Pleasant hotel if your company picks up the tab

Stayed here on business in March 2005. The interior of the hotel is newly decorated and very smart and the standard rooms are large. The Martinez is the least well located of the 4 star hotels along the Croissette, as it is the furthest away from the Conference Centre and the centre of town. However, it is no more than 10 minutes walk along the promenade to the centre of things.

In terms of leisure activities it seems rather limited; they have two excellent restaurants, the pool is heated but outside and the bar is extremely expensive for distinctly average cocktails.

Although very pleasant if you aren't paying for it, I doubt I would choose to stay here if I was paying for it myself.

Great location

Stayed 5 nights in Aug 2004. Hotel excellent, great food and spacious bar with cool piano player. Beach bar / restaurant pretty chic & all staff very helpfull. Overall good 5* hotel in an perfect Cannes location.

This is not Luxury.....

Be careful when you read about the "recent renovations" to this hotel - it only applies to the very plain looking marble lobby, the Givency spa and the 7th floor suites. This hotel has such extremes of good and bad that it is astounding. First, the good - the Givency spa is wonderful. The French know skin care and the facials and massages are amazing - the spa is beautiful and has a lovely outside deck area that you can relax on after your treatment. The hotel has a lovely restaurant outside next to the pool and has live music some nights while you dine al fresco. The breakfast spread is amazing - ours was included in the room but they did charge us accidentally one day and it costs $60 Euro so be sure to watch this (they removed it from our bill with no problem). Now, the bad. We moved our room three times because of issues, and each was worse than the next. If you are traveling with a "special" or "group" rate, be careful - you are going to get a bad room. The first room we got had no shower doors on the shower, and the bathrooms have that dangerously slippery marble flooring so that showering without doors was not possible if we wanted to avoid a fall. When housekeeping showed up to look at the shower, at first they acted like it was supposed to be that way, then after a minute, they admitted it was broken and they informed us it could not be fixed that night (we figured that) so we asked to move and they moved us to another room - with only one bed (we had asked for two beds). The last room was the worst of all....filthy walls that looked as if there had been a fire there....all along the perimeter of the ceiling were smoke marks, and the air conditioning vent was black around the perimeter of the vent- it appeared as if it had never been cleaned. The furnishings were faded and shabby and the nightstand had a big cigarette burn on it. The towels were thin and warn. There is no ventilation in the bathroom so be sure to put the bathmat down or you will slip and slide from the steam buildup (even with the door open). The air conditioning barely cools even if it is on full blast. Just be warned, our "group" rate was about $345 a night - this 400 room hotel has many, many very small, bad rooms that have not been renovated and it was very disappointing...

V Good

This is an excellent hotel. We booked a great deal online but when we arrived the reception staff couldn't have been better. They gave us a free upgrade and then changed the bed in the room to a proper double rather than two beds pushed together. The only advice I would give is to plan ahead if you want to go to the private beach / pier. The best spots get reserved early so phone ahead or book for the following day when you arrive.

High rating not merited

We read the negative comments about this hotel on this website, but we decided to try the Martinez based on its "palais" rating.

Our room was recently updated but lacked any coziness. Despite the hotel's ad mentioning their soundproofed rooms, it was much too easy to hear our in-hotel neighbours. Luckily we were not on the side of the hotel adjacent to the railway!

Next time we will listen to you good folks.

Excellent hotel. Yhe service was good so was the food

The Martinez was excellent. I loved the service and the food was really good. I really recommend this hotel, but be warned some rooms can be very pricy

Leading Hotel - I beg to differ

For more than 6 years, I stayed at the Martinez for about one week, twice a year - during one of the many conferences Cannes is hosting. As much as the hotel breathes history, and although some visible improvements have been made over the years, it never kept the promise you expect when staying at a 'Leading Hotel of the World' ... The staff is often wonderful, and the Concierges are top notch, courteous and helpful - but the rooms are average at best, and they lack the attention to detail, the little things that make a stay wonderful.

Will never go back

The concierge was absolutely wonderful. They were genuinely helpful and very well organized. BUTOur original room was occupied when we first checked in. An Arabian King and his entourage plus body guards occupied about 50% of this hotel including our room. We were then taken to another room which was in need of new carpet and furnishings. There were also ashes in the ashtray (this was a non-smoking room!), and the top of the bed was a bit messed up. And it kept going down hill from here...... I'll be sure to make any plans to the south of France in the spring or fall when most of the visitors have returned home and we can truly enjoy this location.

Room was outdated - service was great

I stayed at the Hotel Martinez in Aug. 2003. The lobby of the hotel is beautiful and check-in was absolutely wonderful.

Loved The Martinez

An excellent hotel from top to bottom. The staff is courteous, and warm. The rooms are lavishly appointed with every amenity one would expect from such a fine hotel. The food could be a tad better, but only a snob would complain. I would definitely stay at the Martinez again.