kyushuman

Seeing several questionable reviews on here and at TripAdvisor, I was pleasantly surprised with my stay in late August at the Le Meridien Gallia. I was paying a rate of EUR135/night, for a "deluxe" room (there were standard rooms as low as EUR115/night as well).
The room, while not brand new, was in decent shape.
PROS:
1) Absolutely gorgeous bathroom--marble with beautiful fixtures and mirrors all round. You have to step into the bathtub to shower, but it was no problem for me.
2) Wonderful French Doors opening onto a tiny balcony view over the Station Square.
3) Huge French windows as well in the bathroom, also overlooking the square.
4) Friendly, helpful concierge
5) Smiling, warm welcome at reception
6) Excellent connection to the Train Station (obviously) as well as the MXP Airport Express buses, about a 3-minute walk away.

CONS:
1) Small TV in room
2) 20-minute walk to the "nicest" areas of Milan
3) Not many places open nearby--but this was more because it's late August than the area. Plenty of coffee bars nearby though!
4) Somewhat dated furnishings

But to be honest, if you either pay for a higher category of room OR are a Plat, I think you'll get a great room and enjoy a slightly fading Grande Dame of Europe.

Socaflyer

We just stayed at the Le Meridien Gallia in late November and enjoyed it. If I return to Milan, I would definitely consider staying here again.

As a platinum, I received an upgrade to a lovely corner suite, along with a box of chocolates. If you're into modern decor, this is not the hotel for you, but if you appreciate the beauty of past periods, you'd probably like it. Our corner suite had high ceilings, beautiful old curtains and french doors. The balcony looked out onto the back of the Stazione Centrale.

Because we were only staying one night in between flights from Malpensa, the location behind the train station/Malpensa shuttle bus stops was very convenient.

We found the concierge to be extremely helpful. In addition to giving us an excellent dinner restuarant recommendation, he also gave us an umbrella to take on the walk to dinner. He was able to recommend several restaurants within a few blocks of the hotel, so I would say don't worry about the hotel being too far away from good food.

Although we didn't try it, the hotel restaurant had a delicious sounding fixed price dinner menu with seasonal foods.

Belgian in Paris

Hi

As a Gold I have a reservation at the Westin this next Friday for 2 nights with my partner and our baby. Any upgrade to a nicer room for Gold members ? Easy hotel with a baby ? We hope to use the restaurant of the hotel with the baby phone for one night and going out for the second...

TRAVELSIG

Actually this hotel is pretty kind with the upgrades. I would send a FAX.
As for easy hotel with a baby, there is a lot of fun stuff to break in the room which is pretty expensive, so put things out of the way when you get in.
Restaurant of the hotel is good- expensive but good.
Have a great time in Milano.

FatManInNYC

Nor in the early morning ... I has just checked out at 6am and was making my way to the train station for the bus to MXP and received two inquiries from ladies asking if I was looking for a date

Life_Platinum

We are undecided if we should stay at either the Milan Westin or Le Meridien in early October, 2007 and need advice of those who know these two properties well. I have read all the pertinent review on this board as well as those on TripAdvisor, and based on those reviews, if we weren't addicted to Starwood and their SPG program, we would probably stay elsewhere.

We will be arriving by car (we know from some posts that we must insist that our car cannot be left under the pigeon nests if staying at the Le Meridien), and we do not consider traveling from either of these hotels to the areas of interest a problem. Based on the breakfast reviews, we will not be having breakfast at the hotel where we will stay.

The TripAdvisor reports list the Westin as the 56th and the LeMeridien as the 75th most highly rated hotels in this city. Even a Best Western and a Holiday Inn are rated more highly that these two seemingly exclusive properties. Both hotels appeared to have two kinds of reviews; ones that were excellent and ones that could not be worse. For example, one customer paying $100 and reserving with one of the large on-line booking services said that even at this price the Meridien was overpriced! Most reviewers who provided negative reviews complained about the condition of the hotel at which they stayed.

We currently are holding reservations at the LeMeridien which we can change without penalty, but if we were to book at the Westin's lowest rate, we would need to pay 5 EU more and not be able to change the reservation. It appeared to us that some such as TRVLN Bob loved the Westin because of the Turkish Bath that was in their suite. If we thought the chances were good of getting a Platinum upgrade to a suite with a Turkish bath, we would choose the Westin, but since we have not stayed at this hotel before, it appears that there is a 50/50 chance of getting upgraded to such a suite.

If any of you have stayed at both properties and can help us in our choice, we would be grateful.

ericj

A backstreet hotel near a station ? What did you expect ?
By the way just stayed there on a week end and did not have any problem save from the breakfast staff - must be one of the worst cappucino place in the whole peninsula.

But the thread was about the GOOd hotels - well the Meridien is being heavily refurbished so half of it is working AND that's a Meridien -talk about grafting rejection here- so I would not expect much in terms of upgrades...

This by a European HATING Milano
Best to readers,
E

Land-of-Miles

I stayed at the Westin palace for 1 night last week. I was upgraded to a "deluxe" room which seemed like a normal hotel room to me. I was told that there were no suites available My last stay in Milan was at the Principia di Savoia across the square which was a much better hotel IMHO.

TRAVELSIG

I have to agree that the "upgrades" I have received at the Westin have never impressed me that much. Just had another great stay this week at Diana Majestic- lovely room once again- and great service.

TerryK

Is any Starwood hotels in Milan convenient for the shuttle bus or train to/from MXP? I have a one night stay and would like to be able to go to/from MXP easily.

LH-AC

I used to go to Milan fairly regularly and always take Malpensa Express to go to MXP (around 11 Euro one way). It's a quick 45 minutes from Cadorna station. You can easily get to Cadorna station from any of the 3 Starwood hotels in Mialn either via subway or a cab (5-10 minutes). I also believe that there is an airport bus or a taxi that can be booked from the hotel, but I'm not sure about the rates.

Dovster

The Meridien is across the street from the main train station (not Cadorna). If you want to stay there, take the bus which leaves from in front of the airport terminal. It will drop you off at the train station.

jamienbaker

Stayed last week, Platinum, upgraded to what appeared to be a "new" wing in the rear of the hotel, overlooking a residential courtyard. Not as luxurious an upgrade as to the suite w/turkish bath (dress shirts have never looked better than after some time in there), but the room was exceptionally large and modern. Room 165 perhaps? Flat screen TV, full size tub, sofa and chairs, two desks. Walked to room by concierge to make sure it was to my liking. Unfortunately, Manchester United football match precluded local bars from serving, hence location not an issue - just sat in the lobby bar. Reasonable salads, weak pizza.

Jamie

Land-of-Miles

Third stay for me last week. The third time I was told no suite upgrades were available, the third time I have had a "deluxe room" which really seems to be a standard room to me with perhaps a larger than normal dressing/wardrobe area.

There seem to be no other benefits at the Westin either. I definitely would not pay my own money to stay at this hotel. Were it not the only SPG property on Milan on my client's hotel list, then I would never choose to stay there again.

Forstbetrieb

I have stayed at the Excellsior Gallia ( le meridien ) 6 or 7 times in 2006 and 2007. For me is the location perfect, because I can arive by car from the autostrada without passing the center of milan. I have stayed there in " the time of birds " also and I was informed that it will be better to park in a closed garage than under the trees. Birds are there quite normal at the end of october. Never I have had any problems with the personal or the rooms. May bee so, because I speak italian. Sure there are some nicer rooms and some older rooms, there is even an historic wing and a newer part of the hotel. I prefer the historic wing. I don't eat at breakfast, so I drink only " cafe latte ", which means coffee with hot milk, al a carte. But I have had all the stays diner at the restaurant. The kitchen is not bad!

Trip to the centre only with taxis or metro. metro costs 1 Euro for 75 minutes and the metro station is quite near to the hotel. 4 stops to the " duomo ".

Parking under the trees costs 20 Euro and in the garage 40 Euro per night.

At the westin I have never stayed.