My answer from another question on Geneva:
I also went to Geneva last October! We stayed at the big Swissôtel Métropole, which is pretty close to the lake (although the trees in the park have grown a lot since the hotel was first opened!).
They kindly upgraded us to a mini-suite, so we had a sofa and a big TV next to the mini-bar and coffee machine. In the bedroom proper we had a huge double bed and another TV, and there was yet another TV in the bathroom, so you could watch while relaxing in the bath! Anyway, the hotel is about as close to the lake as you can get, and we could see it, including the Jet d'Eau, from our window.
There were all the usual extras like champagne and fruit as soon as we checked-in, fluffy robes and slippers, and cute little mini-toblerones on the pillow each night! So it was very romantic... but it's not the cheapest hotel I've ever stayed in!
The weather at the end of October last year was fantastic - we were virtually sunbathing on the lake paddle steamer boat (that's a must-do), but we were lucky. November is going to be chilly, and the weather is likely to be erm.... variable!
The best way to see the old city is on one of the little "trains" that do guided tours. But the city centre isn't huge, so walking around is no problem. We ate in the Métropole's "posh" restaurant ("Le Grand Quai") the first night - excellent service and fantastic food, if a little pricey... but Geneva is never going to be a cheap city. There's a wide choice of restaurants in the city, and the next day we eventually chose a 'traditional Swiss' restaurant (complete with a cheesey fondue!) and were not disappointed.