This hotel is very basic. The rooms are indeed like a youth hostel and require refurbishment. The beds are camp bed style in single boxes. The front of the hotel faces a busy road and is above a petrol station, the back overlooks the hotel carpark and bins (if you're on the 3rd floor you may have a partial lake view).

The location is away from the centre but you get used to the walk. The staff really are excellent and try to accommodate any request but are fighting a losing battle with the poor quality of the hotel overall.

I would not recommend this hotel to anyone other than students/youth hostel types I'm afraid.

We stayed at the Prince Hotel and had an excellent holiday as we were just a short walk to the Lake. We booked with Thomson's Lakes and Mountains and the reason we booked this hotel is that it offered accommodation on a B&B basis so we could eat out where we pleased on an evening.

Our room was large and on the back of the hotel so very quiet. We knew we didn't have a lake view when we booked so that didn't bother us. The petrol station also didn't bother us either as that was on the front street. The room was very clean with plenty of storage space, but for those looking to spend time in their room/sit on the balcony it probably wouldn't match their expectation. Plenty of hot water and a fridge in the room. Safe could be hired for 1.50 Euro per day and aircon was 8 Euro per day, although we didn't need it as there was a pleasant breeze.

Continental breakfast was very good: refrigerated meats, cheeses, yoghurts, fresh fruit salad, cereals, pates, jams, bread rolls, melba toast, hard boiled eggs, cakes, croissants and juices. Service was always pleasant by the lady on breakfast duty.

Staff on reception were friendly, helpful and spoke excellent English.

For things to do I'd recommend a walk to the Bastione in Riva del Garda and a bus ride to Arco (90 cents each way) - there's a fabulous castle with stunning views. Torbole is also a pleasant walk. Malcesine is also about 12 Euro on the bus and there's a great cable car ride and another stunning castle to visit. For cyclists/walkers it would be an excellent base.

We couldn't fault this hotel as an excellent base to explore Riva Del Garda and Torbole because it's very close to a selection of restaurants, bus stops and the Lake. OK, so the rooms were a bit 'IKEA' and dated but it suited our needs for the week. After I'd read some of the other reviews I'd considered changing hotel but I'm glad we didn't.

Arrival didn't impress. Not friendly. Room small - reminiscent of Youth Hostel accommodation. Bed felt like it was going to collapse. Just not welcoming at all and shabby accommodation. Not at all good value. Don't know who would write good reviews about it. We spent as little time there as possible.

We stayed for a week in Riva and found the hotel perfect for what we required-excellent food, friendly and helpful staff with clean and tidy rooms, we never noticed the petrol station and certainly could not smell it, great local amenities and the ice-cream parlour next door is a must. The best thing about our holiday , however, was in meeting the already mentioned "beautiful Marina", incredibly helpful and informative, meeting Marina really made our trip that bit more special. A real privilege to encounter such a wonderful human being,, many thanks to you Marina xxxx