Hotel Du Lac - Gardone Riviera, Italy 

This was a fantastic hotel, ideally situated right on the lake, stayed on a half board basis, didnt pay the full brochure price, and got fantastic vaue for money, the staff were very helpful and welcoming , there was plenty choose on every meal we had and were all very good, maids were in everyday and clean towels everyday if you wanted. We used the ferry, which was situated outside the hotel, to visit different parts of the lake....and we got free entry tickets from the hotel for the private beach 5 minutes walk from the hotel or you could use this pass and get free beds and umbrellas on the public beach which was 5 minuts in the other direction. Overall a fantastic break.....

unfortunately because of the late booking I was not aware of the full details of this hotel . However I still feel justified making comment. It started with our arrival at 14.10. Our room was not ready. It was kindly suggested that we BUY a drink from the bar while we wait. Once our room (room 106) was ready, the wait, was not worth it. It was no more, than a darkened cupboard with beds in. and a glorious view of a tree in the square blocking any light. We did ask to change rooms, but the receptionist told us to ask in the morning, as she could not make such decisions. It later became apparent that the morning receptionist (an older lady) was running the fiasco, known as Du Lac. And of course come morning we were told a change of rooms was not possible, even if I paid for an upgrade. The next problem we encountered was the food at dinner. Upon our booking in, we were told that dinner was 1900 to 2130, Dinner the first night was a very bland affair. Despite there being an extensive menu on the lake side restaurant, the hotel guests sat in a side dining room and were only offered a choice of three meals. the buffet salad was put out, left for the guest and flies’ to help themselves, at no time did I see a member of staff attempt to cover or top up the salad. When our food did arrive, the main course was cold and tasteless. We left most on the plate. the second night we went for dinner at 20.55, to be told that we had missed dinner, the board behind the reception now showed dinner 1900 to 2030 ( so a gap of one and a half hours for hotel guests, even though the lakeside seating stayed open till 12.00). I enquired as to why the food choice and quality and service seemed so much better on the lakeside as to the hotel guests. The reply was that they paid. Now from viewing my holiday itinerary, it says half board. I assume the meaning hasn’t changed and that means food included in the price. After this we decided not to eat in the restaurant, But on the last night we felt it fair to give it another chance. (Oh dear). The buffet included stuffed peppers, again cold; I decided not to eat the stuffing after trying to get a fork in it. The main meal was advertised as veal; again this was served cold, making it chewy not the tender meat it supposed to be. To reassure myself and my partner, it wasn’t just us; several people also got up and walked out leaving their food. One of our excursions was the opera Tosca in Verona, which was truly magical; however the hotel couldn’t help them trying to dampen the experience. Our rep told us, that because we weren’t there for dinner, the hotel would provide a packed lunch, if we ordered it through the reception. We went to see a certain receptionist, who told us that the hotel no longer provided this service. Instead we could have a voucher for a meal to use on the lakeside restaurant, to use any time we wanted. We were more than happy with this arrangement, until we came to use the voucher, being told it was only for lunch time (yet we missed a dinner). This then became a useless gesture in a hotel with no pool, in an area were you had to go out to do anything. To use the voucher meant we would have to hang around, wasting a morning of our holiday. I even offered them the chance to just swap the voucher for a couple of drinks. But to reaffirm the receptionist’s attitude, I was told this was not possible. Needless to say, the voucher went unused. One last moan would be about the staff, whilst pleasant enough, they were so slow. When ever we sat down for drinks by the lakeside, we had to wait a minimum of 15 minutes and if you didn’t pay, when they brought the drinks, you could wait a further 10mins for the bill whether they were busy or not. Despite these moans we still put a positive spin on our holiday and enjoyed ourselves, laughing at the Hotel Du Lac, Lake Garda is a beautiful place to holiday, somewhere I’m likely to return, maybe to Gardone ,definitely not to the Du Lac Hotel. This hotel is not a three star hotel and should never be considered suitable for a half board holiday. A fair appraisal would make it an adequate two star if it was self catering. one final point no pool and no sun terrace and no access for swimming in the lake near the hotel. to do this you must either go to the public beach 15 mins away or the private beach 10 mins away costing 10 euros with a hotel discount.