Grand Hotel Bristol turned to dishwashing specialists Comenda and partner Tecnobi to bring the “same silent elegance” on display in its exquisite dining rooms, which have overlooked Lake Maggiore for more than 150 years


T


here is a precise moment in every major hotel renovation, says Marco Locci, Italy sales director of dishwashing specialist Comenda, when a project stops being a technical drawing and becomes a promise.


It happens, “when the room fills with light and the first dish


leaves a brand-new kitchen, designed to last as long as the story it is part of,” he says. This is what happened at the Grand Hotel Bristol on Lake Maggiore, in Stresa, Italy, where the fifth generation of the Zacchera family chose to reinterpret a piece of Italian hospitality history “without losing its soul.” For the team at Comenda, which has been designing industrial dishwashing systems worldwide since 1963, being part of this transformation reflects the power of a perfect partnership. Working alongside local partner Tecnobi Srl, which managed the design and implementation of the entire kitchen, Comenda helped connect the luxury of a prestigious hospitality destination with technological efficiency.


One family, 150 years and five generations To understand the spirit behind the new kitchen at Grand Hotel Bristol, we need to go back to 1873,


when Francesco Zacchera opened a small inn, the Osteria Milanese, offering accommodation on the shores of Lake Maggiore. From that first entrepreneurial venture


grew one of the most enduring family stories in Italian hospitality. Generation after generation, the business expanded into a group that today includes five properties between Baveno and Stresa — Grand Hotel Dino, Hotel Simplon, Hotel Splendid, Residence Carl & Do and Grand Hotel Bristol — representing approximately 900 rooms and more than 350 employees. Today, Zacchera Hotels is led by siblings


Antonio, Massimo, Maria Gabriella and Andrea Zacchera, with support from their cousins. It’s a rare model of family continuity that has allowed the group to grow while remaining faithful to a clear vision of hospitality built on attention to detail, deep roots in the local community and the ability to innovate without compromising its identity. This vision lies at the heart of the


transformation of the Grand Hotel Bristol, which in recent years has undergone an ambitious renovation project. The property has renewed its guestrooms, common areas, pool area and dining offering, including two completely redesigned restaurants overlooking the spectacular waters of Lake Maggiore. The renovation was designed not only for leisure guests, but also for the hotel’s conference and events business, which has long been one of the leading players in Lake Maggiore’s MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions) sector. The hotel hosts meetings, conventions and corporate events for up to 250 guests, as well as weddings and receptions that take advantage of the historic gardens and the ‘Liberty-style’ (an indoor-outdoor structure built in the Art Nouveau aesthetic) winter garden. For the Zacchera family, it was essential that Grand Hotel Bristol’s new kitchen continue to deliver the exceptional hospitality for which the hotel is known.


The hero behind the scenes Behind every event, banquet dinner or breakfast overlooking the Lake, “there is a technical heart of the operation that must perform with the same silent elegance as the dining room,” says Locci. In the world of luxury hospitality, away from


Aliworld 53


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100