Grand Hotel Bristol

This is an old hotel... dated decor. Our room with a view of Lake Maggiore was the highlight and it was a close walk to town. Other than that.. the breakfast buffet was terrible compared to previous hotels stayed on our tour...as was dinner, No fan or AC til May. It was exceptionally warm when we went... room stuffy and warm... open a window they said.... Would not stay again.

It is a grand old hotel though well maintained with modern comfortable rooms. The beds were good. There is an indoor and outdoor swimming pool. The grassy area outdoors near the pool is a great place to sit and look at the lake and at Isola Bella. Service was very good. Only problem was the food. We were here as part of a group and had half board. Breakfast was OK, but dinner was very spotty. Mostly not so good, a few good meals. Avoid the fish, always way overcooked. If you are not tied to a group walk into town for dinners.

IMHO this is an ex luxury 4* hotel now catering for large coach groups providing 3* service and food. We were part of a small walking group there for the week unlike most visitors who were on the "lakes coach tour", just there for a night. This makes it all seem unfriendly, cold and with no coziness. Bar very expensive and you don't even see the price you're charging to the room and then they add 5% for "Service" which is very questionable. So suggest you don't come as a couple! The food is a reasonable mass catering (several hundred a night) standard (but don't expect 4* Italian). The huge dining room is divided in two with different levels of food provision in different sides (including no breakfast toaster on our side!) - weird for a 4* hotel! Nevertheless for our small group it was ok and the staff were very helpful in providing alternative pillows very quickly and providing a mains converter for the 3 pin vertical italian sockets. The grounds are very nice and it is a wonderful location. And the coffee out of the machine in the morning was surprisingly good.

Lovely hotel with lovely lake views, unfortunately not for us, our view was over underground car park and indoor pool roof. We had a hike to our room as it was in seperate annex. Others on our trip were lucky enough to get rooms in main hotel with lake views. The pool area is lovely, you can sit and look across at the lake. Food at Hotel was lovely but restaurant manager was very stressed and rude to both guests and staff. Drinks very expensive €10 for a pint of lager. Set in a great location.

Unique property, but could use a navigation map, it seems amenities are not as visible as in a "new" or more modern hotel. Bathroom was not in a great shape, service was great though.

Great location on the water, lovely grounds, there is some splendour and grandeur and even a surprise sideways elevator here - which is a trip! We booked a reasonably priced comfort room for two, which turned out to be in the conference area waay in the back of the hotel - known here as "mountain view" - which on the second floor means a view of some brush and unkempt grounds. Room was clean, but very dated and cluttered with massive furniture, and really needing a reno and basic hotel mod cons like sufficient USB and electrical plugs. Wifi is capped and so-so. Even the pillows seemed deflated. And there was some kind of unnamable pervasive floral scent that had us airing the room out the whole time we were there. I woke up in the night to find great huge centipede on the wall. Yeah. The breakfast was good and on par with what you'd expect in a big hotel. There's a nice big outdoor pool but we didn't try it. The hotel parking is "self" and unattended but ample and easy, especially for Italy. Staff was attentive and helpful, but somehow lacking. We had a messy cleaning cart parked right in front of our room the entire stay, and some common areas and stations inside and outside seemed understaffed and abandoned. Which makes the 5 percent service charge they quietly tack onto your bill at check out really a stretch. Just ask if it's mandatory and you will find it is optional. Maybe the hotel is still suffering the lingering effects of the covid downturn. And maybe the main part of the hotel is in much better spirits. I really wanted to like the Bristol. I really wanted to happily pay the service charge. This stay left me wishing I had seen the Grand Hotel Bristol in better days - it must have been really something.

We really enjoyed our week in this hotel. We stayed in a suite on the 4th floor which was lush, red and gold velvet and silk, marble bathroom and wonderful views over the lake. We found reception staff always very helpful and courteous (including when we occasionally saw guests being demanding). Good variety buffet breakfast with attentive staff. Thank you to the hotel for surprising me with a lovely photo book of the area on my birthday. Would definitely stay here again.

Disappointing Hotel It lots of ways! Initially room look ok and had a fab view’ lake and pool double balcony! Issue with shower leaking right into bedroom and hallway! Staff on reception seemed to struggle with English. ( yes I know I more than struggled with Italian). Someone eventually came mopped up and tried to fix. It didn’t fix And a 3.5min shower was the maximum you could have so was a race against time! On reporting this we were told to stand closer to the taps! This has never happened before- the door and flooring tell a different story! Due to our rep getting involved we were allocated another room with a view! Only staff member on reception who was kind was Valentine. Breakfast was poor Hotel lacked atmosphere. Pool bar was extremely expensive. Pool was like an ice bath Really disappointing stay would not return to this Hotel.