Hotel Sofitel a Marsiglia

We stayed in Sofitel Marseille for 3 nights in the summer of 2023. The hotel is located right on the periphery of the old port of Marseille where all the shops and restaurants are located. It takes about a 15-minute walk to get from the hotel all the way to the centre of the old port so the hotel is fairly insulated from the hustle and bustle of the old port. The exterior of the hotel looks a bit dated but the interiors feel very fresh, clean and bright. We upgraded our room to a deluxe room facing the old port at the reception and we thought it was worth it. We never tired of waking up to a view of the old port with a clear blue sky. The room itself was quite clean and spacious. There was enough room to open up two luggages and still move around comfortably. There is also a turn down service where the staff will put out the bedroom slippers and play some nice Jazz music when you come back. The bed was nice and comfortable and the pillows were fluffy. The only complaint we had was that the air conditioning would turn off in the middle of the night. The air conditioning control did not seem to work and it seems like the air conditioning is centrally controlled so the in-room controls did nothing. I could not sleep the first night as it was too warm and stuffy so we asked for a ventilateur (fan) the next day. That helped us to sleep better. Obviously, if you are planning to stay during the winter months then the heat at night should not be an issue. The staff at the reception were always pleasant, warm, friendly and polite. We were upsold the room with a view when we checked in so that should say something about how friendly the staff were. It was EUR70 per night for the room with a view and it included overnight parking (EUR27 per night) so it was really only about EUR50 extra per night. The valet and the concierge were all very helpful and nice and they all speak English well enough. If you intend to park here, do note that the roads within the hotel property can be quite narrow and the parking lots are quite narrow as well. It may be worthwhile getting the valet to help you park your car at least for the first day because driving from the car rental agencies at the Marseille train station to the hotel was stressful enough for us. We paid around EUR300 - 350 a night but we thought it was worth it and we thoroughly enjoyed our experience.