Things to bear in mind when booking hotels at Lake Como, Italy
Lake Como has three five star Grand hotels – The Villa D’Este in Cernobbio, Villa Serbelloni in Bellagio and The Grand Hotel in Tremezzo – all conversions of large old ‘stately homes’. It also has a number of modern, purpose built four star hotels that target conference trade and wedding receptions, with large meeting areas, audio – visual equipment and banqueting facilities. But most of the hotels around lake Como are smaller, two and three star operations, located in modified and renovated older buildings in dozens of small villages, often family owned and run, and each with a relatively small number of rooms.
Eating and drinking arrangements
Almost every hotel effectively operates on a bed & breakfast basis, since only breakfast is normally included in the room rate. Other meals have to be bought. For lunch and dinner, a number of the hotels have their own restaurants, some placing such an emphasis on cuisine that they seem to be restaurants that grew rooms. A few have reciprocal arrangements with other hotels, and many have no dining areas but will recommend local restaurants to their guests. Even if a hotel has its own restaurant, guests do also eat out, for variety or a lake view or because hotel restaurants can be a bit pricey.
Guest Rooms
Hotels categorise rooms in a variety of ways, including size (sometimes defined by how many beds can be accommodated). Rooms are also classified by reference to whether bathrooms are en suite ( the norm) or shared; whether the room has a balcony, or even a terrace, and whether a Lake view is full on or side on. But for hotels in renovated or converted buildings, many rooms are unique and some rooms within a particular category may unavoidably be better or worse than others. In room amenities at their best will include satellite TV, direct dial telephone, internet access and room service, with a bathroom /shower room en suite.
Surcharges
Hotels at Lake Como differ in the extent to which they charge extra for amenities such as parking space and internet connection; or in a few cases, for breakfast. There may not always be on site parking and guests may then have to use separately located private parking or park on the street.
