Lugano is a beautiful town, a place full of designer shops, expensive restaurants and fine wines, it creates such a picture of luxury and pampering. I searched independently for a hotel and the Holiday Inn hotel photographs took my breath away. A picture of a beautiful rooftop swimming pool surrounding by snow capped mountains. I booked immediately! No other hotel appeared to offer such luxurious surroundings!!! I was so excited to end my holiday with 3 days relaxing in such a beautiful hotel. This could not be further from the truth. On my arrival we drove to the hotel through the back streets and noticed the hotel in a rather shabby setting. That was fair enough, I had been informed that the hotel did not over look the lake by the HI staff. Immediately I noticed that the exterior of the building didn’t quite match the photographs on the website. But hey at this point, our fingers were crossed! When I get married I may ask for the same photographer? Who ever he/she is, they work wonders. We managed to manipulate the car down the constricted entrance to the underground car park and took the old creaky lift up to reception. (Yes keep pressing the button, after about 7 or 8 presses you move so its worth it). The staff were pleasant and my optimism started to return, I quick glance around and it looked ok, clean at least! The smile began to return to my discontented face. As we entered our room on the 5th floor, our hearts sank as we viewed our executive room. Executive? I immediately called the Holiday Inn Customer service line, you know the one that states that 'if your not happy let us....' Yes we were in an executive room to our disgust. The small dingy room lacked style. That is a polite statement. It lacked in every aspect. Holiday Inns are supposed to be pretty much the same where ever you stay.(Check out the quotes on their website, I have). The only way of finding a dressing table was to move the TV and sit on the 4 pillows provided to see in the mirror. (Yes that is less than the guaranteed 5 pillow choice!) You still will have trouble finding a plug near by! The hotel is well past a refit, it has the feel of an old 1970's room, or maybe that is too generous of me. I am sure it was modern once upon a time……. The luxury toiletries, Yes, the Timotei shampoo and shower gel) were empty during our whole stay. I guess I did appreciate the tiny bar of soap, well, when you’re paying over £120 a night it nice to get a little thrown in isn’t it. The cleaning staff thought it appropriate to open the bathroom windows to let the bugs in (I still have the scars to prove it), obviously defeating the idea of air conditioning. The morning staff also felt it fitting to knock and immediately walk into our room even with the lock on the door. No 'do not disturb sign' in sight. Right, now onto the Holiday Inns deceptive website photographs; Look, I have no idea when these were taken, but something isn’t quite right. The beautiful rooftop swimming pool needs replacing apart from a good clean. How they managed the shot without the top of the surrounding hotels and homes baffles me to this day. I couldn’t swim in it, nor could i swim in the dirty squalid indoor pool. Now that was a waste of time packing my swimsuits! Breakfast? Go and buy a croissant and a coffee for a couple of Swiss Francs, its really not worth the money or the stomach ache. After speaking with the staff on reception, I realised there wasn’t much they could do about it, 'Sorry this is how it is' was the reply, I once again telephoned the Holiday Inn. I spoke to an English chap who after laughing hysterically, told me to approach the staff again. I explained that there wasn’t too much they could do for me apart from knock the place down and start again and obviously this wasn’t possible during my 3 day stay. I spoke to a manager and i was offered a generous £15 off a night, Mmmm. Not good enough for ruining my holiday. I further telephoned at 2am in the morning to speak to the American staff, a great response, they agreed that I shouldn’t be told by HI customer service that my standards were too high. On my next visit to reception, I was informed that I would not be charged for one night of my stay, this was after crying to my partner and a member of staff who suggested we move hotels. (Only one night left of my holiday by this point). I gracefully took the offer but stated I would continue my complaint. We spent all our time out of the hotel, spending money to keep away, not quite the relaxing pamper days we had planned. In Lugano it is expensive to stay out of your hotel, I feel like billing them, not the other way around. I checked out and was asked 'everything ok?'. 'Yes I replied, now I am leaving here'. 'Mmm your really not happy are you', obviously not, rather a silly question I thought! I further continued by complaint and received an email reply. Extract as follows: "First and foremost, I want to sincerely apologize for the problems you encountered in regards to the condition of the hotel as well as the services you received. I also regret the inconvenience this caused you on your holiday. Your experience is certainly not representative of the high standards of service and quality on which our hotels pride themselves. It is also definitely not what you, as a valued guest, should expect and deserve. I have personally contacted Armin Milanetto, General Manager of the hotel. He was very appreciative of your comments and has given me every assurance the situation will be addressed with the appropriate hotel personnel, in an effort to prevent something like this from happening again. Although you were inconvenienced by the issues you encountered, the hotel feels their previous offer of resolution is fair and they have declined to issue further compensation." Valued customer - If you learn anything from my review, I hope it is that you dont stay at the Holiday Inn Lugano. Holiday Inn is a trusted brand, I have previously had no complaints, I came to this hotel from the HI Venice East. Now that really is a exquisite hotel, I could live there. Please keep in mind, I paid 3 X the amount to stay in Lugano and got 100 X less for my money! Yes, this might not be ‘The holiday from Hell’ as you imagine it, but believe me, if I could express in words, my disillusionment, woe and the excruciating pain from this experience I would, I don’t believe that our polite language enables me to convey my feelings fully! Place your trust in this review, I could go on…. and on…. But I wont, I have wasted enough of my precious time and money. Apologize - how does that get my holiday back? Maybe I should leave this on a good note, the bar area is sufficient, I think it has been refurbished in the last 10 years, Lake Lugano is also very beautiful, I think there is a nice Best Western Hotel near by. ;)

This hotel needs refurbishment. It is below standard in many ways. The hotels rooftop swimming pool is very dissapointing, it is not the same as on the photos. The indoor pool is a joke. Small rooms, which aren't bright as advertised are very old looking and there are no real executive features. Not even a dressing table area (unless you are a giant as the mirror is half way up the wall!) We had a room with a balcony, there is no light on the balcony and you overlook the back of other homes and hotels. I could comment much further but I have had enough of this hotel, This hotel spolit our stay, we would never return.