Really enjoyed my stay here for a week on tour organised by The Travel Department.One disappointment here was the size of the rooms. We paid for a room with Lake view and indeed the views were awesome, but room small and stuffy. The food, however was excellent and the restaurant staff caring, but the staff in reception were very unhelpful regarding timetables etc.
The Grand is right beside the lake and perfect for boat trips on Como - overall very good, but with a little effort could be excellent.

This hotel is like the "Curate's Egg" - good in parts and bad in parts!

The building was originally a very grand private villa right on the shore of Lake Como
immediately next to the famous Villa Carlotta with its wonderful gardens. Therefore, the situation
is excellent (despite a rather busy road between the front of the hotel and the lake).
The views are magnificent , and it is important to stipulate for a room with lake view and balcony.

The original building has been considerably extended to form the hotel and there is a fine
dining room with sliding windows and outside terraces at top level from which the view can be enjoyed.



THE BEDROOM

The public spaces including the entrance foyer and staircases, etc, are very grand, but by contrast,
our bedroom appeared distinctly "spartan" with walls that looked bare and colourless with no hanging pictures. The beds were actually quite comfortable although the bed covers had seen better days . As there were no proper chairs to sit on , we dragged in two which we found in the corridor outside our room. The only full length mirror was concealed behind the door (we had to be ever so careful not to damage it as the door handle touched the mirror every time we opened the door).

However, we did have a fine large balcony about as large as the room itself ! One afternoon, the gardener walked over the balcony to water plants, without giving us any notice, with a clear view into our room which obviously was an intrusion into our privacy. Help!

The TV in the room was a tiny (about 14") old-fashioned set with poor selection of channels, mounted almost at ceiling level giving one a cricked neck to look at and there was no free wifi or internet available.

The Lake View from the room, however, was breath-taking.

THE RESTAURANT

Really, our main criticism is the poor standard of food and variable restaurant service. We were on half-board. Breakfast was buffet-style. Quality of the food was often second-rate and frequently items on the hot plates ran out (see pics. attached) and they were not replenished. Coffee was especially awful , you may be wise to bring your own jar (from home or the supermarket)! There were almost always queues waiting to get in as soon as the doors opened. Dinner was also buffet-style for the first course and the dessert. The queues at dinner were even worse and the restaurant could get very crowded and noisey. The food was often not brilliant - and most certainly not Italian cuisine at its best! At times, although the wine price was fairly expensive, the wine service lacked professionalism (eg, once, they brought a bottle of wine with the wrong vintage . When we queried it and requested it to be changed, the senior waiting staff had a very poor and negative attitude, instead of apologizing for bringing the wrong wine ordered) . Frankly, meal times in the hotel was not an experience to look forward to and enjoy, but rather a necessary "fuelling stop" to assuage hunger.

OUR SUGGESTION AND ADVICE:

Our advice would be to opt for bed and breakfast only, with special request for a room with a lake view and balcony and to enjoy eating out each evening in a local restaurant. (One evening, we went out to a local restaurant -the "Red and White" -for dinner and we had a most enjoyable meal and the wine list was absolutely amazing.) . Also, do not think that the hotel is of 4 stars standard, just think "package tours, crowded, tourist class" instead. That way, you will be less disappointed !

This hotel has everything you want for a summer holiday. Terrific service in the restaurant, great room (recommend that holidaymakers upgrade to a Lake View room with a balcony). Friendly bar, and excellent service from the roof garden/terrace. This hotel has an outdoor swimming pool to relax in. It is appropriately separated from the main sun terrace so the peace and tranquility to be enjoyed on the sun terrace is unspoiled by swimmers.

The views accross Lake Como to Bellagio are spectacular. There's a busy coast road in front of the hotel, but on the plus side, it's a short (5 minute) walk to the ferry station where one can board a frequent service to several spectacular village/town locations around Lake Como. Plenty of off-road car parking is available adjacent to the hotel reception.

A splendid hotel. Worth trying out.

Overall, a nice hotel, in a good position, and Lake Como is certainly very pretty.
The food is certainly satisfactory. It would be nice if the receptionists could learn to smile a little more. The waiters were all very friendly. Room was satisfactory, although could be better. Cannot understand the rationale of some of the recent renovations -> who would place a shower head in such a position that you cannot avoid wetting the floor, but not putting up some shower curtains?
Only real compliant is the fact that on the last 2 days of our trip (as part of >40 people with a Riveria group from UK), we found ourselves outnumbered by a huge German party (perhaps >300). Suddenly, almost every (>80%) of the tables in the dining room were marked ‘reserved’ for the Germans, and we were made to feel like second-class guests, and allowed to have tables at the periphery. When we complained to the head waiter (bless his soul), he asked us to take the complaint up with the management (would have got nowhere). I hope this entry on TripAdvisor is more likely to elicit some response. If you do not mind the germans taking every sunbed with placing towels at dawn, as they are well-known to do, then please do go to this hotel. Otherwise, be prepared to be treated in a similar manner.