We stayed here for a week in early September. Following a tour of other parts of Italy, we took the Hydrofoil ferry from Desenzano to Malcesine. Unfortunately, a storm broke during this part of the trip and we ended up getting soaked on leaving the ferry. To make matters worse, we couldn’t get hold of a taxi on at the port side, despite several calls, so ended up calling the hotel to see if they could help. Put simply, the staff were amazing. In particular, Katia was extremely helpful and not only took the time to arrange a taxi to come and collect us, but also reassured us by explaining exactly where to meet the taxi and which direction it would come from. This was above and beyond the service we had hoped for and we were so grateful for Katia’s kind attitude and guidance, which continued at the end of our stay when she advised regards local transport. To add to this, Katia and her colleague Dariya made us feel very welcome when we finally arrived and Sylvie even thought to bring us a hand towel to reception, to help us dry off! I have to say this welcome was overall one of the very best we’ve ever had in any hotel and it quickly became apparent to us that where the hotel comms spoke about wishing to provide customers with a positive experience, this ethos was wholeheartedly put into practice by the staff throughout the whole of our stay. The hotel itself is wonderful - very clean (maids would refresh our room every day), featured all mod cons - a fridge, large screen TV with several British TV channels, an excellent bathroom, a walk in wardrobe and plenty of storage space. Mostly though, we were extremely impressed with the ample-sized balcony and the INCREDIBLE views of Lake Garda…! Words can’t really do justice to the views we had (we understand every room here has the same) and combined with the lovely pool and garden area and the sheer proximity to the lake (just a matter of steps), we really couldn’t have asked for anything better. Breakfast was superb - a huge range of top quality items in the buffet, not to mention the opportunity to request ‘extra’ cooked items such as fried or poached eggs. We’d like to make special mention of Ejuna and her sister who hosted the breakfast area - they were especially helpful and welcoming each morning and cooked the most amazing omelettes…we were impressed with not only how friendly they were but how professional they were in coping with so many people each morning. Every single visit to breakfast was relaxing, very tasty and a lovely way to start the day. As others have stated, Malcesine is only a short walk away - yes with some hills en route, but these aren’t too bad, providing you aren’t too restricted in your mobility. I’d suggest a taxi otherwise. We ate in the hotel on the first night and were again impressed with the service and standard of food. Following that, for variety’ sake we tried as many places in the area as we could and although they were all good, none of them ever managed t