Shangri-La

When does the Mandarin Oriental open?

thetoness

My wife and I are booked at the Bulgari in July 2013. Can anyone share there experience having stayed there? Should we change our reservation to the Four Seasons? Any and all comments are appreciated.

Groombridge

I'd urge you to switch to one of Milan's much better 5-star hotels -- the Bulgari is far-and-away the worst luxury hotel I've experienced there. If you're wanting a similar, contemporary aesthetic, go with the Armani rather than the Bulgari -- the Armani's rooms are so much more spacious and comfortable, and the spa and gym are on the roof with glorious views, rather than being tucked into the basement as an afterthought.

The Bulgari hotel's spa experience is a microcosm for what's wrong with the hotel: the locker room does not contain any of the typical amenities you'd need in a decent spa locker room: no razors, no shaving cream, no soap, no hand towels, no shower gel, shampoo, or conditioner in one of the showers (so I had to exit, dripping wet, and walk to the one shower stall that did contain bath products), no plastic bags for wet swimming suits, no water extractor for wet swimming suits . . . but what did it contain? a cheap Bulgari jewel box glued into every locker in case you wanted to put your watch or jewels in a cardboard box affixed within your locker. Ridiculous. I had the "signature" Balinese massage, which was underwhelming--for example, they don't even have a bolster to put under your knees, so my lower back was throbbing with pain by the time the massage was over.

The room was similarly dysfunctional: no place to hang your towel in the bathroom, so you have to place it on the toilet if you don't want to walk dripping from the shower out into the rest of your room where the towels are stored. The room is tiny, tiny, tiny and very difficult to negotiate the space, even if just one person is in the room--for more than $1,000 USD per night. Our electronic door key failed to work 5 separate times, requiring us to traipse back down to the lobby to request that they reset it. They were completely unapologetic and unhelpful, telling us, "You probably need to get your door checked," as if it is our responsibility when paying this much money to arrange for our door to get fixed.

The lobby is boring and dull--a long, narrow space that is less interesting than even an average W hotel.

When eating breakfast in the restaurant, they brought me a bowl of bread that I did not request, and then charged me $30 for it. When I protested that I did not request that bread, and assumed it was a simple, free bread basket, they explained that it is their custom always to serve the bread basked and charge for it, and when I put up a fuss, they agreed to remove that charge.

Bulgari sales pitches everywhere: catalogs in the room, display cases, etc.

There are some positives, which is why I won't rank this just 1 star: the bed linens are good, the welcome amenity of 5 perfect strawberries and dip was nice, and the departure amenity of a small vial of cologne was also a nice touch.

pantanal

i love the PH Milan and as a diamond, they treat you well...great bfast