Hotel Désirée by Double Hospitality in Sirmione

We were advised by the hotel over email that parking at the hotel would mean navigating narrow streets, many pedestrians, and limited opening hours. So the option to take “Grifo Parking”, which was booked by the hotel for 20 euro, for parking outside the old town with a shuttle service to and from the hotel, was appealing. Big mistake.

We followed the instructions provided by the hotel to the tee. No issues parking and getting a shuttle to the hotel. The hotel had told us to book our return shuttle the night before at reception, but since our flight was the next day, we checked with Grifo Parking whether we could book a time with them instead. There they said the only slot remaining was far later than would have been possible for us to catch our flight. So we declined and went to the hotel, hoping that they would have access to more slots.

Check in was fine and afterwards, we mentioned that we would like to book our return shuttle as instructed. The receptionist noted our preferred timing down and made a call. Unfortunately there were still no slots available. We asked the hotel for help given that we had a flight to catch.

The receptionist was condescending, even mocking, in response. He refused to accept that the hotel had not advised us properly to book a return shuttle. He kept repeating that we had already asked Grifo Parking earlier - as if we had done something wrong by asking him as well, as instructed by the hotel. When asked if the hotel could help us arrange other options, he said “this is a 3 star not a 5 star hotel”. He even claimed that Grifo Parking provided a “gratis” shuttle so we should not expect it - when Grifo clearly states the shuttle is included. Finally, he said that “you are young, you can walk”.

We did walk the 20 minutes to the parking lot with luggage in tow. It was certainly possible but not what anyone would expect having booked and paid for a shuttle service with a disinterested hotel. When we got to the parking lot, we saw unused shuttles and a driver milling about. Perhaps there may have been a chance to book a return shuttle, if the hotel had been more interested to help than to mock.

Our room was dated and a corner smelled like pee, but we made it work. Our friends’ room however had a more modern yet poorly designed shower, which flooded their room because the drainage was too slow and the incline in the shower insufficient. We mentioned that we had some problems with the room at check out when asked how our stay had been. The response was “oh I’m sorry” with no attempt to find out more.

Funnily, there was a notice at reception offering a 5 euro voucher in return for 5 star reviews on Google that we will be missing out on.

I see from other reviews that this is a pattern with this hotel. Nothing seems to be their responsibility, so perhaps a reader can help them out by not giving them your business.

Booked through booking.com. For a three star hotel I would give them two stars. We had a lot of issues with the room including the TV not working, main light in the room flickering and the room next door which had over five people staying in one room and making noise past midnight. We had to raise this with reception three times and nothing was done, except the staff just smiling and saying sorry 🤷🏼‍♀️, which didn’t help make our stay any better. The breakfast next morning was stale and tasted like left overs from the morning before. Although the scenery is gorgeous, I would not stay here again.