Passalacqua

I just returned from a trip to Italy with my in-laws. I had no roll in planning and was really just going where I was told, so I was oblivious to the hype around the hotel going into it. The other necessary context is that we were also traveling with a 14-month old baby. This meant that for many of the outings I stayed back for nap time with my daughter while my wife went with her family, then when she woke up, we would hang out at the hotel. The hotel itself is stunning. The grounds are gorgeous. However, other hotels are beautiful, and other grounds are beautiful, other locations are beautiful, etc. etc. What sets this hotel apart from anything else I have ever experienced was the staff. They were simultaneously very formal while also being so familiar that I had to remind myself that it is inappropriate to hug them after an interaction. I could say many things about them but I will share a few small anecdotes that perfectly incapsulate the experience. 1. For my daughter's afternoon nap, I would let her sleep on my chest somewhere outside on the grounds. Every time I did some staff member would see me, walk over and whisper to ask if the bambini would like a blanket. 2. After having lunch in the bar several times, the staff all knew her name and my daughter was getting more comfortable with them. While I was having lunch they would call her to walk to them then as she would walk to them they would act like they were going to tickle her and she would run back to me cackling. 3. When the weather took a turn for the worse, the spa manager noticed me walking with my daughter and came over to say, "sir, normally the spa is not for babies, but with this weather, your daughter will need something to do for fun. If you would like to use our indoor pool, just call the spa and I will tell you when it is empty so she can enjoy a swim." 4. At most hotels the housekeeping staff barely makes eye contact with you. here that is not the case. One evening, my daughter was wearing toddle "walking socks" that are sorta like hospital socks for babies, but she wanted to go outside and so her socks were getting wet. One of the housekeeping staff that looked like she was ending her day walked by us, and then without saying anything caught back up to us. She had retrieved a set of baby-sized hotel slippers and stopped to help me put them on my baby girl! I was so touched. When I relayed the story to the hotel manager he said, "as a father, I have goosebumps, and as a hotelier as well. I will relay this to the housekeeping team and they will appreciate it." 5. Lastly, on our last night at the hotel we sat down for a fancy candlelit dinner in the main dining room. A four year old (my niece) was having trouble sitting through dinner, so her mother told her that since she had already eaten enough she would set her up with her tablet to watch a movie in the next room while we finished dinner. When her father went to check on her, he found the hotel manager en

This hotel is one of the best we have ever been to. The love for the details is enormous and that's what it is all about. Regarding functionality there is still room to improve. It's obvious that the look and the design - besides the service quality - count the most for the owner family. It is a very expensive pleasure to stay at that hotel but the guests are fully rewarded for their willingness to spend a lot of money. The generosity of the hotel is extravagant and the employees pamper the guests in many ways. It would go too far to list all the different experiences we had but everything (with very few exceptions) was outstanding. Well done!

A hotel with a wonderful and amazing atmosphere! Great staff, delicious restaurant, wonderful rooms. The hotel team managed to create a stunning mix of ancient interiors and modern comfort. Will be visiting Como, you will definitely stay at this hotel. Will definitely come back! All the best, Vladimir

Stunning property, fantastic food. Service was very average, spiders in the room (x5), suit was ruined during turn down service (which the hotel fixed at my insistence) - there was also absolutely no accountability or apology for any of the above or for locking us out of the property for 30 mins after a boat ride organised by the hotel. Not what you’d expect after paying EUR1300 a night.

I was trying to decide between staying here and at Grand Hotel Tremezzo and ended up booking this hotel as per recommendation from my travel agent who told me how special it was and how it is one of the best hotels in Italy right but after reading reviews (and seeing a few pretty bad ones) I was worried. This place is EXPENSIVE ($2000 a night for a room!) and I wanted to make sure our money was well spent... Well, I should not have been worried because it was absolutely amazing! The grounds are stunning, the rooms (we stayed at the 'stables') were amazing and the attention to detail is unlike anything I've seen before (even hangers are handcrafted out of wood and have leather Passalacqua logo on them!) and the service was really good! Ladies - they have not one, not two, but THREE different Dysons for your hair - so you don't need to bring yours (like I did!). We had dinner at the restaurant one night and it was the best meal we've had on the trip - similar quality to michelin starred restaurants! As guests of Passalacqua you are able to use the grounds of Grand Tremezzo and we did that. The are very different hotels - Grand Tremezzo is stunning and runs like a well oiled machine (at Passalacqua there are a few kinks they should still work out) but Grand Tremezzo is huge and feels like a large resort vs passalacqua is small and very serene - there are only 24 rooms total so even when the place is sold out it it is never crowded. So if you are looking for a place at lake como - look no further!

Setting aside the attention from the ludicrous title of world’s best hotel - no such thing in my humble view - Passalacqua does what it promises well: a beautiful boutique setting by lake como to take your breath away. The problem however is the 100+ travel agents, photographers, event planners, and every travel magazine on the planet either staying in the hotel the same time or passing through - something for the management team to be careful on - but other than that simply beautiful.

I'm pretty sure that 99% of the guests at Passalacqua are not reading or writing TA reviews. This gorgeous hotel oozes luxury and exclusivity. It is spectacular. Stunning design, every single detail. Your eyes relax because of the beauty. I don't know, maybe some will quibble with this or that, but for me, this was one of those rare, very expensive, luxury hotels that delivered. Our room was SO BEAUTIFUL. The spa was SO BEAUTIFUL. The pool was SO BEAUTIFUL. And we felt so well attended at each moment. The first morning we ordered room service, I was startled by the knock on the door five minutes later with our coffee. We loved our boat ride on the lake. We loved aperitivi at the bar. I almost cried when it was time to leave. What a special place. I hope to return some day. Grazie!

Beautiful property and great service. We came for lunch, and Alessandro our waiter at the restaurant was fantastic- friendly and quick with perfect English. Definitely check out the grounds if you are nearby- it is exquisitely beautiful .

Never have I been so eager to offer tips or recommendations on a property. My first tip is deciding what you are looking for in terms of a holiday at Lake Como, we thought we were getting a 5*-luxury hotel. With all the media hype of the last year and high marks with Andrew Harper, we imagined Passalaqua to be the Villa Feltrinelli of Lago di Como. There are a lot of similarities with the aesthetics--- their interior design is shared by the same firm (BAMO San Francisco) and while Passalaqua has stunning Murano glass, Ginori porcelain, beautiful fabrics....it is nowhere near the service of Feltrinelli. Service falls short from the minute of an awkward check-in (your room isn't ready and we won't find you when it is) and when it finally was, a rushed introduction of the hotel with beautiful printed information of the property but nothing that was useful. On one of the activities they offered was called "bocce and bubbles", we love bocce, so we showed up at the date it was published in our welcome packet, only to have no hotel employee show up. The bocce court by the way was beautiful and we found that the best place for us. There is not a designated desk that says concierge, so we went to the front desk representative who assumed a concierge role. We found her to be so rude and unhelpful. We did receive eye rolls and lots of 'aloras' with a comment about our travel advisor's third-party lake tour being a "bad plan"--she did not seem as if she wanted to make it a good plan either. Her remark "this must be your first time to Lake Como, this isn't the United States" made me so upset I had to leave the conversation for my husband to finish. My best tip or recommendation would be to forego this property and if coming to Lake Como visit another luxury property with hopefully a staff that is trained for 5-star clientele. Service failures dropped at every turn. No food and beverage managers to be seen. The only employee pulling her weight was Stephanie at the pool. Lots of waiters standing around or pool employees hiding behind bushes. Just wan't what we are used to when it comes to service. Other tips would be to not wear your best shoes with heels as there is too much gravel, grass and uneven surfaces. Book a room with a lake view. Our view of Moltrasio was a metal garage door sprayed with graffiti. If you decide to come, ask in the beginning how to leave the property. Seriously. they make it very hard to go out in the town and then come back in. If you leave the side door, there are about 100 stairs up and down. The front gate requires an employee to open a gate, and at the lake level, you can sneak through the Moltrasio yacht club (that door is always open) A tip for breakfast would be ask for your egg order at the initial moment of contact. Otherwise no one returns to see that you are not a buffet-style guest. A tip for dinner--do not spend the money. Our first dinner was horrible. I could not eat my starter and wh