호텔 데 카르메 라베노

My husband had stayed here for business and said it was wonderful, so we booked for five nights as a break away on our tour of Italy. On arrival we were greeted warmly and had help unloading our car and checked in. Welcome drink and nibbles offered and all the services explained. Went up to our room where our luggage had been delivered. Lovely large room with a Juliet balcony overlooking the lake. Very clean and bathroom excellent size and with all the bits and pieces you’d expect of a five star hotel. As an all inclusive luxury hotel we went down to have a drink after a days travelling. Service was extremely slow and we had to find a waiter rather than them keeping an eye out for patrons. This remained the case the entire stay. Service was mixed..some times you get nibbles, others not. Evening meals were excellent with a good choice. You are allocated a table for your stay. We had a nice table at front of far restaurant. Buffet salad, then your choice delivered to the table. You serve yourself to wine from the buffet. We returned to room on night one and turned on the air con. Nothing! Just a lot of noise. We decided to sleep with door open instead and reported the next morning which we did snd were told it had to be switched on by reception which they did. This was after discovering you can only use the hairdryer on its lowest setting or it cuts out (we had a replacement from reception and it did exactly the same). Day three and the air con still not working so they offered to move us which we accepted as was too warm too sleep without it. Moved room and air con in that room was marginally better but not vastly so. Hey ho. Breakfast was again a buffet affair with fresh egg dishes cooked to order. The all inclusive alcohol tariff was ok..they ran out of whiskey after one night and it wasn’t replaced whilst we were there. Some drinks are not included. The location is great. Very quiet and some nice bars along the promenade if you want to walk and have a change of scene. You can get a boat from laveno over to Intra which is the hub for boats going across the lake. All in all it was a pleasant enough stay but some attention to detail, better service and make sure spirits and drinks are stocked and supplied.

A truly lovely hotel. The staff, food and accomodation were really great - the lakeside views just beautiful. The perfect location for a really relaxing break whilst being pampered.