Tre Re Hotel

Hotel Tre Re has a lovely classic feel, right down to the traditional keys on the room doors. It may be a little old-fashioned, but the great location makes up for that. The area around it is beautiful and peaceful, and a nice base for exploring Como. I had a pleasant, comfortable stay.

The building has some age to it, but everything seemed well planned and kept clean and tidy. Our room was quiet despite the hotel’s very central location, with almost everything within walking distance. My mother has difficulty walking, and they gave us a room she could access with her walker. The staff were extremely kind and helpful, both during the day and in the evening when we wanted a drink in the living room after dinner. The place is full of charm, and we had a really lovely experience.

The location is perfect, close to the shops, boats, lots of restaurants, and the famous Cathedrale, about a five-minute walk away. That’s the only reason I’d recommend this hotel. The service was very poor. We booked at the last minute after cancelling another hotel in Griante Cadenabbia because we wanted to be near the centrum, Funicolare, and cruising boats. The hotel looks old, with old-fashioned furniture, a small TV, old pillows, and tiny odd-looking face towels that we use as kitchen towels. Cleaning in our triple room was okay. We had no fridge, but managed. The view wasn’t great, with an old local building just across a narrow street. When we opened the window, we could see into the neighbors’ rooms and balconies. We could live with that, but the noise was a surprise. There was noise late into the evening until midnight, loud trash trucks early in the morning, and materials being carried to the next building for repairs. It was hard waking up at 6 or 7 am. Some of the staff’s attitude was another source of discomfort. We work in the hotel and cruising industries, in Australia and Europe, and found it very strange. Some receptionists and breakfast staff seemed to have no hotel industry training. Some were foreigners and acted as if they didn’t speak English. We speak Italian, so we could still try to have a decent conversation or ask for simple things, but even that was hard for them to understand. For example, asking for a decaf Americano with boiled water added on top was impossible for Gislaine, who acted as if she didn’t understand. We spoke Italian to make it clear, but her grimaces were an awful attitude. The Manager backed her up, which made us think the lack of experience and attitude came from poor training. Of course, not all the women were the same. At reception, we had another shocking experience with an Italian lady. We wanted to write down her name, but she said we weren’t supposed to get staff names because she didn’t want us to write bad comments about them. There were no name tags on the uniforms. She was short, with short black hair and a little overweight. Sorry to mention those details, but that’s all we could tell you. She refused to give us her name and said she wasn’t happy that we’d write bad things about them. Unbelievable. The food selection was poor too. We asked for scrambled, omelette, or fried eggs and were told those cost extra because only boiled eggs were included in breakfast. The bread was very hard and the juice choices were poor, just two cartons of apple or orange juice each day.

We only had limited hotel options after our original Como booking was canceled, and found this place at a great price. The front desk team were all lovely and helpful, and the location was perfect, close to restaurants and the waterfront. The room was clean, spacious, and very quiet. We didn’t hear any other guests during our three-night stay. The rooms are a bit dated, though, and the beds were quite uncomfortable.