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Having not returned to the Grand Hotel Gardone since 2019 we were keen to go before its 40 million Euro refit for the next 2 years. She was as beautiful and elegant as ever with so much character however because of closing soon some things from 5 years ago have now gone. The conceierge who would greet you when you arrived - gone, now just a bunch of young receptionists clearly only brought in when the owners hastily decided to reopen this year for the summer season. Don't get me wrong they are all lovely and very helpful but the uniform was just a polo shirt and black jeans or trousers, this is not befitting this grand and beautiful hotel, i hope when the hotel opens again the uniform will be looked at and made to be as grand as the hotel. Secondly the breakfast - once upon a time there would be a waitress waiting at the door to take your room number and take you to a table. None of that now, to be honest any tom, dick or harry could just rock up and have breakfast...no-one would have known. There are no tea cups or coffee cups on the table, you have to get those yourself along with the coffee or tea you want from a machine - yuk ! We used to be asked what we would like and it was brought to us. They used to have a chef outside on the terrace area, cooking fresh eggs, omelets and pancakes..not now. Everything was in turines with big heavy lids and the pancakes clearly out of a packet. Breakfast was aimed more at continental, with hams, salads, fish and alot of cakes. Sometimes i did wonder if it was lunch and not breakfast ! I gave up on having the scrambled eggs (very stodgy) and bacon (not grilled enough and very salty) However, our room was lovely, if a little old fashioned but then thats why the hotel will have a refit. We had one of three rooms over the lounge area that had big terraces. We had very comfy loungers and an umbrella. The pool area was as lovely as ever as was the decking near to the lake edge. The only thing i would complain about was the steps into the lake. They clearly needed cleaning on a more regular basis as they were very slippery with algae, but this was a minor thing. The gardens of the hotel and the plants going up the hotel facade were as beautiful as ever and are really well maintained. We saw the gardener every day maintaining the plants and the pathways. The location of the hotel to the ferry stop is brilliant and you can literally turn up 2 minutes before as you see the ferries coming in easily. Can't wait to see the refit on this beautiful hotel but i hope they don't kill the character of it. See you in a couple of years ❤