Mr. Ericka had a business meeting in Lake Como, Italy and was kind enough to invite me to meet him. I flew CO BusinessFirst into MXP on a 767-200. This aircraft had the old bark-o-lounger rather than the new lay-flat product which was fine for napping but not suitable for any serious sleeping. I opted for the single middle seat to ensure privacy. The one thing that really surprised me about this seat was the amount of “bouncing” that occurred every time someone walked by on either aisle. The food was good enough with a definite Italian theme even down to the order of the courses. CO really downplayed their wine service though…not listing options on the menu or able to tell you or show you what you were drinking much beyond a simple red or white. Wine was poured in the galley. We rented a manual transmission Alfa Romeo Guiletta through Hertz (with a GPS) and agreed after the trip that we wouldn’t want anything bigger. Once Mr. Ericka got used to the narrow, winding, steep roads and the crazy motorcyclists, he found the driving to be quite fun. The MXP airport was about 1.25 hours from the main points of interest on the lake. We knew we needed to spend two nights on the east side of the lake since that was where Mr. Ericka’s meeting was. We also opted for one night on the west side. As this was a last minute trip, we found that Villa D’Este was booked. Note: Villa D’Este is probably the best hotel on the lake making what we are about to review “2nd tier” luxury.

We considered the Grand Hotel Tremezzo and Hotel Villa Serbelloni for our one night on the west side. Even though the HVS had gotten more attention, we were impressed by the Grand Hotel Tremezzo website which had larger pictures and seemed more up to date. We booked with DavidO and took advantage of several Virtuoso amenities, though an upgrade wasn’t one of them as the hotel was fully booked by the time we arrived. Overall, we found the hotel to be in good condition considering its grand dame status. The furniture (and fabrics) in the public areas were in bright modern colors and were in wonderful shape.

Service

We would characterize the service as fine. The hotel was very responsive to our email requests ahead of our stay and never let us down in anything that we asked for. Once on property, we found the same. While there wasn’t anyone anticipating our needs, if we asked we always got what we needed…but the point is, we had to ask. Hence, our 2nd tier luxury assessment.

Superior Lake View Room

We stayed in a bright blue superior lake view room decorated in period furnishings. The room was small (probably large by European standards) with a writing desk, a coffee table and seating area, a flat screen TV, and a tiny balcony with fabulous views toward Bellagio and beyond. There was a typical grand dame decorative plaster ceiling. The bathroom was also small but recently refurbished in Italian green marble with a deep soaking tub, separate shower, and Villeroy and Boch plumbing. The only down side to the room was the creaky wood floor, and while the fabrics and bedding were in excellent shape, some of the woodwork and door hardware had seen better days. We requested a high floor which made our creaky floor less of an issue. Of course, it might have been an issue for the people below us!

View from room

Dining

We enjoyed eating at two separate venues. Lunches by the garden pool behind the hotel (think awesome mountain views) were great. The specialty here was wood-fired pizzas made in the open air kitchen. We had breakfast and dinner at La Terrazza which had panoramic water, mountain and Bellagio views. Breakfast was an extensive hot and cold buffet and dinner was very good (homemade pastas, osso bucco), but we were disappointed they didn’t enforce their own sport coat rule. Mr. Ericka would have dressed more comfortably if he had known others would be dressed smart casual. There was also a cute wine cellar / fondue restaurant which we regret not having time to try.

Activities