We (a family of four, children aged 8 and 13) stayed in a quadruple room for one night only at the end of July, on our way from Venice to Milan.

We had tried to get something closer to the beautiful old town of Sirmione, but everything was sold out, so we weren't expecting much from the Gardenia, especially at EUR 133 per night for a quadruple, including breakfast.

Our first impression was very positive. The hotel is located a couple of kilometers from the old town itself, but the area itself has a number of shops and restaurants and it's only a couple of minutes walk to the lake. The lobby and public area was sparklingly clean and air conditioned. We arrived before lunch and our room wasn't ready but we were allowed to put our bags in the room anyway, and we were well looked after by the reception staff, whose English wasn't great but at least better than my Italian!

The room itself was very basic, but what we expected for the modest price. It was small, with one double and two singles crammed into it, a small shower room and a large window opening out onto the verandah at the front of the hotel. A small television and an airconditioning unit (only on at nights), completed the picture. Even though we stayed on a Saturday night at the height of the season, we were not disturbed by noise, either from within or outside the hotel.

Breakfast was OK. Service was practically non-existent, but they had all the basics there and guests just helped themselves. Kitchen staff came in from time to time with a small plate of strange looking scrambled eggs or six small sausages, all of which disappeared by the time we walked to the buffet table, but otherwise, the guests are left to their own devices.

A big plus with this hotel is the swimming pool area. The view over the fairly busy road isn't great, but the pool itself is large and clean and the surrounding poolside area has several new sun loungers and nicely cultivated plants and flowers. No complaints about this four star amenity at a two/three star hotel.

Apart from the reception staff there is little service at the hotel. I've already mentioned breakfast but the lack of service also extended to the bar and pool area, and no one to help with the luggage either, which could be necessary as we couldn't find any lifts in the place and there are no rooms on the ground floor.

The hotel is perfectly adequate for the price, don't expect luxury, but I must admit, I wouldn't have liked to spend more than two nights here. Next time, we'll book earlier and try to get inside the old city, but don't despair if you end up at this hotel. I've stayed at worse.

Finally, I'm surprised no one has mentioned to boat taxi into the centre of Sirmione. Sure you can walk/bus/taxi the couple of kilometers but the best way is to take a boat taxi from the harbour at the bottom of via Sirmioncino (east from the hotel). It cost EUR 8 for a family of four and we had the boat to ourselves. Stops running at 19.00 though.

This hotel went out of its way to ensure that guests would be miserable in the hot weather by gluing the buttons on their thermostat remote-control so that no adjustments could be made. The in-room temp was 29C -- too stifling to get any sleep -- and with the door to the veranda open, traffic noise and endlessly-barking dog only made matters worse. TV remote control only worked for channels and volume, so you had to walk across the room and reach up to the ceiling to attempt to turn it on or off. Continental breakfast buffet ran out before we arrived (30 min. prior to the stated ending time) and there was no replenishment or service people in the vicinity. Wireless internet did not work, and the room was nothing like the "pastel-colored" room in the advertisement.

My friend and I booked the Hotel Gardenia - we're both female and requested twin beds. We booked about three months before we actually took the holiday. We received confirmation from Expedia that our booking had been confirmed. On arrival at the hotel we were shown to a room with a double bed. You can appreciate our embarrassment. I told the Manager that I had requested a twin room and he said that the only room available was the room we were in. He said that the hotel was fully booked and that this was the only room available. I asked to be moved immediately when a twin bedded room was available, but surprise, surprise this didn't happen. Who's at fault? I've written to Expedia to find out whether they expect the hotel to advise them when only double rooms are available and will wait to find out if that is the case.

The hotel itself is very nice. Good room, basic but good. Nice bathroom. But I do feel that "my card was marked" after the altercation about the bed by the Manager ,and when my friend was asking for e.g. directions to various places we were getting unhelpful answers. For example, when we asked how to get to Desenz\no we were told five kilometers "that way" (pointing the direction). I reckon we got a shoddy deal on this and although the hotel itself was okay the service marred the holiday. Also the hotel is about a .2.5 mile walk from the main town of Sirmione, which is absolutely lovely. There are many hotels down the peninsula and I would recommend that you take a look at those before you book this one.

We arrived at 10.00pm on A Sunday evening, the welcome wasn't brilliant, but he was probably a little tired.....we were shown to our room which should have been a twin room with balcony, it was a very small double bed with a windowledge type balcony overlooking the carpark on the ground floor. As we are 'just friends' my travelling companion said that we couldn't possibly share this bed so we were moved after quite a while to another room which was a double but would be a twin the next day! He wouldn't even show us the room, we had to find it ourselves. Very sparce, no air conditioning on, but my friend didn't need her inhaler until we looked at the en-suite bathroom! If you are in a hurry, it would be ideal as you can sit on the toilet and have a shower at the same time! To be fair, it was clean and I think this is where moist toilet paper originated! We did move hotels, and had a great holiday!