Le Meridien Nice, France [Master Thread]
 

I stayed at the Nice property about 8 years ago, so my experience may not be up-to-date. It was a perfectly-fine stay - my room has a nice view, was furnished in light earth tones and wicker-type accents. Housekeeping was good, the food (breakfast) quite good if expensive. Service was fine, even though the hotel was crowded with IBM'ers holding a conference, and that it was also Carnivale weekend.

The best thing about the hotel is its location - right on the Promenade d'Anglais and a very easy walk to the Old Town area, including the flower market (Cours Saleya) and the Opera House. There is also a casino in the building (Ruhl), although I didn't try my luck when I was there.

BTW - I take TripAdvisor reviews with a large boulder of salt. I read them, but I get the feeling that many of the people posting (especially about non-US properties) have expectations that don't match those of the true frequent travellers that FlyerTalk represents.

I stayed in this hotel in May of 2003. Without exception, this hotel is the single worst Meridien property I've ever used. It's a mess. The rooms had separate air conditioning units; mine never worked--they change rooms on me twice (their decision, not mine). The roof-top pool with dining is good; the food is excellent. The staff is reasonably pleasant. However, if there is a heat spell, this hotel is terrible. I won't use it again.

The Four Points by Sheraton Nice-Elysee Palace is nothing special and not as "nice" as LeMeridien Nice, but the LeMeridien up the street is nothing special either. Unless simply looking for a place that earns points or where points can be redeemed, other alternatives would have suited me better.

I have stayed at both properties in the past 2 months and I absolutely agree with GUWonder. The Four Points in Nice is the absolute pits. Just what you would expect of a Four Points I guess but it is realllllly mediocre. Even though the Le Meridian is nothing great, if you do get upgraded to a seaview corner room, those are really really nice. That said getting an upgrade is certainly akin to putting up a fight. I guess Le Meridian is still not accustomed to giving out upgrades to SPG Platinum. Even they have upgrades available, they were asking me to pay extra cash for the room. Has anybody else had similar experiences?

But again getting back to the point, Le Meridian Nice anyday over 4 Points, Nice.

The stay in Nice was nice. The staff wasn't overly friendly or helpful but not every country can have the kind of service you get in India. A colleague was told by the doorman that since she needed a taxi quite early (5:30AM) to ask the front desk to book one for her. The front desk said that she should walk across the street and get one at the taxi stand. Not sure how that worked out but when I was looking for a taxi at 8:30AM there were plenty at the taxi stand.

One word about the taxis before I discuss the hotel. We were ripped off again and again I beleive. The meter in the taxi would read one thing and they'd ask for 10 Euro more. At one point we ate in Antibe 5 of us came back to Nice in a taxi. The first group was dropped off and charged 40 Euro which for Antibe to Nice seemed plausible. We were dropped off 5 minutes later and again charged 40 Euro. "40 Euro per drop" we were told. Mon Dieu!

I was 'upgraded' to a superior room which was quite spacious. There were two closets, a bathroom with a bidet (couldn't figure out how one uses it), bathtub and sink. The toilet was in a seperate room. There were essentially two rooms as you entered into a large room with a desk, TV, table, and two chairs while the king-size bed was around the corner in another part of the room. There was a huge balcony with a great view of the hills behind nice and the police station at the back of the hotel but no view of the sea. On the balcony were two wooden lounge chairs and a round wooden table and two wooden chairs. If I'd brought my wireless access point and/or something other than my suit it would have been very nice to sit out there.

The turn-down service included two chocolates and a tray with a small bottle of olive oil, some cherry tomatoes and a small bowl with some salts and herbs of some sort.

The hotel is right across the street from a nice promenade along the beach and it is right in the middle of lots of restaurants and pub nightlife.

My points posted quite quickly and in a timely manner. All in all I'd stay there again with no qualms.

I stayed at the Le Meridien Nice recently--I don't recommend it. There are some things that are nice about the hotel: the upper floor restaurant. However, I wouldn't stay there again. If you're there in the summer, keep in mind that while rooms have air conditioning units, there is no air conditioning! There are better hotels in the price range in the area--I'd even suggest the Holiday Inn--something I don't do often.

Will be in Nice for 08/20-08/2007.. I currently have booked a award room at the Le Meridien Nice, the points booked me into a 25 SQM Courtyard room. Can anyone here comment on Platinum treatment at the Nice properties? Also, what are the thoughts on staying at this property versus the one in Juan Les Pins

I cant comment on the platinum end of things,but I did stay there 3 times and with no complaints.The rooms are lovely.We had no issues with the air con,it was pleasantly cool given that outside was 30c plus.
Try to get a room with a terrace that you can sit out on,overlooking the med.

The hotels location is a big bonus being at the flower market end of the palais d'anglais (sorry for the spelling)
That means you are close to everything central and can go out have a meal,drink in the pubs and clubs around the flower market and still be a 10 min walk or less from your hotel room.
You will not need a taxi which in Nice are very very expensive.
We stayed once in the raddison and well its at the airport end of the palais d'anglais (1.5 miles up the road) and a taxi one way to the flower market was €20 :eek: Never again

What about Platinum amenity choices here? Do Plats get free breakfast?

Just completed my stay at the hotel, they charged me a city tax. Ive never had to pay a dime on other award stays. Is this normal to have to pay this?

Le Meridien Nice [Master Thread]
 

Stay: April 30 - May 3, 2007

Room: Deluxe Room w/ Sea View

Upgrades: Room (from Classic Room w/ City View), Gift, Late Checkout

Comments: Confirmed reservation and requested upgrade the week prior. Upgrade was offered at a price so I declined and offered to see what would be available upon arrival. Reservation was lost, that is what was available. Luckily I had my confirmation and correspondence with the hotel all documented so was able to secure an upgraded room for the inconvenience of the hotel losing our resv. The entire desk staff was extremely pleasant and accomodating during our entire stay. They worked with my wife's French and spoke very good English to me. :)

Bottled water and sliced tomatoes with olive oil were brought up to us after our luggage was delivered. We were also given a room overlooking the Mediterranean. The rooftop restaurant was our first dining stop in Nice and the food was very good. The view was somewhat obstructed by the plastic barriers to keep out the wind/noise, but still very nice. The service was good and she even let me practice my French on her.

Hotel location is perfect, right in the middle of everything you could want to do. Good parking too, under the hotel. It took us maybe a 15 minute bus ride from the airport to the hotel. We walked around quite a bit and inevitably ended up very close to our hotel when we were done. We hit up the market every day, either to buy fruits or bread/pastries. The food was great in the city too, but WAY more Italian options than actual French cuisine. Also, there is a block of 3-4 pay phones right outside, in case you need to make calling card calls back to the States.

The park across the street was undergoing some construction, but it wasn't noisy or bad at all. There are a ton of dogs, everywhere. And more Silky Terriers than I've ever seen at one place in my life. Which was nice since we have a Silky. Many areas to walk about and we even saw a Communist rally while we were there!

Cheers,

Adrian

I stayed at and reviewed this property in 2006.

Review of Le Meridien Nice

Have all of the rooms been renovated to the modern style now?

Anyone stayed here recently? I have a 5 night stay in July, and I'd like to receive some comments/feedback on this hotel.

Thanks!

its nothing special....view of the water is nice...
 

...its very close to the central "square" pedestrian area, so walking is no prob...plat amen is as stated...tomatoes olive oil sea salt and a bottle of so so vino. Casino and MacDonalds on retail level of the property. Spectacular...NO...but convenient and only about a 15 min drive from the a/p.

Just had a couple of nights here and it does have an excellent and spectacular location.

No breakfast for platinums (nor welcome gift for me...perhaps they ran out of tomatoes?) but the 'upgrade' was to the SPG floor (7th floor) which does have much bigger balconies than those rooms below so you should always look to be on the 7th floor or higher. Our east facing room 756 was renovated and had a gorgeous view to the both the city and the sea. The balcony had a table and chairs and two sunloungers which you could use for sunbathing until 11.30am when the sun disappears over the roofline, after which you can use the rooftop pool area (at a fee, I believe).

In addition, the hotel is right outside one of the stops for the airport bus (4 Euros single per adult) that goes every 20 minutes at peak times. Couldn't be easier.

We enjoyed our stay a great deal and the staff were mostly fantastic. Just a few very minor things to be be aware of:

1. The exterior of the hotel is appalling, located above a McDonald's and a ghastly casino. You would never guess how nice the property is on the inside from the outside,

2. The buffet breakfast is fantastic (as it should be for 22 Euro/£22/$30) but the hotel is popular with a certain type of guest for whom affluence goes hand in hand with appalling manners. Take a tip from the some of the European women and just barge on in, nobody needs to wait for anyone at this place it seems.

3. No coffee making facilities or glassware or cutlery in the room and there is a 5 Euro/£5/$7.75 charge for coffee on room service which simply made us more determined to stock up at the nearby Monoprix and avoid giving the hotel any more money.

4. No newspaper for Platinums. On the first day the front desk immediately offered to send out for whatever paper I wanted at no charge, which was nice, but the second day they declined to do this.

5. The lady in the room next door had a large labrador dog in her room. The dog was very well behaved and we only heard a little barking but if I had allergies I might be concerned about how well the rooms were cleaned between stays. It wasn't a dedicated 'dog room' ar anything like that.

6. Somewhat bizarrely, we were referred to as Mr and Mrs throughout the stay, even though there was nothing in the booking to indicate marital status or gender. You might think they would correct their mistake after seeing us check in but, no. Fortunately my partner saw the funny side of being repeatedly addressed as "madame" for three days...

Anyway, not a bad property all round and an amazing location.