When holiday-makers are researching hotels, and yes you should always do SOME research! they generally fall into two basic categories; those who want a "destination hotel" (sorry for the marketing-speak), and those who want a simple,clean base from which they can get out-and-about to explore and dine. This hotel falls very clearly into the latter category.
The location is excellent, though minus a sea view, but then you get what you pay for. Hotels such as this allow you to explore and enjoy a location while hardly ever having to rely on buses or taxis - except for trips further away of course. We always prefer to be right at the heart of things where you can experience the local culture and atmosphere - rather than tucked away in some sterile homogeneous resort hotel. It is compact and the public spaces are tiny. The rooms are functional, en-suites clean - with a powerful shower an loads of hot water. The air conditioning does work (seasonally!), but of course you must have your keycard inserted and the windows closed. This is pretty standard practice otherwise the A/C unit would be trying to refresh the air of the entire neighbourhood!
The two most regular comments here about this hotel refer to the overall cleanliness and the attitude of the management/staff. And yes, it is clean. Staff difficulties are a little more complex; a previous poster assumed that the owner/manager rules with a rod of iron and this seems likely. There's a Teutonic efficiency in operation here which, while accounting for the cleanliness, makes for a curt and occasionally rude interaction, and of course there's no excuse for this - it is the hospitality business after all. The hotel appears to be a husband/wife/daughter operation and the best business decision they could make would be for the parents to retire, leave the daughter in charge, and try to lighten the mood and workload load on the staff.
Finally, a previous poster complains that he and his wife were harangued by a staff member despite being "45 y/o Professionals". Sadly it appears that this member of staff had not been instructed in the specific attitude to be employed when dealing with this particular socio-economic grouping!

We booked this hotel to attend a wedding in Malchesine. Its in a great Location. Actually for the price we liked our room - it was just large enough. Clean, good powerful shower. We had a small lake view from the window but we where on the top floor 405. We weren't bothered about a view but if you are then you will be dissapointed. What spoilt it for us? They control the aircon from the desk with ruthless aplomb, so you cant have it below 22 degrees , only works when your in there, goes off if you open a window, is turned off automatically at night. Its so hot in Malchesine that realy the aircon had little impact on the temp of the room - so a sweaty time is had by all. Its a bit pointless having it and restricting it so much but then when you meet the grumpy old owner/manager you know why. This guy lambasted my wife and I (from 20 yards away across a full hotel lobby/restaurant and we are Professional 45 yr olds) for having the cheek to walk into the hotel going to our room eating an ice cream and made us go outside and eat it. LOL. I am serious! Trying to request a reasonable explanation for this outburst resulted in further abuse of the English and tourists in general who dare to stay in his hotel..it was so bad it was laughable. The breakfast is below par - more grumpy service, poor quality coffee and watered down fruit cordials....the croissants are o.k but then you cant get a croissant wrong. The TV didn't work either - the change to digital was blamed...
We wouldn't reccomend. Malchesine is beautiful and the service at this Hotel put the only dampner on the fab weekend. Stay somewhere else. Or go back when the 'grumpy' retires.

We stayed here for a week in August, half board with Inghams. Room number 205, I think, good size with a good shower room, and a small balcony from which we could see left up Monte Baldo, and right to a small section of the lake.
We found the breakfasts fine, good coffee, and delicious little brown rolls, as well as light pastries, tinned fruit, juice, and the usual cereals. The evening meals were a bit mixed. We enjoyed the salad starter, and the pasta or soup was always good. The main courses were a bit mixed, but we enjoyed the 2 fish dishes we had. We were usually pretty full by this time, but watermelon, fresh fruit salad or ice cream were usually offered, and one day we had a stunning, incredibly light, baked cheesecake.
Our waitress was always pleasant, but she seemed very tired sometimes - it seems to be a very long day for waiting staff. The hotel owner was always pleasant. I guess hotel staff have to work very hard during the busy season, and hopefully they get more time off at less busy times.
The only downside was the noise in the early hours, coming from people leaving a nearby bar. The other side of this was that it was really good to be so central, making it easy to get anywhere and really feel in the middle of everything. On balance, I'd probably be prepared to put up with a bit of noise - it meant we could enjoy the excellent Spanish guitarists playing for an hour outside the bar next door,and the band playing down in the centre. I'd be happy to come to this hotel again.

We got a late (and thus very cheap) package deal at this hotel through Inghams. Our room was on the 1st floor at the back of the hotel overlooking the kitchen and it was very dark and airless, and was also a bit noisy in the evening. However, several guests who were at the front of the hotel complained about noise from the street in the early hours - I guess I'd just about settle for dark and airless over being woken up by the sounds of revelry. On the positive side, he room itself was large, well appointed and clean, as was the bathroom. The aircon was good too, but note that you have to close and lock your windows for it to work.

We were on a half board package and the breakfast was of a good standard (very good coffee) and the dinners were ok, although we were placed in the bottom half of the split level dining area (you sit where you are told!) and thus were unable to see, and were not told about, the salad bar located in the upper half. Also, as others have said, all the outdoor tables are reserved for passing trade, so there's no chance of dining al fresco which is a shame because the little square outside the hotel is delightful. Also on the debit side was the fact that the waitress was really miserable and the dinner service could be very slow. I also note from other reviews that there is a roof terrace - we didn't see any signs for this, nor were we told about it and I'd like to have seen it given that we had no view or balcony.

The lady who ran reception (we guessed that she was also the owner) was very formidable (not to say intimidating) and accused us of being "hysterical" when we happened to mention that our aircon had stopped working after a short power-cut - very odd.

All-in-all, given that our deal was so cheap and Malcesine so lovely, we had a good holiday. However, we certainly wouldn't choose to stay at this hotel again and wouldn't recommend it to anyone paying full price for a trip to Malcesine. If you are paying full price then the town has plenty of beautiful lakeside hotels and I'd choose one of them - unless you really want to experience staying an an Italian Fawlty Towers.