Westminster Hotel, Nice, France

This is a great location, right on the seafront, in a town where hotels in good locations are hard to find. Although associated with the Concorde chain, the Westminster name, as the manager pointed out, comes first - apparently that makes a difference, and they like to maintain their family atmosphere, independence and individuality. It certainly has that. Downstairs are huge and impressive ballrooms which have obviously seen more fashionable times, gawped at now by American guests. Built in 1880, the hotel was here before its now more famous neighbour, the Negresco. The check-in area is a little gimcrack, which in this case is encouraging, because the Frenchness of the place seems alive and well. Upstairs the decor is plain but the room sizes are decent, with some big junior suites facing the sea, with twin sinks and big tubs. They are slowly renovating the hotel, and the results, currently the 2nd and 5th floors, are reasonably encouraging, with walls in textured paper and restful, beige colourways. Nothing exciting or over ornate, but good repro furniture, little wall lights and the odd picture manage to hit the right note. You get the impression that there is a continuity with the past, that the hotel has grown character. We hope it will manage to retain it.