Help. Epic hotel choice failure

[BoffinMum]

So here we are in a family hotel in Italy on holiday, near Lake Garda. We are supposed to be here for two weeks and it's costing 5800 euros full board for four of us including DS2 (16) and DS3 (8). We have had a terrible year and this was supposed to be a special holiday to recover.

We all hate it. I hate it so much I could cry.

The hotel itself is really small and the things we thought we would use - spa and so on - are only open 4-7.30 daily (it said nothing about this on the website). We've just had a meal and it's reminiscent of school dinners - I could have cooked it better myself. You can only have dinner from 7-8pm. Nothing like the lovingly garnished offerings on the website, basically stodge. Even the teenager gave up ploughing through it. Our wine eventually came after we had fiinished the meal. There are no soft drinks for kids apart from Fanta, Sprite or Coke. The kids bedroom smells of smoke (as does ours) and has restricted ceiling height so DS2 is going to be banging his head the whole time. The decor reminds me of my grandmother's house about 30 years ago. There is nowhere to get away from the din because it's so small and i currently have a kids' disco under my window (it's 930 pm here) and DS3 is tired from travelling all day but it's too noisy to go to sleep.

I have been down the the manager to explain the problems but he just shrugged and said 'other people like it'. He said we have to stay at least a week otherwise they will have an empty room.

So we are trapped in this glorified youth hostel listening to a kids disco booming away under the window eating stodge and will have to spend 2900 euros for the privilege. And there may be nowhere else to go,

Help, what do I do?

My list of grievances had to be conducted in German and was that long I don't think adding anything will help my case.

I should point out there are English people in the room next door who seen happy if surprised to see more English people there.

Can I recommend the hotel parchi del Garda at the bottom of the lake if you get out of the gulag?

It's walking distance to gsrdaland and the other parks, lovely small town with a restaurant I can recommend in walking distance too, easy bus up the lake to other towns or to Verona. It's clean and modern if a little impersonal iykwim, decent wifi at reasonable prices. Breakfast included and you can eat dinner too for a bit extra or sandwiches in the bar.

No entertainment programme outside so no noise.

They have space for you from next Saturday to the following one I just looked.

What about something like this? Starts Thursday for 6 nights, go home 2 days early. You have a car so can get out and about. It's a 2 bed caravan. Use the extra cash you have to go on a spa day for yourself and eat out a lot.

www.canvasholidays.co.uk/campsite-search/camping-in-lake-garda/R/L/ALL/2017-08-04/7/2/2/

Otherwise use today to find a better hotel, drive around etc. As you have a car, you can always the facilities of local hotels perhaps? If it's a big one, you can usually sneak in unnoticed and use the pool for the day. if you cancel the full board at your hotel, you can use the cash to eat at the nice hotel instead.

Is it the Adriana...it looks grim to me on TripAdvisor! If you need an apartment in Lazise...fab town...no pool...we stayed here a few weeks ago.

www.residenzacorsocangrande.com/
Contact is Angelo. We were super happy, fab location, gorgeous little town...near everything. Loads of restaurants.

Tell him you will leave a dreadful review if he doesn't let you leave.

You poor things. I'm a past master at booking mistakes.

I once booked one night in a hotel in Zurich. Something near the station so we could walk to the hotel and then walk to the car hire place the next morning.

It was a cycling hostel in the red light district

The 'private' bathroom was across the corridor but we had the key. The air con was a measly fan that rotated through 10 degrees. My eyeballs melted. During the night when I could hear that dd and DH were asleep. I switched off the rotation so that tbe fan was pointing just at me.

We still use 'Zurich Hot' as a parameter in conversation and dd will never forgive me for the fan.

Hood you manage to get something sorted.

Hope.

We are about to have breakfast and go off to tourist information at Lake Garda and to look at the one with the free room if we can find it. Thank you for that.

Hoteliers seen to have it all ways. If you cancel a booking off season they argue they can't re let the room. If you cancel it during peak season they argue they can't get another peak season booking. But they can cancel the booking themselves at will (happened to DS1 last summer) and you can't do much about it.

Worked out where the smoke is coming from. Woman is smoking on the balcony under ours and it's wafting up into the kids' bedroom and across to ours. Windows are now firmly closed to keep it out but room is scorching like satan's underpants, as another poster so kindly put it.

DH has seriously suggested we go home!!!

The only way to go for people like you, I am the same, who don't like being middle class, is a villa. We do it every year as we cannot stand other people a lot of noise and shite food.
So you find a beautiful villa/accommodation and eat out every lunch and dinner.

It makes for a fab holiday.

I refuse to confirm or deny if it is the Adriana. Do you see what I mean about the TripAdvisor reviews? It sounds fine!

Waiting for DH to get ready and then we are going to have breakfast and have a pow wow.

I shall join you on your yacht. I am very, very good at drinking champagne and lying in the sun. Years of practice.

I rarely holiday abroad but Lake Garda is my absolute most favourite place. So sorry that a crappy hotel is ruining what should be an awesome holiday.

However, it does highlight something I have always refused to do and that is go all inclusive or full board at an hotel I am staying at. Because if the food is shit on night one, it will be shit all week and you've paid for it and feel stuck. I always eat out and even in September on Lake Garda could always find places to eat without booking. If somewhere was really good, went back another night, but if somewhere is disappointing, well, it was only the one night.

If you can find somewhere else to stay and somehow salvage the holiday do - as a location, it's hard to beat (unless you just like lying on a beach all day, obviously).

You couldn't have known from the glowing TA reviews, it makes you wonder how many are genuine really.

Photo of the dinner from TripAdvisor. I don't know what OP is complaining about..

The reviews are all very dated mind! I had only read a handful and I was in 2014.

Take lots of photos if you feel the hotel does not match the advertised one. Are there other hotels in the area owned by the same company ? If so take a look and maybe insist on a transfer.

Just went to TA. Am I looking at the right one? Adriana in Ledro? Didn't look at the photos. Curious to note that it has apparently been reviewed 370 times but only 6 are shown on the page and most of them not recent. That would have immediately rung huge warning bells and I wouldn't have gone near it.

Bit suspicious there are hardly any reviews from 2016 or 2017, could the owner have had them removed? Is that now possible on Tripadvisor?

I would write a trip advisor review now. The manager might refund you earlier if you agree to take it down.

TripAdvisor reviews are very sparse.

I once discovered a restaurant had two different TripAdvisor set ups. One put it at the number one restaurant and the other as the 53rd.

This is so disappointing. I get real holiday fear and build it up in my mind, it's almost paralysing booking one. And then obsessively checking trip advisor. Eugh I hate it and am now much more inclined to book a week at a time because it feels less risky somehow.

I hope things work out at tourist advice (little tip though they are often friends with local hotel owners/managers so be factual and resist the urge to be mean even though it's totally justified!). I think a caravan could be a goer and some of those sites linked above look great. Bonus being you can come and go as you please and eat out but take advantage of naice shops with nice ham to make rustic baguettes for lunch that you can carry home in a canvas bag (bonus marks for basket) wearing a straw hat and happily wafting along.

I think some people must have trip advisor set to show only English reviews/show them first. There are plenty of good reviews, just not in English.

Am I right in thinking you HAVENT paid up front?

If so then leave. Simple as that. Why you are paying £400 a day and as unhappy as you are is beyond me!

Get yourself to a cage with good wifi and google the he'll out of places! Enjoy your holiday don't be miserable!

Soloman Oh yes - I've never seen that on TA in the past, muchos grassy arse! Can now see why the OP might have booked it!

Cafe not cafe obviously. Although that may be better than your hotel?!