Ludwig Boutique Hotel & Spa in Bolsena

I booked a Superior Deluxe room with a lake view for €150, but the hotel canceled my reservation due to an issue and moved me to this hotel. While this hotel looked nicer, I was placed in a room that costs €123, not what I originally booked. If I wanted a cheaper room, I would’ve booked one myself. The new hotel was more expensive, and I wasn’t reimbursed for the difference. The only compensation was not paying the €9 city tax, but overall, I didn’t feel satisfied with how it was handled.

The hotel itself is okay. I’d stay here.

My fiancé and I stayed here for 4 nights, having got engaged earlier on the trip. We mentioned this to the hotel prior to arrival and they kindly gave us a miniature bottle of Prosecco. We did ask for an upgrade but the price to upgrade was frankly ridiculous. Our room was quite basic, and the bathroom particularly would benefit from modernisation. The bed was two twin beds pushed together with no attempt to make it look like a double, and was extremely uncomfortable (as were the pillows). The aircon did not work properly, and despite reporting this to reception it was not fixed during our stay. Breakfast was a bit of an odd experience - it’s set up as a help yourself buffet (with limited choices), but you have to ask for basic things like milk and hot water. There is hot food available but nobody offered it to us, so we didn’t realise this for the first two mornings. The swimming pool area is beautiful, there are plenty of loungers and it is a relaxing place to spend time. You have to wear a swimming hat in the pool but the hotel give you these for free. The most frustrating and disappointing thing about this hotel was when we returned one night at about midnight. The gates were shut and there was no way of getting in (you might think swipe card access for guests would be provided). We pressed the bell several times with no success. We had to call the front desk and it took 10 minutes for the night guard to answer the phone and let us in. We reported this the next day and the staff were not at all apologetic. Overall this hotel has the potential to be a good 4 star but needs to improve on lots of things, most of all customer service. It is nowhere near a 5 star.