Folk, this hotel steals money from the credit cards, be careful.

I spent 4 nights in this hotel with my partner and my parents. The rooms were clean and we had a beautiful view over the lake. The hotel was very quiet. However, the furniture was old, the TV from the age of the dinosaurs (not so bad because we did not watch TV), we did not have any air conditioning, the bathroom was clean but very simple, with shower only, there was a soap dispenser in the shower (like in public bathroom): ok but not what you except for this price. We slept quite awfully because the beds were old and uncomfortable. The service was nice and friendly, the man at the reception desk spoke italian, french and german (and I guess also english). The restaurant in the hotel is not ok but you can find better restaurant just 5 minutes walking along the lakeside. Location of the hotel is very good for making trips to the valleys (Verzasca), Locarno, Ascona and Lugano.

We have visited Lago Maggiore for a long weekend, we have booked a room at the Hotel Mirto al lago, for 250CHF per night. The room was average, there was a balcony, but it was just enough for a small table and two chairs. Miserable, I thought, but the view was stunning. And so it happens that the weather is bad and we decide to stay in a bit and watch some TV, until the weather clears up. 11 channels on offer, none of them in English. I know people normally receive 40 channels in Switzerland with dual sound, however this TV has only 11 and does not offer dual sound. For 250CHF a night, I thought I should go to the owner and see what he can do to help me. The reply was "All the hotels in the Italian part offer only these channels, unless you want to pay 500CHF per night for a 5 star hotel". OK, I found this hard to believe (and I was right) but can I at least have dual sound, so I can hear the programmes in English? "No, because the settings of the sound per channel are done centrally for the whole hotel and that will affect the other customers". Understood, but that's not good. What kind of ancient technology is that? I thought I deserve some compensation: "No, because I do not write anywhere in the hotel website that I offer english channels, so if you want english channels you should go to another hotel" How do you like this for a friendly and hospitable comment? Do I really want to spend time in a place where the owner, even if he is right, asks me to go to another hotel? And from his side, what kind of business acumen is that? He prefered to lose 90% of his room revenue (I doubt he managed to resell the rooms) rather than give a 10% discount? Literally 100 meters away, same village, 4 star hotel Villa Caesar, about 40 channels in the TV with dual/surround sound, indoor and outdoor pools, very friendly and smiley personel, free (non-alcoholic) drinks from 11am to 4pm every day, piano bar in the evenings, big, spacious room, huge balcony overlooking the lake, including two outside beds, in case you want to sleep under the stars (which we did) for a tremendous 50CHF more. OK, it was 90 CHF more, but we negotiated it down. For such value for money difference, I have no time for Hotel Mirto anymore. Would you?