The hotel is in the old Spanish style, especially liked the furniture and the general decoration. The service meets modern ideas. The cuisine is quite diverse and can satisfy every taste. You can spend a reasonable time here ...
Expedia.com
Taking safety measures
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Expedia.com
La Gran Francis is a lovely grande-dame from Granada’s colonial past. The restaurant is wonderful. It is located directly across the street from the hotel. The room was spacious with high ceilings. Unfortunately, the toilet leaked, which I reported to the receptionist, but nothing was done. The door to the patio would not lock, but I couldn’t open it, either. I was not given the correct room and safe keys, so that caused some anxiety, but was resolved within an hour. I ended up carrying the bulky keys with me at all times because I did not trust reception to return the correct keys to me. Housekeeping changed our sheets, but left no tp or clean towels.The property holds a lot of promise, but I could not recommend it currently.
Half of our group stayed here and the other half in Plaza Colon which was apparently better maintained. I chose this hotel on purpose because in Plaza Colon, there were stairs and our room here was on ground floor. Very conveniently located just off the main square, very close to the cathedral, this beautiful mansion with a lovely courtyard and spacious rooms could easily be the number 1 hotel of the city. However, the bathrooms floor needed refurbishment although there were no problems with hot water, some clients didn’t like the bathroom. Actually the historical washbasin was a museum piece. With just a little expenditure, the room would change a lot. The furniture was of dark wood. We used the table for our luggage. There was a safe and the WiFi was good. There was also a water tank next to the reception where we could fill our bottles. Breakfast was served in the courtyard of the historical mansion across the street. This house belonged to a infamous historical character, William Walker. Breakfast was typically Nicaraguan with rice and black beans and fruits.
The staff tried their best but they were totally unprofessional and untrained with no English. We had a hard time trying to get a small towel. In principle, they give 2 big and 1 small towels for 2 people in Nicaragua and you have to fight for the second small towel. We usually gave up and used the large one to wipe our face and hands.
One (1) Uno shrimp. A few scattered microscopic octopi. One dime-sized calamari ring that was over cooked. A lot of carrots and eggplant. However, as sad as it was, compared to other meals I've had in Granada, it was about standard.
We stayed here for three nights as part of our Costa Rica & Nicaragua tour. On first sight this hotel looks like a grand old colonial style mansion with an internal courtyard that is typical for the area. This courtyard is filled with the hotel’s swimming pool.
We were fast tracked through check in courtesy of our tour manager but it soon became apparent that our tour (12 people) was the only guests in the hotel. The hotel staff whilst very helpful had little understanding of English and relied on telephone calls via an interpreter for any dealings. This surprised me with their proximity to the USA which could produce a large part of their future custom.
The rooms were of the same style with a lot of dark wood and a really small walled courtyard area. Although this did have chairs it was not an inviting place to sit out with four walls within touching distance and an aircon extractor fan. The rooms looked stylish but with basic furnishings and you felt you were part of the house’s history rather than in a plush modern hotel.
On closer inspection however you realised that there were a lot of issues within the room that could be easily resolved.
The table light fitting was broken with the switch and bulb fixed only by the wire and moving considerable every time you went to switch it on or off.
Coffee maker in each room but no cups available to make use of it. None available at reception either so we had to borrow some from the breakfast restaurant the following day.
Nowhere to store your case and no luggage stand like most other hotels. We resorted to leaving them open on the floor which would have been ok except for;
The room flooded during the night due to heavy rain. This came through the doors leading to the courtyard and swamped the floor and anything on it. We had to borrow a mop from reception to keep this at bay. Other members of the tour party were also affected and the hotel provided towels to place against the door to try and keep it at bay.
During our stay none of us experienced hot water although after mentioning this to reception via the translator the water was upgraded from cold to lukewarm.
I am aware that tourism in Nicaragua has been virtually non-existent in recent years due to recent political troubles and I believe this may have impacted on the upkeep of the rooms as a result. The staff were very apologetic for the problems we encountered and provided free cocktails at our evening meal on our last night’s stay here as a thank you for our patience and acceptance without complaints. I would have marked this higher if it wasn’t for the hot water issue.
The hotel from the exterior does not look that exciting but the interior is beautiful, rooms are classically furnished and comfortable and clean, there are many interesting curiosities dotted around the well maintained property, The staff are helpful and the food of a good standard. Was a very pleasant stay.
