H I Hotel Nice

2nd Class Citizen

We stayed in the Hi Hotel for one night (27 November) for a very short city break.

The Hotel is very hip, and as a fan of contemporary design, I was in my element.

Check in was slow, and we were given a room "Upgrade". The room was very nice, but I would have been annoyed if our original room was any smaller.

We booked using Hotels Be aware, although the Hi Hotel obviously uses this service to fill vacant rooms, you will be made to feel like a second class citizen by the staff. The Hi Hotel room rate on their website was 180 Euros, we paid 138 Euros using Hotels

On checking in we were given 2 complimentary drinks vouchers. These can be used for any drink on the (very expensive) drinks menu, This really did start our break off well. It was amazing to drink Baby Piper Heidsick Champagne bottles courtesy of the hotel. This is a very nice gift from the Hotel. These are not given away if you book with Hotels, as we heard a colleague of the check in chap whisper in his ear as we checked in. It was too late for him, and he could not take them back.

We spent a lovely day and evening in Nice, and I recommend the Hippotomus restaurant (a tip from barman at the Hi). We returned at 9.45 to find that happy hour had finished early, and the club night was clearing out (no doubt because they could not afford the drinks prices). Two drinks came to 20 Euros (One Scotch and one Hi Vodka Cocktail - Coke, Absolut and Lime).

I had read the hotel literature which said that breakfast is included. We duly ate breakfast in the morning. To a carnivore like myself, with a slight hangover after drinking champagne all day, the breakfast was not to my liking. The sight of rough looking carrots, fennel, black bananas and a few pieces of cheese made me feel worse. The coffee was not much better. We were then asked to sign a ticket for 36 Euros, 18 Euros each.

Having enjoyed the Hi, this was the straw that broke the Camels back. Great Hotel, but check your reservation sheet if you use hotels

I managed to get one breakfast refunded (after much complaining). The staff even had the chhek to say "Are you from London, you would be lucky to get breakfast that cheap in London"

You certainly can get dry bread, carrots, and a piece of cheese for cheaper than £11.

The Hi Hotel is a very handsome hotel, and it is unique. I loved the room and the quality of the hotel. It is however very "Hip" and drinks are very expensive, as is the breakfast. The service is not great, and quite rude really I thought. Us English tend not to complain, but I did feel my blood boil at times.

I would have rather paid the extra twenty quid or so and booked with them at their website to save humiliation. They made it back on breakfast from us anyway.

We only found the hotel by browsing Hotels, but they do not realise that the whole world hasn't heard about them outside of this site, and will let you know in no uncertain terms that they know you "got the room cheap".

Great Hotel, service patronising, expensive drinks, poor breakfast.

Amusement park

The Hi! hotel is like an amusement park - it looks great, the concept is super, and we had a great time there - but I was glad we only booked it for one night. We stayed in a monospace room, which has about everything you need (incl. flatscreen TV), but lacked a couple of extra walls... Toilet and shower are part of the room, only seperated from the rest and each other by some glass. The roof with mini-pool is a great place for a great view over Nice, although the camera's give an uncomfortable feeling. When we were there, both internet computers in the lobby were defect. All served food is organic, breakfast is unlike any other breakfast. Bar looks great, we were the only onces there, and tried about every chair/cough/thing-made-for-sitting but found none to be comfortable - had a lot of fun trying everything out though :-)

Recommended, but definately not for a long stay.

Good Service but Dysfunctional

We stayed in this hotel for two nights in October and booked through Expedia. We stayed in a monospace room. The room was very very small, with a toilet that was open to the entire room. The shower at least was enclosed in glass. We liked the lobby and the staff was friendly. But, the location was a bit out of the way. We're ok with the whole retro, funky concept, but having the toilet without any barriers to the rest of the room was a bit gross. My husband used the lobby rest room. While we were hip with the concept, we advise upgrading to a larger room. or staying closer to where the action is. Bed was of average comfort, the room was probably one of the smallest I've been in.

Cool concept

Hi is a triumph of form over function. Location was OK, have never stayed anywhere quite like this. The communal areas are small but funkily presented - the bar gets v. busy on a saturday night, but no noise to the rooms. The roof top terrace and pool is fabulous with views out onto the roof tops of Nice. Stayed in the 'Strata' room, with shower and loo enclosed in perspex boxes on stilts - definately not one for the shy! The whole hotel had a great feel about it and I would definately recommend this to anyone planning a short break in Nice who fancies a bit of a change from the more conventional offerings available. With immaculate presentation which allows you to forgive some of the sacrifices practicality makes to the design concepts. GIVE IT A GO!!

Pleasantly surprised.....

Having read all the reviews on this site, I was dreading and looking forward to our stay in equal measure. I have to say that we thoroughly enjoyed our stay at the Hi Hotel, although it's certainly not like any hotel we've ever seen!

The room we were given was a monospace one, with the toilet and shower sectioned off by glass partitions. It definitely breaks down any barriers that may still exist between you and your co-habitor as you have no privacy for 'those' moments. That said, we found it quite amusing but can totally appreciate how it wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea. Otherwise the room was very clean, bright and airy.

Staff were very friendly and helpful, the internet connection was working but painfully slowly, the pool was clean (but freezing)

Overall we had a great time and would recommend it to anyone looking for somewhere 'different' to stay

...it's just a concept

I took my daughter aged 10 to the Hi Hotel as it looked fun and wacky, and there were certainly some fun, wacky things about it. We initially stayed in the 'updown room' which, according to the blurb, consisted of two zones, one for resting and one for sleeping. When we queried this at reception we were told that this was 'just a concept' and the high shelf made of twigs around our wall was supposed to represent the relaxing zone. There were many more instances of 'just a concept' during our stay which made us laugh - the 'concept' of the completely open air toilet, for example, or the 'concept' of service (ie there isn't any), the 'concept' of the food zone (help yourself to cold tupperware boxes, which cost a fortune), the concept of the bathroom area that was meant to look like a garden shed, or the concept of the glamorous sunbathing area which would have looked messy if it had umbrellas, or if the beds were comfortable enough to lie on. It was all very funny, though most people didn't seem to be laughing - maybe that's just an 'English thing'!

Oh, and finally, the 'concept' of an inclusive buffet breakfast doesn't apply if you book your trip through expedia or hotel.com - as they explained to me, the room is 'already so cheap'(!) that they can't possibly include breakfast - unfortunately, they weren't convinced by my explication of the 'concept' of discrimination.

What a great place

HI was recommended to me by friends, and I was not disappointed. Staff was so nice, the atmosphere was great, the night we were there they were celebrating their first anniversary all the DJ from Laurent Garnier's label played all afternoon, including Laurent Garnier himself. The breakfast was more than enough and all organic. They also have organic for lunch and dinner.

I will definitely go back!!

A hotel to remember

The Hotel HI is an up-market designer youth hostel. Do not expect fuddy duddy service but look forward to a young fresh welcome. Be prepared to get your own breakfast (in a four star?) and meet a bunch of friendly arty guests while you are in the "food laboratory". Open party on Saturday night in the restaurant but not a sound in the rooms. Clean, good location, expensive. Love it, hate it but you'll always remember it !!

Fantastic experience at HI

The fun began when I entered through the purple tinted glass ... and then as you walk in you hear the music filling up the space. There is that music everywhere. We took a room at random (we liked the name actually) the technocorner and the receptionist told us there were 9 different concepts, since we were staying a week but going to Italy in between we asked if maybe we could try another room when we got back. The technocorner was amazing .... a room for home videos and sound fans. LOVED it .... Buffet breaksfast was a whole new experience as well with a buffet corridor as you come down the elevator, with everything you need, eggs, dairies, great italian coffee! When we went to Italy we realised that hotel was not only an hotel but it gave you a certain feeling because our nice hotel in Italy seemed dull all of a sudden. We tried when we returned the digital room, a classical room they said. It was also great, other colors, other moods, other feelings. The happy bar had organised that evening a live dj session and we had a wonderful evening and met a few people at the bar. My husband and I liked it a lot and we really want to come back with our son .... he would love this place and I had noticed quite a few couples with kids running around.

Whoever designed this hotel must have been high

I just came back from a month in southern france and northern italy. We intended to stay at the HI for a week but left after 2 days. The staff was really nice and friendly but the hotel just wasn't very functional.

For example, in the room we stayed in (the happy room i think that's what they called it) the shower is in the same room, separated from the room by a small glass wall. When you take a shower the whole room gets wet and is covered in steam. The sink was next to the shower and when you brush you teeth the entire floor gets wet. You constantly have to watch where you are stepping. There weren't any towel racks. The hair dryer turns off when the cord is stretched too far. The tv didnt work.

The 24 hour free internet access as advertised wasn't working when i was there. Both the room and the hotel lobby were beautiful to look at but that's it. The hotel is like a museum it's lovely and visually stunning but dont touch anything because nothing works.