Hotel Ocelle Thermae & Spa — Hotel in Sirmione

I was so excited to stay at this hotel. This is my first time in Italy, and I was expecting a five star spa experience. This was anything but that. My friend booked our room several weeks ahead of time and requested a suite for 3 people. We walked into the hotel and headed straight for the check-in counter, where within seconds we were immediately assaulted for not booking for the 3 of us. My friend explained that she had called and emailed the hotel as soon as she made our reservation to confirm it was received correctly. Not only was the front desk hesitant to change our reservation to 3 people, but they blamed us for the misunderstanding. After several minutes of being yelled at by the receptionist in front of the entire hotel staff and visiting customers, she finally agreed to charge us an extra person fee and allowed us to check into the exact same room that we initially booked. This is not an inexpensive hotel, and we felt that there was nothing we could do to make the staff treat us fairly. Once we finally got checked in, we went down to the spa to make appointments for each of us. They only had one slot available, so we booked it. We were told to come an hour early (at 9am for the 10am facial) so we could enjoy the spa amenities. Let’s fast forward a few hours. We call the front desk to ask for a late checkout. We were told no late checkouts are accepted and that we MUST be out by 11am. Five minutes pass, and we get a call that we actually had to be out at 10am and that they made a mistake. At this point we are furious. My friend goes to speak with the manager, who knew my friend was coming down to talk to her. My friend politely asks Monica if they can talk in a more private place. Monica walks 2 feet to her left and allows my friend to explain our issues. When my friend tells Monica of everything that had transpired in the last several hours and how we all felt entirely unwelcomed and unrelaxed, Monica began interrupting her and blaming us for everything. At this point, my friend is getting more upset by the minute, and again, politely asks if we can, at the very least, have a later checkout. Monica replied, “is noon not late enough?” My friend explained that we were told that checkout was originally 11am and then a mistake was made that changed that to 10am. Monica stated that we were already made aware of our late checkout and that our noon checkout was a ‘gift’ from the hotel. Please note that this ‘late checkout’ conversation NEVER happened and Monica was insinuating that my friend was lying. By now, my friend is fuming and tells Monica she is done and needs to walk away. Monica followed my friend to the elevator and tried stopping her from going anywhere. My friend told Monica that she was done and needed some air. It’s now Saturday morning and we are ready to head to the spa at 9am. We arrive around 9:15am and ask the spa receptionist if we could go enjoy the spa. She rudely moves a sign in front of our faces and points to it saying, “the spa doesn’t open until 11am.” Again, another disappointment and another opportunity for us to be blamed for the misunderstanding. I am not going to go into any more details because I think you can get the point. This was an awful stay and the staff is absolutely the rudest I...

From the moment we stepped in the hotel, the feeling was just fabulous. It feels like you just transferred from the outside world into a tranquil, relaxing atmosphere. The staff was just lovely. Patient, smiling and always there to assist with whatever you need. They gave us a warm feeling and cared about our experience as their guests. The hotel itself and its facilities are top level. Variety of pools, cold ones and a thermal hot one, Huge jacuzzi, multiple saunas. There's an answer to whatever mood or desire the guest has his heart set on. The long deck right into the lake is just terrific. The scenry is breathtaking. Beautiful views, in front of the mountains, right on the tip of the lake. And when you want to get in the water you just go down the ladder from the deck. You just can't get enough of that. We spent hours on that deck. The spa is world class! Got to see it in my last day and felt sorry we hadn't used it more during the stay. Our room was the deluxe room and it was spacious, with a big balcony, big shower, well equipped and with a comfortable bed. Everything is sparkling clean, tidy and smells great. The breakfast was very good with a broad selection of good food, many fruits and sweets for desert. Everything was tasty and the ingredients were of high quality. Great buffet. The food at the bar and the hotel's restaurant was good as well and priced reasonably. The location is great, a short walk away from the heart of the city, the beautiful old town, and all the restaurants, pizzerias and ice cream shops. I usually don't go to such deep extent in reviews unless I really had the time of my life. Well you can easily tell that this is exactly what I had. I hope to return in the future. Thanks guys for an unforgettable vacation 😊...

If customer service is important to you, this IS NOT the hotel. Upon check in, the receptionist rudely informed me that I had booked incorrectly. (This was after I called and emailed to confirm my reservation details.) Instead of simple admitting there was a misunderstanding and discussing a solution, the receptionist repeatedly insisted it was my fault for missing a drop down menu that selects the number of guests. (I might add the booking website is not very user friendly.)

If Italian is not your first language, all information will be your responsibility to find and verify. We were repeatedly given misinformation with confidence from staff. As examples, we were told Saturday checkout was at 10am, that we should arrive an hour before our spa treatment to use the facilities and that a martini was made from straight vermouth because the bottle said “Martini”- all inaccurate.

The rudeness of the manager, Monica was the topping on the cake. She refused to speak with me in a private way, rudely interrupted me, and even referred to my feelings of discomfort, unwelcomeness and anxiety as impossible. In other words, the entire staff dismissed any relevant issues or requested confirmations.

All of this is extremely unfortunate because the property is beautiful, well maintained and wonderfully logically situated. My hope is that the property manager or owner reads this and takes customer service programs under urgent consideration. A training of the entire staff on customer service is absolutely crucial. I will not be returning as a hotel guest. And I most definitely won’t be using it as a special treat for friends...