Hotel La Perla

I expected much better for the price, especially after seeing the Booking.com listing. The room was extremely dated, like something from the 1980s, and looked nothing like the photos. The bathroom was tiny, far smaller than the pictures suggested, and I suspect it was hidden or misrepresented on purpose. The ceiling fan didn’t work, so the room was uncomfortable, and the hairdryer was useless too. I’ve contacted customer support to ask for compensation. I wouldn’t recommend staying here unless the facilities are updated and the online room descriptions become more transparent.

The pool is large, with a decent number of chairs, and breakfast had a wide enough selection. I didn’t understand why the restaurant separated guests into premium and basic room areas. The beach is only a minute away, and you can walk to Riva’s center in about 20 minutes. Our basic room was in the old building, which feels very dated, almost like the 70s. Booking.com and Agoda don’t seem to make that clear enough. There was no air conditioning, and in warm weather the room became unbearably hot. We even thought about sleeping on the balcony. The bathroom was cramped, and its layout meant the door wouldn’t open fully, making it hard for two people to use the room at once. Thin walls let noise through from the hallway and neighboring rooms, often from other guests’ heavy keys. The water pipes were very loud as well. We asked whether a lower-floor basic room might be available because ours was hot and upstairs. The answer was just, “No, it’s August, we’re booked out!” I understand high season means full rooms, but I’d hoped they would make more effort to find a solution. The price didn’t feel like good value for what we got.

The room was clean, but very old and badly in need of a deep renovation. The water pipes were so loud it felt like sleeping in the bathroom next door, even noisier than traffic on the main road below our window. There was no working WiFi in the room. When we complained at the front desk, we were told it might be the weather, which sounded like the same old excuse. They refused to move us without extra payment, saying everyone would ask for another room otherwise. That’s a poor way to treat guests and hardly a good start to a holiday at Lake Garda. It made me wonder if the hotel deliberately gives customers bad rooms, then offers better ones for more money. We felt ripped off.

We stayed for three days and were happy with the hotel overall. It’s only a 50-meter walk to Lake Garda and a beautiful beach. The surprise was that our room had no air conditioning. It was so hot we could barely sleep. Reception lent us a fan the next day, but the room was still too warm to be comfortable.