a spa package for my wife and reminded them again how lovely a seaview suite would be. I was prepared for the junior suite and thought the balcony would be nice anyway.
To my surprise when we arrived, we had been upgraded to a penthouse suite on the 7th floor! I have no idea why they decided to do this but I wasn’t about to complain either. The suite had its own ante room for waiting guests or as I was informed for press who are going to be doing interviews (for us it was just an extra toilet!). Once inside there was a long corridor, to the right a huge walk in wardrobe and a sauna at the end of the corridor complete with its own shower. The bedroom and living room were well designed and the bathroom was massive with an attached steam room. The terrace was to die for! It ran about half the length of the whole 7th floor and almost the length of the ‘MARTINEZ’ illuminated sign which I must admit attract its fair share of moths at night. That was a minor inconvenience though. I have to say this is probably the best upgrade we have ever had.
The happy hour was fantastic and if we didn’t have kids with us we could have really gone to town on the drinks! I think for this part of the world the pool was great too. It had a separate adults and kids section, was right next to the terrace for happy hour.
All in all I was really impressed with the hotel and the service. We’ll be at the Nice Palais next month at the other Hyatt so it will be interesting to compare the two!





amazing bathroom



steam room



living area



suite sauna changing area



sauna



martinez sign above our terrace




terrace



view from terrace

sunbon

We will be at the Hotel Martinez for five nights later this summer and are looking for info on the Martinez Beach. Do I need to reserve chairs ahead of time and what are the best spots? My kids like to play in the sand.

Also, we are Hyatt Diamond so how best for us to go about getting a room upgrade?

Thank you!

LondonElite

Welcome to FT sunbon.

The beach is not that big but your kids will have plenty of sand to play in. Speak to the hotel about booking your chairs on the beach. There is a (not insignificant) charge for these (from memory €20 per chair per day, but others may correct me). The last time I used them it was on a first-come, first-served basis.

stevens397

Finishing up our 3 night stay and boy, are we impressed. First of all, nights were reserved on now defunct Hyatt Stay Certificates. Cost me about $180/night. While I'm Diamond elite, I figured I would pay a price for using them in terms of the rooms we got. And as we got closer, the available rooms diminished to the point that within two days, only rooms available were with a Diamond push. Fine - whatever we got, we would be happy with.

NOT!!! This place is truly Wow. Downstairs is all elegant and the people who work here are all extremely professional and helpful. We were upgraded to a magnificent 5th floor King room that looks out over the pool and the Mediterranean - just gorgeous. Champagne as a wlecome Diamond gift, free breakfast and free liquor from 5-7 PM every evening. So I can truly state that Diamond treatment here is simply wonderful.

I think most of us on FT (and MP) live to enjoy the luxury perks for a song. Said other ways, the people here could buy and sell me many times over, and I consider myself successful! The Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Porsches and Bentleys make a clear statement about who is here. Glad I got upgraded to a BMW!

So I can recommend this hotel without reservation - it is simply gorgeous and marvelous.

fayewolf

Only a platinum hyatt member here, facing a dilemma of whether or not to fork out 40k for a suite (one night only) or stick with 25k point for a room?
Seems like it's better value for the points to get the suite since it cost $990 euro vs just 300euro for a standard room?

Do I still get free breakfast and Lounge access for platinum if I'm booking a suite? Thanks!!

SanDiego1K

Are you confident that you can book a suite for points for one night? I thought that we had to book 3 nights minimum. I've just checked the website. It continues to say "Minimum 3-night award stay required at Hyatt, Park Hyatt, Andaz, Grand Hyatt, Hyatt Regency and Hyatt Resorts."

There is no lounge at this property.

fayewolf

Oh, I did not know that. That case, then I will have no choice :/

Thank you!!

SanDiego1K

It's certainly a treat to have a Hyatt in Cannes. We had a good 2 night stay and I think that the hotel will only get better with time under the direction of its superb GM, Mr. Ceccherelli.

We arrived at 10pm and were warmly greeted as diamonds. A person from guest relations came out to visit with us, which I found remarkable given the time of day. Our benefits were explained and we were asked if we wanted a 4pm checkout. No, but how nice to be proactively offered it.

I had used a Diamond Suite Upgrade. Unless you have an excess of them, I'm not sure it is the thing to do. This hotel only upgrades to junior suites. None of the junior suites have water views. We have a stunning terrace that is as large as the room. If we go to the edge of the terrace and turn left, we can see a peak of water. Otherwise, we are looking onto apartment blocks. View is important to me, and I might have preferred a deluxe sea view room that they assign to diamonds when available. I didn't see that room, so I don't know its size. And we did have an extended room with a sofa and a chair. The bathroom had a walk in shower that was nice. The terrace was ridiculous. It was up two steps from the bedroom. It had a round table with four chairs, two rattan chairs with a side table, and two loungers with a side table. It had nice plantings and potted plants. We discovered our second night that we had blackout shades. They were superb.

The concierge team was excellent. I had been in touch in advance of the trip to make restaurant bookings and ask about the boat to St Tropez. They capably took care of the bookings. We waited to buy boat tickets til inhouse, to be confident that the weather would be good. As popular as the boat trip was, I expect it sells out in peak season. The concierge booked it for us the morning of the trip, and we went to the dock to pick up the tickets. If you look at a map of Cannes, look at the location of the Radisson Blu. It is immediately across from the ferry dock. It was a 30 minute walk from the hotel, 20 minutes for the speedy.

We made it to one happy hour, arriving at 6:30 on our return from St Tropez. Service was very slow. There is a special list for Hyatt Diamonds of complimentary beverages. It took 20 minutes to get a waiter to bring the menu then to bring a beverage. And it was 30 minutes before they brought our diamond snack. We each were given a plate with 3 one-inch squares of toast with a swirl of salmon on top.

Breakfast offerings were average, but we loved the table we had both mornings. It was outside under a canopy,as far forward as they had, with a view over the Croisette and of the yachts lined up in the Med.

Toiletries have been custom made for the hotel by Isabelle Burdel, parfumier, and are branded 73 La Croisette (the hotel address). Fragrance is very subtle and lovely.

cmanc

Recently stayed and some quick observations. I'd stayed at the Martinez many years ago and of course its a beautiful building with a fantastic location.

When I check in the staff recognized Diamond but I don't think I got any special treatment for example my room was nice but I don't think I got an upgrade and definitely no view as it was at the back of the hotel overlooking the railway!!! Now as it happens there isn't much rail traffic and the room was very quiet whereas the rooms on the front are likely much nosier in the early hours with all the nightlife on the croisette.

Breakfast was great although if your paying 40E it should be right? Gym was pretty poor IMO for such a high end hotel only a handful of machines and a couple that seemed to be working intermittently - would expect more. As noted room was clean, well appointed but nothing special and for some reason had a pretty small TV which given the world cup was on watching the games in the room wasn't great kinda forced me to go to the bars to watch the games so not a bad thing :-) Also the elevators are very small and frequently broke down - there were only 2 main elevators in the lobby area and 1 was broken for 2 days of my 5 day stay.

Overall location, service and style are great at this hotel. As noted the hotel facilities will get upgraded/updated over time and when they do I'd expect the GH Martinez to be high on the list of Hyatts to visit.

fayewolf

I'm very dissapoonted maybe because of all the raves. I recently applied for the diamond challenge and I'm not too thrilled with my treatment here. They were courteous, like in all hyatts. My room was not ready at 3 and I was advised that it won't be ready till 4:30pm. They did offer me a drink at the bar which was really nice.

My room, was however quite mortifying. I'm facing the neighboring building though it's quiet. My room is big and decorated with antique (ummm old) furnitures.
I enjoyed my room in the nice location billions times better. It was modern, sea view and comfortable.

There is this door I didn't know what it was, so I opened it, it was filled with suitcases. I asked the reception downstairs and they said because it's an adjoining door. I've NEVER in my life seen that before and they looked at me as if I'm crazy.

I asked to switch rooms, and then said nothing else is avail. :/

owner1

[QUOTE=fayewolf;23185369]I'm very dissapoonted maybe because of all the raves. I recently applied for the diamond challenge and I'm not too thrilled with my treatment here. They were courteous, like in all hyatts. My room was not ready at 3 and I was advised that it won't be ready till 4:30pm. They did offer me a drink at the bar which was really nice.

My room, was however quite mortifying. I'm facing the neighboring building though it's quiet. My room is big and decorated with antique (ummm old) furnitures.
I enjoyed my room in the nice location billions times better. It was modern, sea view and comfortable.

There is this door I didn't know what it was, so I opened it, it was filled with suitcases. I asked the reception downstairs and they said because it's an adjoining door. I've NEVER in my life seen that before and they looked at me as if I'm crazy.

I asked to switch rooms, and then said nothing else is avail. :/[/QUOTE


I am booked at this hotel for our anniversary in October booked a suite on points but concerned that will get the Jr. suite with city view and NO sea view, not really a WOW factor... Probably will due the diamond challenge as well for some perks but just not feeling it with other reviews I have read..

fayewolf

[QUOTE=owner1;23185501]October might be better since it's not high season, right now it's fireworks festival, Bastille day, just unlucky on my side

What kind of bother me is no one took care of the whole room full of suitcases situation. Maybe I'm being paranoid, but since I can freely open the connecting door, I've never seen a connecting door with storage space in between btw, if the guest has any missing items from luggage, can't they blame me?
Who puts their luggage a there anyways!

My room was very very dark, even with the blinds open, it's not brightly lit, it could be a personal taste issue, I don't. Really enjoy fairmont type of hotel, this reminds me of the fairmont in the 70s, really really needed a remodel.

They did however was able to find me another room today, the guest has amex so will have late checkout. I don't mind, I just felt bad that my husband saw the picture of my Nice hyatt room, and he will be sorely disappointed.

NJUPINTHEAIR

Actually, most of the chain hotels in Cannes with reputations could use a good renovation.

I stayed at the JW Marriott on points for a week and had to work hard to get a suite upgrade. The room was clean and somewhat spacious but was definitely not new, rather newish elements. The lobby has been recently renovated but I don't sleep or relax in lobbies.

The IHG Carlton has supposedly some really awful rooms unless you are a Royal Ambassador and the Front Desk Duty officer confided in me that the hotel is very badly in need of a renovation. I believe that is was just sold this year, so perhaps some time in the future it will be renovated, but like the Hyatt, I think that all the name hotels are living off their prior reputations.

However, I would choose Cannes every time over Nice because Cannes is a small town whereas Nice is nice, but it still is a major city, the 5th largest in all France!

suite2suite

+1 Cannes over Nice anytime.

GH Martinez gets 5 Stars from me.
Best Welcome of any property so far this year.

First time guest. Didn't know anyone, never asked for anything.
No special occasion, yet treated royally or rather presidentially.