Hotel Astoria

Stayed for 3 nights at the end of September 2019. The staff were very friendly and always willing to help. We had a lake view room on the 2nd floor which looked like it had been recently refurbished. Everything in the room was clean and fresh. The views from the room were spectacular. Food in the hotel is just ok, breakfast is a lot better than dinner. Dinner was a little bland with poor quality food. We would stay here again in the future but would stay bed and breakfast next time.

We were fobbed off and misled into bookingwith an overpriced standard room for 7 nights at this Hotel Astoria by Thomas Cook using Citalia who never told us the options of a superior, de luxe or junior suite room were available. As soon as we saw them on the website, we paid over the extra money to cover a junior suite for our 35th Wedding Anniversary. The Manager of the Hotel Astoria would not agree to release any superior or deluxe room or junior suite though they were available on the website. He was asked again, but we were told that he would definitely not release the upgrade to us, despite the Thomas Cook Manchester agent saying that the Hotel might give us a free upgrade before we paid!!! We were also told this hotel could be awkward in this way. So, be careful what you book, because you will not find any sympathy here if you try to upgrade for your special occasion. When we arrived, it was the same story for us Brits, but not for an Italian couple who, as I speak Italian, I understood them telling the manager they were disappointed with the room and they were offered an upgrade immediately for the following night. We were then dumped in a room and bathroom that looked like it was last decorated in the Seventies. There were no tea/coffee making facilities or even bottles of water in this room.,with temperatures of 35 degrees!The first night was a horrible experience with pounding rock music played at top volume until 4am from the neighbouring Hotel La Palma (another hotel to avoid at all costs) then a man in the room above us returned and was violently sick for an hour. We suffered this horrendous racket every night of our stay, not able to transfer rooms because of the management who treated us dismissively and disrespectfully, very differently from the Germans and Italians staying there.When we tried to complain about the noise, they just shrugged their shoulders and we were left to shut up and pit up.The whole hotel needed refurbishing, once you got beyond the Reception and Dining areas. most corridors were dingy, dark , depressing and badly light with yellowing walls. The evening meal was just awful with not enough food for any adult and we actually lost weight for the first time on any holiday.It was very limited choice of pasta or pasta for vegetarians every night and, if you asked for vegetables as well, you were brought a small plate as if you were really asking for too much! We were given a table for dinner and were shocked one night to find Germans had taken our table and we were told to sit elsewhere further back in the restaurant!. Health and Safety was treated very casually at Hotel Astoria with people getting trapped in the lift, because the maintenance man hadn't turned up, while the metal steps into the pool were so wobbly, it felt as if they were just about to come out of the ground! Citalia advertised a snack bar near the pool, a gym and Turkish bath and whirlpool - none of which were to be seen working! Lake Maggiore is a beautiful place and so much to explore, but don;t spoil your holiday by going to Hotel Astoria, the Italian equivalent of Faulty Towers!

Recently spent 4 nights in this lovely hotel. We were in a junior suite with 2 balconies overlooking the lake. Very comfortable room, great breakfast buffet and helpful staff. I have stayed in Stresa on a couple of other occasions, but on different hotels. The Astoria is now my favourite and I will certainly stay here when I visit Stresa again.