Lefay Resort & SPA Dolomiti

The hotel is very modern, and room 420 was spacious with a beautiful view. The cleaning team was quick and thorough, coming several times a day. Ski service was great, though choose your boots carefully, as some of the Solomon boots hurt our feet. Renato was perfect driving us to and from the ski lift, somehow always there at the right moment. The wider team helping with skis was fantastic too. The hotel is a bit of a maze, so make sure you figure out which lift goes where. The food was quite average, though we didn't try Grual, so that's only based on what we did eat. The spa team was a letdown. Don't book the hotel's package deal: they pre-booked our appointments without making that clear, then made us feel bad when we had to change them. They also got our appointment day wrong, so we effectively lost the massage, and because they were overbooked there was no way to get it back. I hope they bring the spa service up to standard or have a concierge handle all the package details.

We especially loved the aromatherapy session in the sauna. The suite was stylish and well designed, and the spa had a magnesium-water whirlpool, a saltwater indoor-outdoor pool, and several saunas and steam rooms. No swimsuits are allowed in those rooms, just towels. The shuttle to the ski lift takes about 5-10 minutes, but the car is small, so you may have to wait through a few trips. Dinner at Grual was an eight-course tasting journey with incredible flavors, all organic. We really enjoyed it and recommend it.

The rooms were spacious, comfortable and well designed, and the spa was a highlight. The spa staff were warm, professional and very helpful. But the restaurant setup ruined the stay for us. There are two restaurants. One serves genuinely awful food, hard to believe you're eating it in Italy, especially at a hotel of this level. We were looking forward to the Michelin-starred restaurant for a special birthday, but arrived Monday for three nights and were only casually told there were two restaurants. Nobody mentioned that the Michelin restaurant was closed Tuesday and Wednesday, which meant leaving the resort for food for most of our stay. We added a night so we could try it, then were told the tasting menu was fully booked from 7-9, with only à la carte afterwards. Despite our special occasion and being hotel guests, nobody tried to help or accommodate us. As far as we were concerned, that left us with just the one bad restaurant.

We chose the package with dinner included, and the food was excellent, with generous portions. The wine selection was good, though even knowing what bottles usually cost, it was hard to accept paying several times the wine-shop price, not to mention the water. We knew that going in. Breakfast also had a wide range of sweet and savory options, cured meats, cheeses, made-to-order dishes and excellent fruit. We spent two nights at this elegant, refined resort, where the details are carefully handled and the large spaces mean it never felt crowded. Staff were warm, professional and always ready to help. From booking and arranging fitness activities through check-in and checkout, everything went very positively. The location is handy for the ski facilities, though we focused on relaxing and achieved exactly that. We started mornings in the gym, which has new, technologically advanced equipment, then enjoyed the seasonal relaxation route with pools, saunas and sensory showers. We'd also recently visited the Lefay property on Lake Garda. Between the two, we definitely preferred Lefay Dolomiti and will be back soon.