Hotel Astoria

We had yet another fantastic holiday on Lake Garda staying in the Astoria. The hotel overlooks the lake with fantastic views. The staff at the hotel are great and very friendly. We found the food to be excellent and representative of the area. We meet some very nice and friendly people on our holiday but sadly a large coach party were not very nice. The town of Malcesine is a lovely place to visit and just wonder around. We will be returning in May and are about to book the hotel again, we have been staying there since 2006 and travelling to the lake for 23 years. It's our heaven on Earth. Again thanks to the staff at the hotel for a lovely stay.

The reception staff were unfriendly, abrupt and not welcoming on check in. I was charged for a single room supplement and the only room they had available was a single room measuring 3m X 3m which I refused to stay in. This was only resolved by the Tour Guide offering me his room in exchange. Some lights were not working in room, there were no toiletries available except a small bar of soap, there was no mirror over dressing table, there was a charge of 1 Euro per day to use the fridge and 5 Euros for the use of the safe. The carpet was old and stained. The Wi-Fi only just reached the first two floors (there were 4 floors) There was no tea making machine in the room. The shower was very slippery and dangerous with no grab handles or mat. There are no shops nearby and it was about 2 miles to Malcesine the nearest shopping All evening meals had to be pre-ordered the day before from a limited choice set menu– this applied to all residents .There was no a la Carte menu available for any resident We were not permitted to change dining tables for the whole 6 days stay as it confused the waiters !. Tables were 4 or 6 persons. The food was poorly cooked and repetitive –we were offered pork 3 consecutive days and for breakfast boiled or scrambled eggs were served every day – the only hot dish available Despite complaints that potatoes were not cooked and the majority of our party did not eat them, the staff insisted they were cooked ! There were several aggressive and unhelpful conversations with waiters at our table disputing that the food was not cooked despite 70% of residents returning uncooked food. I requested several times that fish be offered on the menu and this did not appear until day 5. The coffee was undrinkable We were informed by reception that drinks ordered at the table had to be booked to the room and that credit cards would not be accepted for amounts below 200 Euros. This generally meant on check out all extras had to be paid for by cash as the room had been prepaid as it was unlikely that extras would amount to 200 Euros. There was not cash machine in the hotel. I offered, on check out, to give the receptionist some friendly constructive criticism of how things could be improved but before I had hardly started I received a string of aggressive abuses and rudeness shouting in a very loud voice – in front of other clients – ending by telling me to “push off” and go away. I heard that other residents had been shouted at and received similar unnecessarily aggressive verbal abuse from the staff. In summary Overall this was a good holiday in Lake Garda totally spoilt by the Hotel quality and the rude attitude of the staff. You would be well advised not to use this hotel. It is listed as a 3 star but it barely qualifies as a two