Marta's Sweet Home

I booked the apartment for my 88 year old father and his wife. They loved it and it perfectly met their needs for a 2 night stay in Menaggio. Location was superb for them as they are not that mobile and don't like to walk long distances. However, the best thing were the hosts. They offered to pick my dad up from the ferry and dropped him back which they didn't need to do but was so appreciated. Very easy communication and they looked after my father so well

Nothing not to like!

The apartment was comfortable with good water pressure.

I didn’t understand that we would walking uphill the majority of the way to the apartment. My husband is in his 70s. We would get a taxi rather than walk there from the ferry. PS we also got a taxi from the Varenna ferry to the train station rather than walk up that hill with luggage.

L’appartement est parfaitement situé au cœur de la vielle ville et a deux minutes à pied du bord de lac. Il dispose d’un parking securise Il est très joliment aménagé dans une vieille bâtisse de charme et Marta est très disponible pour vous renseigner - beaucoup de gentilles attentions La terrasse est très agréable

Par fortes chaleurs une climatisation en plus des ventilateurs serait idéale

The apartment was located a few minutes walk away from the village centre in a quiet neighbourhood with some nice shops and restaurants. Rooms were well-sized and the bathroom was well-equipped. The host left us a welcome note and some gifts which were appreciated.

Our problems began when we received an unusual request from the host to send passport details via WhatsApp. This was accompanied by a threat that the booking may be cancelled if we did not comply. Booking.com warns against requests for confidential details sent via WhatsApp. We rang the host who said that she could not get to the property to welcome us so we had no choice. We had great difficulty finding the apartment. The instructions and photo sent by the host were incorrect. We had to have the help of a neighbour who told us that guests regularly have difficulties because the host hardly ever visits the property to welcome them. To add to our difficulties, it was not possible to send WhatsApp messages to the host (her only method of communication) because of poor WiFi connectivity in the apartment. We then found that the WiFi did not work for the majority of our two-night stay. We reported this but the host did nothing to rectify matters, instead blaming the hot weather. The property could also have been cleaner. We found remnants of snacks on the floor from a previous guest. All in all, it was a problematic stay. After our return from holiday, we raised this with the host and suggested a partial refund of the cost of our stay might be in order. She did not respond, only later becoming hostile towards us after we said that her continuing silence would leave us with no option other than to raise these problems in a review for the benefit of other travellers. She accused us of threatening to give a bad review in order to obtain compensation. This is an appalling attitude for a host to take towards paying guests who have experienced problems and reported them in line with her preferences. We have heard nothing from her since.