Apartment Andy by Interhome

A great apartment close to the shores of Lake Como. A short walk from the train station. Not an easy walk due to status of footpaths, but still a short walk. The apartment is a very short stroll to the Colico ferry terminal which is also near cafes and restaurants, as well as a lovely board walk along the lake. The room we booked has a balcony overlooking part of the lake as well as great views of the mountains on the other side of the lake. Room for two people to share a wine as the sun sets; or have breakfast in the morning. It had a good separate bedroom and modern bathroom. While the living area was small, it had a kitchenette and lounge making it comfortable to sit in and plan the next day's travels. And it was so easy to just pop outside and walk along the lake. From this apartment you then have a choice of ferry, bus or train to do your day of traveling. Easy and relaxing. The building had a lift making it easy to check in and check out with luggage.

I'm not a great fan of the remote check in. I know there seems to be a growing trend as owners who own a few or less apartments are moving to booking.com. There is no onsite staff. Just a number to call if you need help. What is worse for me in this growing trend, is that they demand you email copies of your passport before they give you door codes. In this day and age of intercepting things sent over the internet, and ID scams, I am very surprised that this is a growing requirement of many holiday apartments. Personal identity security seems to be a very low priority. I mean, while they say they want to know who is renting their apartment, we are giving this information, over the internet, to people we don't know and may never meet. Where are our passport details stored? Having said that, I understand it is now a requirement of the Italian Government that holiday apartment owners must record passport details of guests, but I still have trouble with the fact that owners feel it is okay to demand copies are sent online rather than meet the guests in person. In this case, the apartment manager insisted we also do a video call so they can verify that we are the people in the passports we sent. Unfortunately I got annoyed. This was a step too far in my mind. I could send a video call from anywhere in the world and still give the door code to an illegal or whatever. So, after some arguing to and fro, I insisted they come to the unit so they can see who we are and give us the keys in person. They weren't happy, but they came. It was good to be shown the apartment for once to make sure we knew how everything worked. Despite my demands annoying them, the managers remained courteous and friendly during the check in process.

Everything you could need in the apartment

Nothing

Location, view and comfort

Problems with hot water but resolved.