more4less

Stayed at this property this week after 2 years not visiting it, when it was out of the Hilton portfolio.

The rooms have been partially renovated and look fine.

At check in, as a HHD, they offered me a welcome drink or a 10% discount on food and beverages in the restaurant.

Internet signal, that was always poor at this property, worked very well for me this time.

Good breakfast spread and cooked to orders eggs, pancakes,...

A nice stay. I will return when I am in the area.

Firewind

Thank you, more4less. Sounds like it's back to the way it was - except for the wifi. ^

Did any part of it seem like it had been smoked in while it was out of the Hilton portfolio? As I noted above, it always seemed pristine when it was previously a HGI. Thanks again.

PetzLUX

Thanks for the update. Will be there this Saturday.
How about the airport shuttle? Do you need to call or is the shuttle running by a fixed timetable?

FriendlyConfines

Hotel's web site says (June 6, 2013):

*To take advantage of the complimentary shuttle service please call our front desk at +39 0331 1660300 before your arrival at the airport. The service runs 24-hours upon request.

So it looks similar to the old system, where one called on arrival and waited ~20 minutes.

more4less

Hi PetzLUX,

this time I had a rental car so I did not contact the shuttle.

As FriendlyConfines has mentioned, you have to call the hotel so they send the shuttle.
I recommend you call as soon as you have landed because sometimes it takes as much as 30'.

Enjoy your stay and remember to sign for the quadruple M&M promo on the weekends!

more4less

Hi Firewind,

I did not smell smoke/cigarettes and I am quite sensible.

My experience is that since they enforced the ban on smoking in Italy, 8/9 years ago, the people follow quite strictly.

PetzLUX

Thanks for the info.

Firewind

Hi more4less. Thank you. Excellent news. As I tell friends, "That hotel is forever new!"

PetzLUX

Shuttle service worked perfectly. 15 min. after I had called the hotel, the shuttle arrived at T1. Shuttle picked me up at the entrance of the Sheraton hotel.

Rooms look pretty fine. Got upgraded to a "suite" as they called it (2 bedrooms - one double and one single bed).
Wifi worked really good.

Orion_1

I rarely have any feelings for a hotel, they are an impersonal place to stay basically...
But I really felt for this place, in part I guess for the awkward location a bit too far from the airport.
The staff was super friendly, very accommodating and provided early checkin. The breakfast was superb, good Italian stuff, the rooms where good (I like the HGI concept).
If that hotel was either a bit closer to Milano or MXP it would be a hit....

Zurich

I chose to stay here for one night in March on our way home. The shuttle involved some waiting time. When I called ahead (20' before arriving by train from Milano Centralo) the receptionist asked me to call again whenever I will have arrived at the airport(!) We then had to wait for 30'.
The overall appearance of the hotel is good but what I liked best was, apart from the bar service with the happy hour and the laundry was the restaurant. Absolutely high quality food, beverages reasonably priced and very good service. I might have rated service outstanding if there was not a large group that absorbed pretty much of the service staff. However, staff did as good as possible and under these circumstances, service still was very good.
Bus as you said, Orion_1, if the hotel would be closer to those spots you want or have to be, it would be a great.

Firewind

Still pristine? I'm as interested for my Italy-bound/departing friends as for myself, because it's been nice to recommend it and have it turn out that good - "like new" - for them. This is why I keep asking. (Conversely, had to stop similarly recommending the Hilton at FCO.) Thank you.

HauptmannFuchs

Recently I have stayed at this property for two nights and found it be OK (but not exceptional). The room still looked fine and I had a nice room at the back (nice and quiet, dark too). The airconditioning was fine too, both for heating and cooling. The bed was nice and firm, though with quite a large trench in the middle.

On the other side, there was plenty of noise of adjacent rooms (both occupants and the cleaners) and the fridge looked worn out, with condensation leaking over my food. Another disadvantage was breakfast only until 10:00, also on weekends, although breakfast itself was fine. The internet connection was unbearably slow in the evening, becoming gradually better later in the evening and fine in the morning again.

Other guests appeared to be mainly a mix of airline crews and people catching a flight from Malpensa, very few actual tourist coming to explore the region.

I did have a car (so did not use the shuttle) and explored the surroundings a bit. I found Somma Lombardo and the neighbouring villages and cities quite pleasant, very friendly folk. Everybody appreciated me trying in Italian and then switched over to English without any issue. You can easily walk into the centre and/or to the nearby Carrefour supermarket (not a hypermarkt). The hypermarkts Famila and Il Gigante (the latter also with a McDonalds) must be at about 30 minutes' walk.

For running I recommend heading north on SS33 to the next hotel for a few hundred metres, then crossing the railway track and following the roads (some unpaved), there are a few nice circuits you can run. It is much less hassle with traffic than just following the SS33.

Firewind

Thank you, HauptmannFuchs. I think router technology is not keeping up with bandwidth demand most places nowadays (hotels, airport lounges, planes, trains) with the expanding use of streaming and computer games. Hotels add routers, but it doesn't make a difference, evenings.

bearkatt

I stayed here last October. enjoyed the hotel. took a train from malpensa to lake como. you change trains about halfway to Milan. lake como was great, especially the bus ride up to billagio.^