Having just returned from a fantastic holiday with Riviera travel staying at the Brione Hotel was a pleasure. The hotel is very clean and modern, room facing the pool and mountains was very well sized, comfortable and exceptionally clean. The staff throughout the hotel were very helpful and pleasant and the bar reasonably priced with a good selection of drinks. The continental breakfast was good and the evening meal menu was very good, well cooked and presented, vegetarian selection also. For this type of holiday location (e.g Italy, Austria, Germany) we reckon the food was probably the best we have had, overall. The location is excellent being a very pleasant walk along the lake into Riva - a stunning location. We would definitely stay here again.

Back from a 10 day Coach Holiday with Travelsphere in Riva del Garda about a month ago. The holiday was amazing and Travelsphere service and organization excellent.
Our only disappointment was the Hotel which lacks many standard features of a 3 star hotel. We've stayed in many similar properties throughout Europe and are therefore able to compare.
ROOMS: no A/C (had to leave bedroom windows open all night due to high temperatures), only one power point... in the bathroom (not enough to charge mobiles, cameras, MP3 etc), no Toiletries, no double-glazing windows (too much street noise and our room was at the back of the hotel), no luggage rack, no mini-bar/fridge.
RECEPTION: friendly staff although we found on several occasions Reception was unattended and Guest's Passports left on the rack behind the small counter, easily accessible by anyone.
PUBLIC AREAS: very airy and clean, Spacious Bar with a very pleasant outside seating area by the front Garden. Closing time is at about midnight which is clearly too early for a holiday resort in peak Summer time.
RESTAURANT: very spacious but with very poor service. Apart from the Restaurant Manager, waitresses looked miserable, not a smile or effort to be welcoming... in fact they gave the impression they wanted to get rid of our group as soon as possible each evening. Like one reviewer said, they don't seem to cater in a positive way to Tour groups. Air Conditioning in the Restaurant was switched off all the time despite the obvious heat being felt by everyone, including staff. Curiously, they have too much lighting making the room excessivly bright. There was a Candle Lit Dinner one night... what a difference!
FOOD (Breakfast): was very basic and uninspiring. Not much choice of anything really: one dry cake, two types of cereals, cheap pre-packed cheese and ham (only one type of each), "fruit" juices were terrible, no fresh fruit (only one type of canned). No toaster, so forget about toasts! Also don't expect any hot food at all (only boiled eggs on two days out of seven.. which everyone run to!). The breakfast buffet area looked very empty and nothing looked good quality or fresh apart from the bread rolls, which were very nice.
As others have said, at breakfast we'd have Dinner's Menu on our table to make our selections: 3 course meal, with two options per course.
Tables are allocated on the first evening for the rest of the stay.
DINNER: was slightly better than breakfast although not something we were desperatly looking forward to after each day relaxing or sightseeing.
Generally the food was tasty and acceptable albeit over salted. Soups were okay. Menu very repetitive, including both main course options being meat... on two consecutive days!!!
It's a waitress service where they bring a large tray with all the food per table. Don't expect big portions as it's them who actually place the food on your plate... I can imagine many people would have liked a second helping!
The Salad Bar was again very basic, every evening the same: lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, beetroot, corn/beans. For a 3 star hotel I'm sure they can do better than that!
Considering this is Italy THE country of olives, many different types of hams/pepperoni etc, olive oil, cheeses, breads (ciabbatas, focaccia etc), pasta and fish dishes... we were very surprised that hardly any of this were available.
SWIMMING POOL/GARDENS: the really good thing about this hotel is without a doubt the swimming pool and the surrounding gardens, which are very well kept.
We enjoyed it at different times during our stay and found the pool very clean, big (one deep but okay for us), plenty of free sunloungers (they could make it more confortable by placing some appropriate mattresses... but that's probably too much for this hotel!), fresh lavender and a friendly gardner make this area a very peaceful retreat if you want to change a bit from the buzzzing around the lake itself.
CONCLUSION: Riva del Garda is a lake setting paradise, surrounded by wonderful mountain scenery. Town and lakeside are easily explored by foot, lake is safe to swimm and a most recommended local walk is to the Bastione Fort/Castle ruins high above Riva del Garda in the mountains for breathtaking views. There's a Restaurant there with a fantastic balcony (closed on Wednesdays). It takes about 30 minutes walk, just follow the road/path behind the Boats Terminal.
I would go to Riva del Garda again but not to this hotel.

Very poor hotel - no air conditioning unless you pay 5 euros extra per night per person, rooms cramped, no tea or coffee making facilities in room, food appalling - like school dinners - over-salted, over-boiled veg, small portions, cold, and not cooked properly.

Some staff miserable, bar prices steep, no entertainment - dull and bar closes at 12.

Very noisy at night due to traffic noise and people noise.

Swimming pool ok - but no mattresses on sunbeds - rock hard and uncomfortable. Door to kitchen left open with food left open to flies !!!!

Best bit about the holiday was the other guests Dean and Lynn, Lorna and Vivian, Gwen and Hal, Jack and June, Sue and her gin and tonic drinking friend - they made it bearable.

On arrival temp. was top 30s. No air conditioning in any rooms. We were told we could upgrade for 70Euros a week. Air conditioning is not normally for group tours, only for higher paying guests. We did pay but had a smaller room and all upgrade amenities were removed, when I enquired why I was told the upgrade was only for the Air conditioning and not a full upgrade!!!!. We had to request the television be unlocked on sound as to listen to it, it needed sitting at the side of it owing to the noise from traffic outside this took 3 days. The food was reasonable, breakfast good selection of Italian type breakfasts, but dinner needed ordering at breakfast time. Soup was good but meat was eatable but no taste and potatoes were a cross between thick chips and potatoes boiled in olive oil. All drinks at dinner table had to be paid and price was quite high. Hotel in a very good position but not good for group tours in the height of summer. They made you feel as though were inferior to the higher paying guests.