Mistral European Holidays

We had a brilliant holiday to Lake Como with Mistral Holidays in September and it was everything we had hoped for and more! The Hotel Excelsior Britannia had really good facilities for a three star, with a beautiful lido style pool and sun terraces. We booked a deluxe bedroom with a balcony and lake view. The bedroom was beautifully decorate. The views from the balcony were amazing, we looked out across the lake to Bellagio on the opposite shore. We went there twice on the free boat service which is run by the hotel. The food in the restaurant was good, with plenty of variety and something different every day and the cooked breakfasts were great, considering we were in Italy. The only slight negative on the food is that the picnic lunches which were given to us when we went on a full day’s outing were a little bland and the same each day, but this didn’t matter as we also bought some little extra treats wherever we were. The holiday was very interesting and we felt like we learned a lot about this beautiful area of Italy in just one week. We were well looked after by the hotel’s head receptionist Janette, who was always willing to offer suggestions of where to visit and things to see. Overall a very good all inclusive holiday and excellent value for money.
5 7 years ago (16-01-2018)

In October 2016 we arrived early in the morning at around 1-30 am but were not given any refreshments and we were told the following day that there were cold plates of food left for us, that was a lie…we only needed a drink and the room did not have any tea/coffee facilities. 3 couples in our group we put up at another hotel due to some error….error my foot, this is normal practice by holiday hotels in maximising their occupancy at the expense of inconvenience to guests….do not get conned by Mistral. The room was tiny and Mistral miss sold the room…a picture was on their advert page for a Deluxe room and we got nothing like that when we paid extra for a deluxe room. The fridge door could only be opened partially due to the bed being in the way and there was only 18 inches of space around the bed. We complained to the hotel but were told they could do nothing. A room at a Travelodge would be bigger. So do not pay extra if you are booking with Mistral, or better still…do not book with them at all. The tours mentioned in the brochure did not exist apart from one. As stated in the brochure, there was supposed to have a courtesy ferry to Bellagio…another lie, this service ceased at the end of September, miss selling again. The sockets in the room were all faulty and nothing could be done to fix, so we had to charge our phones in the lounge, there was no WiFi in the room and only available in the reception area and that was next to useless. This was stated as free in the brochure, another miss sold point. The TV picture would break up due to poor reception, again the staff could not do anything. There were 4 light bulbs burnt out with the lighting in the room, we did not complain as this we deemed trivial….but shows that they do not check the rooms properly. The brochure stated that a Mistral rep would available, again this was a lie and miss sold….we were told Mistral never have reps overseas. My advice is do not book with Mistral and avoid the Britannia Hotel in Cardenabbia….so any good point…well the room safe works and we got fed e.g. ….one day we get lamb shanks, the next day we get lamb kebabs….I let you work that one out.
1 8 years ago (26-10-2016)