Savoy Palace Hotel

We have just returned from Italy and I am pleased to say I was wrong to have misgivings about this hotel. It was in a beautiful location at the tip of lake garda. Very clean and bright and flowers everywhere. The staff were efficient and friendly and nothing was too much trouble. Our room was very spacious and bright with a balcony and a spectacular view over the lake. The food was not fabulous but satisfactory. My only real criticism being that the beds and pillows were rather hard and uncomfortable. There were lots of English people there and the general concensus was very good. We would not rule out staying again. Joan Leyden Corley Lancs.

This was our second stay at this hotel - and again we were not dissappointed. Our room was very clean and had a nice view from the balcony. The breakfasts were excellent - plenty of choice. However the evening dinner was ok - we have had better and had worse. There was however always something we liked. I did put on 4lbs so it must have been ok. The cable car in Malcesine was well worth the 16 euros for a return ticket. The views were great. The majority of the staff were helpful and friendly. many thanks to Maria (reception) for going out of her way to help when one of our party lost the foot plate of the wheelchair we had booked in resort. Maria went to the bus depot and waited one hour to get it back. Bonni our waitress was also helpful, another of our party had to follow a special diet and Bonni helped with this. Would definately go back to this hotel in the future.

Have just come back from a week-long stay as the Savoy Palace in Riva. I was a little concerned before travelling as some earlier comments had been negative, however I must say we enjoyed our stay there. We had my elderly mother with us and the hotel is deifnitely more suited to her age group and she reallt enjoyed it. The food in the hotel was fine, plenty of choice and good quality. The outdoor pool could do with some steps into it, to make it more accessible to elderly people - I heard a number of people complaining about his. The rooms were fine. Riva itself is beautiful - lovely to walk around and then to sit down to watch the world go by. Would recommend talking the ferry and visiting other nearby towns on the lake - we went to Torbole, Limone and Melcesine. The cable car in Melcesine is fantastic - the view from the top is spectacular. We also hired a car and travelled up to some lakes in the mountains -Lake Tenno was absolutely beautiful. I booked the car on the internet before travelling with Europcar - they have an office just around the corner from the hotel - would recommend booking it before you travel as the car-hire brochures I saw in the hotel indicated I would have paid more than twice the price if I had waited to book through them.

I work in the travel industry and booked this hotel after extensive research, having read the reviews posted just before I left I was a little anxious that perhaps the hotel had gone down hill! However this was not the case!!!!! Our room (507) had been nicely refurbished and had a great shower. If you ask for a room on a high floor you will have a lake view and wow what a view. The food was generally very good, 5 courses in total salad buffet, surpise appitiser (one or two of these were not so good) first course which was usually a pasta based course follwed by a main course (usually always a roast meat dinner option for the not so adventerous), which was a smaller portion than us brits are used too, but if all the previous courses had been to your liking you would not be able to eat any more. The puddings were generally delicious ! I went in August when the hotel offered free wine and water with the meal ! Breakfast was a buffet with moutains of fresh bread, cold meats, fruit, yoghurt, cerial, tea, coffee, juice, boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, toast, and either bacon / ham or sausage - who can complain ! Service was good waiters were friendly and I liked that dinner was served to you. Some nights the menu was set and others you had a choice. All drinks purchased were added to the bill and paid for when you check out. Pool area was excellent - bar, snack and proper toilets. Sunbeds were free and pool towels provided. It is a 20 minute walk into Riva along the flat main road, and slightly longer by the lake side path, which we found to be a long walk if you had been out and about all day. Unlike the previous reviewer I found the piano player at the hotel rather annoying !! And that is my only fault about this holiday - it was a little too quiet in the evening - but then again I am oly 28 !!!! Lots to see and do during the day and absolutley breath taking views ! Be warned the buses are not very reliable - use the ferries. We went to Gardaland but it was a disappointment except for the blue torando ride. Overall a good holiday :-)

I went to Italy for the first time on 31 July. I chose to stay at the Hotel Savoy Palace because there was no single supplement. I found the staff very friendly and welcoming. The comfortable room I was allocated had a beautiful view of the mountains from the balcony. There are two pools, one indoor and one outdoor. Be warned, the outdoor pool is very cold, but extremely refreshing on hot afternoons! They have waiter service by the pool, and you can order snacks, soft drinks and alcohol. Make sure you try the Italian Prosecco, a creamy, sparkling, delightful white wine that bubbles on the tongue before slipping warmly down your throat. The food is delicious! It's so good you won't have room for lunch unless you do some strenuous activity to generate an appetite! On most nights the hotel lays on entertainment. It can be as simple as Roberto playing 70's and 80's songs or as elaborate as the local dance school giving an exhibition of Ballroom, Disco and Folk dances. I had a fantastic time. There is loads to do in and around Riva. If you are sporty you can try sailing (dinghys and catamarran), diving (day and night), lake tours, canyoning and mountain biking (just make sure that you have the appropriate insurance). The shopping is great, especially if you like leather shoes, handbags and jewellry. There are plenty of churches, museams and cultural experiences. I went into a tiny church, St Nicolo, in Lasize and found a small orchestra practicing an opera for a performance that evening! If you love music Riva has a Music Festival during the last week of July each year. I caught the end of it this year, but it was good enough to make me want to go back for it. I only wish that I had booked for two weeks instead of one!

We stayed last two weeks in July, and have never found a 4 star hotel with such poor quality meals! Having booked full board, we could only face having breakfast & dinner twice !! With the exception of the front desk receptionists, we also found staff to be aloof & uncaring. This was our first visit to Italy,and I`m afraid our experience of Hotel Savoy Palace will not entice us back for the forseeable future.

The first impressions of the Savoy Palace Hotel were very good. The food, we found, was good, many courses not all to our taste but you have to expect that when in another country. The hotel was very bright and clean, lots of flowers and all rooms had balconies. The service and staff we found very helpful. The public rooms were lovely, but our bedroom needed a bit of a refurb. While it was spacious, the carpet and bedspreads were marked, and there were two holes in the curtains. Worst, the toilet seat was cracked in three places. However, we did appreciate the air conditioning. The hotel is in a lovely quiet position, though a 20 minute walk from Riva town. However there are restaurants and cafes nearby if you want to pop in for an ice cream sundae or coffee. The rep. seemed new, she did not advise us that we could not wear shorts or sleeveless tops in the Basilica in Venice, and said the coach journey was about 1½ hours when it is much longer. However, overall a really lovely hotel and resort, we would certainly return.

on arrival at Savoy palace hotel, first impressions were , looked great from the outside with lots of flower pots and wicker chairs.when entering the foyee it looked really grand and you felt you were in a good hotel.When we got into our room there was a stong smell of tobacco so went to reception to get another room, we were told by the receptionsist that all rooms were non smoking but this was not the case because there were ash trays and matches in the rooms. later on , we came down for dinner, on the main table there were salad and fruit bowls,the salad was very dried up and some of the fruit had mould on it, this was not a nice view of the food to come.. the entree we got looked like a bread roll(from the breakfast buffet) but this time it had a fish sauce on it, the next couple of courses we had were much the same standard , very bland and taste less .. this continued for the days to follow so we decided to go out to other restruants for dinner, food was very satisfactory elsewhere. In the adveritisment for Savoy palace ,in the brochure they had a free afternoon of tea/coffee and cakes, so we decided to try this (not holding out much hope after the standard of the breakfast and dinner.was so poor).. as we arrived towards the bar where the afternoon tea and coffee was held we realised it was the same coffee machine(which was used for breakfast and coffee was awful) and beside that was rasin bread and prepacked biscuits that were also used for the breakfast buffet.When we seen this we were just going to turn around and go back out , but then we seen a waiter wheeling a trolley of apple struddle towards the end of the bar, i decided to go and try a piece of this,(as we were under the impression it was a buffet as stated in the advert) as i put some on my plate i was informed that it was not for me and was for a group of Germans in the corner of the bar, i was told to return to the buffet which consisted of two items which are stated above, i felt very disguisted at this and it was embarrising, needless to say we left the bar. The next day we talked to the rep about the standard of the food and lack of manners of the staff, we were told by the rep that this hotel might not be suited to our age group and some three star hotels have a better overall quality, this is the last thing you want to be told when you spend a lot of money on a sopossedly four star hotel... i would strongly not reccomend this hotel for food at all.. I think most of the reviews for this hotel are years out of date(most are 2004) and are not an accurate review of the standard of the hotel at present.. i hope this review is helpful.

After much research and reading of reviews, we booked to stay at the Hotel Savoy in September 2005. Found that the best deal was booking direct with the hotel, so booked in March 2005 and received confirmation from the hotel. Then in August, 4 weeks before we were due to travel, I received an e-mail from the hotel saying they were overbooked and have cancelled my booking. They suggested an alternative in Riva but this was fully booked. Despite several subsequent e-mails to the hotel asking for an explanation I have not heard another word from them. Have managed to find another hotel (Hotel Luise) to tie in with the flights and car hire already arranged. May pop in and see the Hotel Savoy when there to say hello!

Stayed in the Savoy Palace Hotel in Riva in July 2003. Hotel was excellent. Family concern. Hope to return in 2004.