I had an incredibly frustrating experience at Grand Hotel (part of Blu Hotels) in July 23, and I feel compelled to share the details of my stay.

Despite making my initial reservation through hotels.com, the ordeal took a turn for the worse due to a series of miscommunications and booking blunders.

As I needed to change the date, I called up the hotel directly, seeking advice regarding amending my booking to make it earlier. Hence, the hotel staff, in their infinite wisdom, advised me that it would be better and more cost-effective to book directly through their website rather than a third-party site. Taking their recommendation to heart, I proceeded to make a new reservation for two rooms through the hotel's own website. Little did I know that this decision would lead to an absolute nightmare, especially that my cancellation of my earlier reservation through hotel.com was initiated through the mobile app, but did not appear to go through – possible due to connection or whatever reason.

The trouble began when the hotel staff failed to inform me about the duplicate booking until the night before our scheduled departure. This is despite mentioning checkout date during the check-in process – and including other interactions with the front desk whenever we were planning our restaurant reservations. The hotel staff neglected to notify me of the second reservation (that goes beyond our checkout date), exhibiting a severe lack of communication skills.

As I tried to rectify the situation during check-out, I explained to the hotel staff that I had already canceled the second reservation through the app, as per their recommendation. Unfortunately, it seemed that the cancellation did not go through. Despite my best efforts along with the kind support of hotels.com staff (as the website’s call center staff have empathized with my case and did their part in speaking to the hotel management trying to convince them to waive the cancellation penalty of the full duration of the cancelled stay for two rooms - that is EUR 3,000, a part of whatever we already paid directly to the hotel for our actual stay - EUR 1,500).

I have emphasized that we had checked out of the hotel, and it would not make sense to pay for the full upcoming nights as we were very clear on our check-out date. Despite our explanations (and full e-mail explanation that was requested by the hotel staff to their reservations team), the hotel staff insisted on charging us for the entire stay period for both rooms (EUR 3,000). This was not a case of a no-show; rather, it was a result of the hotel's failure to manage the duplicate booking.

Throughout this ordeal, I was deeply disappointed by the hotel staff's lack of professionalism and customer service. Instead of acknowledging their own role in the confusion and working towards a fair resolution, they stubbornly insisted on charging us for the full amount. My expectations for Grand Hotel were high, especially considering their advice to book directly through their website. Unfortunately, their inability to handle a simple reservation and their refusal to acknowledge our cancellation have left me feeling disheartened and let down.

I would strongly advise potential guests to exercise caution when considering a stay at Grand Hotel. Their poor communication skills, coupled with their disregard for customer satisfaction, have turned what should have been a pleasant experience into a regrettable one. The failure to communicate the duplicate booking, the mishandling of our cancellation, and the insistence on fully charging us for unused nights x2 rooms despite our checkout have left me thoroughly dissatisfied. 

My wife and I had a lovely week at the Grand Hotel a few weeks ago for our summer holiday.

We booked with Jet2 from Manchester and the whole experience was pretty good with no delays at the airport and arrival on time in Pisa. The coach to the hotel only had a handful of people on it and everyone else was soon dropped off, leaving just the two of us for most of the trip.

We arrived at the hotel at about tea time and were hungry so asked where was best to go. The receptionist said that she should recommend the hotel restaurant, but it was full so she suggested a short walk along the sea front to a seafood restaurant Pesce Baracca. Wow. This was really busy, but well staffed and wonderful. The food was fantastic and just what we needed after a day's travelling. We went back later in the week.

There is a pier next to this restaurant with lovely views back to the mountains.

Breakfast at the hotel is served poolside (or indoors if you want) and there's plenty to eat at the self service buffet.

The hotel restaurant is actually on the beach. A pleasant surprise when we arrived to be told that one meal at the restaurant was included. We obviously took advantage and, as with most things in this town was great. Lovely wine and sublime steak. We booked for 7.30, but this being Italy most people eat later so for most of our meal we were the only people in the restaurant - what attention we had from the staff!

We took a liking to a beach bar opposite the hotel, Maito. We dubbed it "Love Island" due to the different brightly coloured seating areas. Be careful of prices here, though. A bottle of Peroni was 10eu and a glass of wine was 25eu (I did say glass!), but the atmosphere was great.

We took a train to Pisa to do the obvious tourist thing - great train service from the station which is just outside the town. It is walkable, but later in the week we hired bikes so rode up there when we took our second train trip out and went to Florence. Well worth a visit.

Bike hire was on the beach nearby and there's a great cycle path along the front passing lots of towns and villages. Very easy riding.

If you want to use the hotel beach you have to pay - 150 eu a day for a private area of two sunbeds, two deckchairs and a clothes box. We cycled about 2km to the free bit of beach!

Eating out is easy as there's an array of restaurants in the town at a range of prices. Personal view - if they give me a QR code instead of a menu (quite a few did) I just walk on. We had some great meals.

Only complaint about the hotel was other guests. Our room had a connecting door, but the people in the room next door were very loud Americans. We heard every word until the early hours. Eventually I got up and slammed our bathroom door loudly so I think they got the message at that point. There were also some dogs left alone in a room on our floor one night and they barked quite a bit.

Hotel staff very helpful and friendly. It's a fairly quiet hotel (notwithstanding above comments) and low key. Pool is great and not overused so were always able to get in.

The town is quiet well heeled - loads of expensive designed shops and a cluster of fancy cars. We loved people watching. Bikes rule - very popular. Smart dress was generally the order of the day for people in the town.

I think we will be back.

Hotel was very nice. Price was reasonable in May. Not sure about the coming weeks/months? Well kept up. Rooms were clean and comfortable. Since we had a rental car, the hotel gave us placard to park on the street or in a parking lot across the street.