Grand Hotel Rimini

Suggested rating: 2/5 I stayed here for 3 nights with my family. Let me be clear upfront: my complaint is not that the hotel is old — a historic property can absolutely be a 5-star experience. The problem is that the service and hospitality simply do not match a 5-star standard, and that starts from the moment you arrive. On arrival, no staff member was present to help unload the car. We had to walk inside ourselves to ask for assistance. The car park, though on the hotel premises, feels more like a back-of-house storage and staff break area — unused furniture stacked along the way, and hotel workers sitting around. It's not dramatic, but it's simply not what you expect at a property claiming 5-star status. The check-in staff were friendly, but that warmth didn't carry through to the rest of the team — restaurant staff in particular showed little genuine interest in guests. The biggest issue for us was the pool. Every day there were swimming classes taking up nearly half the pool, generating a lot of noise. I initially assumed this was a perk for hotel guests, but it turned out these classes were for local children from Rimini, not hotel guests. What made this harder to accept is the double standard: at the hotel's private beach — which costs *** per day — my son wasn't allowed to play football with me because it might disturb other paying guests. Yet the same "no disturbance" logic apparently doesn't apply to a daily swim school taking over the pool. Breakfast was fine but unremarkable, and certainly not 5-star in execution — service ended abruptly, with staff closing everything down just 5 minutes before the stated closing time and no warning to guests still eating. The rooms were very basic, lacking any real elegance, and the bathrooms were outdated and poorly maintained. Being old is not the issue — an old bathroom can still function well and feel cared for. This one didn't. One more telling moment: during our stay, I personally alerted staff to a small fire near the restaurant. No one from the hotel ever followed up, thanked me, or acknowledged it afterward. To make matters worse, at checkout the bill included dinner charges that weren't ours, which meant we had to stand there disputing and correcting the invoice, dragging out what should have been a quick checkout. Taken together, these experiences point to a management and ownership team that isn't present or engaged, and a hotel that has coasted on its historic reputation for years without reinvesting in genuine hospitality and basic administrative accuracy. A storied building and a nice location are not enough to justify a 5-star label or a 5-star price. I would not recommend this hotel, and I'd suggest looking elsewhere in Rimini for a stay that matches what you're paying for.

Good

Beautiful hotel, great breakfast, spacious room. It’s charming

The reception service was not up to par. It took sometime to check in. Parking service is not included, is offered at a very expensive price for the guests. Rooms little obsolete not to the best standard. All hotel facilities not included in the price and offered at payment. Breakfast was gorgeous