Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni — Hotel in Bellagio

Future wedding location seekers beware! This is by far the worst 5-star hotel I have ever stayed at. We spent three nights here for my sister’s wedding reception and the experience was nothing short of disappointing. The location is fantastic and the views are breathtaking but that’s where the positives end. The staff are quite possibly the rudest I have ever seen. With the exception of one buggy driver, every staff member was plain rude. No greetings when entering or exiting the lobby, no smiles, they completely avoided eye contact majority of the time. At breakfast, staff gave me dirty looks, likely because my toddlers made a bit of a mess on the table, which is hardly unusual for a 2 and 3 year old at a supposedly family friendly hotel. The wedding day itself was handled terribly. Staff were fully aware my sister was preparing in her room for her bridal day, yet they repeatedly complained about “blocking the corridors” when it was just two photographers and videographers, none of which were obstructing the 2.5–3 metre wide hallway. Not once did staff make any effort to make my sister feel special on her big day, something as basic as providing water was refused multiple times, even after repeated requests. After the ceremony, we were waiting in the lounge around on the ground floor with my children and one blonde male staff member repeatedly came into the room and was extremely intimidating staring at my children. When I questioned him as to why he was staring at them, he said to check if they needed anything. This is far from the truth as no staff member was ever helpful during the entire trip and he was obviously annoyed by their laughing and wanted to scare them into being silent. On top of this, we were supposed to receive two complimentary bottles of water daily, which we never did. When I brought this up with reception, they dismissed it by saying I had a do not disturb sign on the door. I explained they could leave the bottles outside but they never did. In total, we paid €3,300 for three nights and it is safe to say that it’s the worst hotel I’ve ever stayed at. At this price point, there are far better options with friendlier, more accommodating staff who actually understand and ensure customer satisfaction. I will never return nor will I ever recommend.

Response to your reply- You sir, are a liar. The do not disturb sign was only ever displayed while my children were napping during the day. If it were displayed at all times like you claim, how did housekeeping gain access to replenish towels. I called and spoke to reception twice about water not being left in my room whilst housekeeping were there. Also, your further lie about not leaving things in the corridor as a hazard to other guests is also a lie as we were the last room down and the jam would have protected potential “hazards” as you claim. The luggage you refer to being scattered in our room is none of your business. As while we paid for the nightly rate, it’s ours to use as we wish. There were never items scattered through the hall. There were two luggage cases sitting on the wall in no way obstructing anything. The children were not “running and shouting” in the lobby. They were excitedly laughing in the lounge area, which is away from the lobby. There were no other patrons in there. You don’t have a right to “intervene” as it is supposedly a child friendly hotel. Your staff also don’t have a right to give dirty looks to our children. You are lucky that it was my sister’s wedding and that I did not want to create tension! Judging by your response, you are clearly not so maybe consider making it an adult only hotel. I’ve stayed at hostels and some pretty cheap hotels when backpacking in my teens and your service is worse than those hotels. Judging by the multiple other guest feedback on their negative experiences with the service at your hotel and your unprofessional, blatant lies- its clear for other patrons to make their own informed decision on your terrible character and hospitality so thank you for...

Villa Serbelloni could be a great hotel but it is badly let down by unacceptable food & beverage offering as well as a mixed service.

Let's be clear - the location is spectacular, surely best in Bellagio. The views, the lovely garden, the privacy away from crowds - all amazing.

However, when you're staying in a five star hotel, particularly in a place like Lake Como, you're expecting an excellent time spent ON THE GROUNDS. What you do not expect is having to leave the hotel to go to a bar or a restaurant in the streets, because whatever you're served is not up to any standards.

Breakfast is unacceptable - not only for a five star hotel but really for any hotel above 3 stars (if that). In fact, after a month of travelling across Europe, breakfast at VS was the worst out of any 3/4/5 star hotel we stayed at across 5 countries.

Selection is shockingly narrow. You get your basic scrambled eggs, poached eggs in a cup and fried eggs on order. Want an omelette? Haha - pay extra. Want a pancake? Haha - pay extra. Yes, really, they charge you for pancakes, even though you spent a few hundred euros, maybe even over a thousand per night.

But come early! Poached eggs were gone at 9:30 and no longer replenished. I specifically observed the behavior of the staff as I left the cover open, showing that they ran out. Unfortunately, all they did was... close it.

Cake offering is reduced to a few dry pastries. Forget about chocolate cakes, fruit tarts or whatever else you may have been accustomed to in proper five star hotels. There are literally two juices (orange and grapefruit) - both watered down! The 3 supposedly mixed ones are even worse (semi-transparent).

The hotel offers some selection of cheeses - only they don't come cut and, to make matters worse, guests are only provided... a knife and a fork. Yes, a five star hotel can't afford cheese knives.

You think - well, at least I can get a drink and snack at the terrace. The 20+ euro cocktails are about as watered down as the breakfast juices. We went down to a 3 star hotel down the road to find their 8 euro drinks were better. Seriously, how can you water down a Negroni?

Ice cream come with a fake whipped cream, club sandwich is worse than in a street bar and they managed to burn my lasagna. Even their coffee is rubbish (just get a Nespresso at this point).

And on the last day they actually told us they ran out of courtesy water bottles that they typically placed by the bedside in the evenings. Yes, a busy five star hotel can't do as little as plan for tiny plastic bottles of water to be delivered on time to the location.

Seriously, who's in charge of running it?

What about dinners? Well, you can try booking their Michelin-starred Mistral where a tasting menu goes for 250 euro - we didn't as it was fully-booked, so I can't speak of the quality.

But we dined in the regular restaurant downstairs and apart from the kitchen smell filling the interior (faulty ventilation) there was nothing memorable. Perhaps one waiter there was friendly and pleasant, maybe 2-3 were somewhat professional and the rest seemed they didn't want to be there.

Food is average and you're better off even if one of the tourist traps along the boulevard, where we reluctantly went to get something to eat on the following days (not something you want to do after splurging on a 5-star property - why pay if you can't even enjoy it?)

On our last day I wanted to give the staff a chance to salvage VS' good name and asked for real whipped cream to be prepared for us, as we really wanted to enjoy good ice cream on the terrace. 10 minutes later I received a follow up that the kitchen won't do it because they're busy with customers.

Apparently I wasn't a customer.

I'm the hotel's guest who placed a simple culinary request that was denied because someone was clearly more important than I was. Can you imagine a worse message from a five star establishment?

It was a complete and total let-down for what...

We celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary in Italy, where we honeymooned but we wanted to visit Lake Como and try a new place in Italy for this trip. Our college-age, younger son came with us. Based on TripAdvisor recommendations we booked a lovely room at Villa Serbelloni with a view of the lake. The hotel was most accommodating as we asked questions prior to arrival. Upon our arrival, the hotel had a bucket of prosecco chilling in the room with a sweet anniversary message. The Concierge booked dinner reservations for us in town, helped us book reservations at La Golleta (the hotel's poolside restaurant) and helped us coordinate with Matteo our boat driver on the day of the boat ride (on a private, wooden boat).

We are huge Italian/European fans. We have been to Italy and Europe many times. However, this hotel is by far our new favorite. All three of us feel the same way.

The location in Bellagio and on Lake Como is superb. The lake is beautiful and the mountains majestically provide a stunning backdrop, especially at sunset. The hotel itself is large and grand, but it also feels "cozy." We loved the sandy "beach" with abundant amounts of lounge chairs and umbrellas, surrounded by palm trees. It was a real Caribbean vibe in Italy. We spent time every day at "the beach" and my son enjoying diving off the platform on the lake. Another perk of the hotel are the gym facilities. They are excellent and we all used the gym daily.

Our room was spacious, elegant, clean and very pretty. I honestly felt like I was on a movie set and Sophia Loren was going to walk out at any moment. The room where they host breakfast every morning must have been a ballroom because it is the most beautiful venue, tables with white table cloths, wait staff available to take your finished plates or help with any need you may have. Freshly squeezed orange juice (a family favorite) prosecco, and an abundant array of any food, juice or fruit you could imagine. The coffees were delicious.

While we did not eat at La Mistral, we did have a lunch and a dinner at La Goletta. The lovely restaurant is located outside, near the pool. On our last night (we stayed 4 nights) we had dinner at La Goletta and the sunset view was simply breathtaking. The food was delicious and a bit more elegant than many of the restaurants in town.

Basically, everything you really need is right there. We enjoyed the little "bubble" we were in at Villa Serbelloni and short of walks through town and the boat ride, we decided to spend our 4 days on the hotel grounds, soaking up the beauty of the property and enjoying the amenities.

I must give a shoutout to Gabrielle who kindly took a family photo of us one night as we walked by the guard stand. It just might end up on our holiday card! And Matteo our boat driver was so knowledgeable and kind. We had the boat all to ourselves. The boat tour was the icing on cake and we are grateful to the hotel for helping us arrange it. I only wish we could remember everyone's name who helped us at the Concierge desk, the billing office upon checkout, they gym and the warm and friendly staff working in the breakfast room. They all deserve a round of applause!

My husband and I will return again soon. And honestly, we hope we can return with both of our sons on future trips and make more family memories for years to come in a place that truly touches your soul.

With gratitude and appreciation, The Dalpiaz...