Would welcome any comments on recent experiences at the Danieli, and thoughts on my plans for an upcoming stay (this coming July).
Our plan is to cash in some SPG points - we have a standard room reserved at a rate of 8,000 points +$150 per night. This sounds almost too good to be true - is it as good a deal as it seems?
In addition, the hotel is willing to give us a confirmed upgrade to a lagoon view room at a surcharge of 150 Euros per night ... again, this seems like good value to me, but I've never stayed at the property.
Not sure the Danieli qualifies as luxury, to be honest, although the lobby has to be seen. (And seen it is, by throngs of tourists all day.) Never stayed at the Danieli but the standard room I had at the Gritti Palace a few years ago was one of the worst I have ever had anywhere.
That said, they are offering you an excellent rate. And the hotel is a genuine experience, something the like of which you are unlikely ever to stay in again. You will pay 5 x the price to get somewhere better, and nowhere is better located. For a night or so you will be fine, although I wouldn't take the risk of a bad room if it was a special occasion.
Not sure the Danieli qualifies as luxury, to be honest, although the lobby has to be seen. (And seen it is, by throngs of tourists all day.) Never stayed at the Danieli but the standard room I had at the Gritti Palace a few years ago was one of the worst I have ever had anywhere.
Here's a little snippit from tripadvisor, though:
We spent a few miserable nights at the Danieli while stopping through Venice. The hotel was horrible! The complaints could go on forever, needless to say this was by far the dirtiest hotel I have ever stayed at! The staff was rude and unaccommodating, especially at Terrace restaurant which was extremely over priced to begin with. We were stuck in a smoking room when we requested a nonsmoking room. The receptionist claimed that it was a nonsmoking room, but there were two ashtrays in it, it stunk of smoke, and had two burns on the carpet along with numerous other stains. The room stunk, and the plumbing was horrible, our tub would back up, YUCK! The hotel is very poorly managed and disorderly. I can't believe this is a Starwood luxury hotel? The only nice thing I can say about it is the location is good, and the lobby is beautiful. I would not recommend this hotel to anyone, and hope that it is taken off the list of Starwood hotels! We were in room 115, steer clear of it if possible!
Granted there's lots of negative buzz on tripadvisor but I tend to take that with a mountain of salt. In my experience most of the tripadvisor folks seem unaccustomed with luxury hotel prices and tend to book into the cheapest room they can get. What I've seen on flyertalk is folks who tend to say that if you book into the right room category and go in with the right expectations it can be a nice stay. That's why I'm trying to get a sense here of whether what I've booked is actually decent value for the quality of the property. If people think this is better suited to the Starwood thread, no offence taken if mods want to move this there ...
Thanks,
J.
Last edited by jkirk; Feb 25, 08 at 1:32 pm.
Reason: typo
I actually modified my post above after you quoted it, having given some consideration to the small number of SPG points they wanted and how much it would cost you to stay somewhere else!
Granted there's lots of negative buzz on tripadvisor but I tend to take that with a mountain of salt. In my experience most of the tripadvisor folks seem unaccustomed with luxury hotel prices and tend to book into the cheapest room they can get. What I've seen on flyertalk is folks who tend to say that if you book into the right room category and go in with the right expectations it can be a nice stay. That's why I'm trying to get a sense here of whether what I've booked is actually decent value for the quality of the property. If people think this is better suited to the Starwood threat, no offence taken if mods want to move this there ...
Thanks,
J.
In this instance, the TripAdvisor folks are right. Starwood's Danieli and Gritti are not in the luxury league. They are resting on the old Ciga laurels of yesteryear. The place to stay now is Il Palazzo at the Bauer, which is more like the Gritti used to be way back when.
In this instance, the TripAdvisor folks are right. Starwood's Danieli and Gritti are not in the luxury league. They are resting on the old Ciga laurels of yesteryear. The place to stay now is Il Palazzo at the Bauer, which is more like the Gritti used to be way back when.
Right - my question wasn't, however, whether the Danieli is currently the most luxe property in town ... clearly it's not. Mine was more a question of whether the rate/upgrade combination represents good *value*.
On my dates, I'm seeing a standard room at Il Palazzo for 484 Euros, roughly double what I'm paying for a grand deluxe lagoon view at the Danieli. The cheapest view room I'm seeing is in excess of 700 Euros.
Last edited by jkirk; Feb 25, 08 at 1:32 pm.
Reason: typo
In this instance, the TripAdvisor folks are right. Starwood's Danieli and Gritti are not in the luxury league. They are resting on the old Ciga laurels of yesteryear. The place to stay now is Il Palazzo at the Bauer, which is more like the Gritti used to be way back when.
2 or 3 years ago we spent a few nights at Il Palazzo at the Bauer at the beginning of a trip to the area. After leaving Venice for another city, we returned and spent our last night at the Danieli before heading back to the airport.
Service was better, with a much warmer front desk/concierge at Il Palazzo. (Unless we were being treated better at Il Palazzo given the longer booking via FHR in a higher category room.) Rooms, however, were comparable. The room at Il Palazzo was a bit more opulent, while the room at the Danieli was a bit fresher.
Right - my question wasn't however, whether the Danieli is currently the most luxe property in town ... clearly it's not. Mine was more a question of whether the rate/upgrade combination represents good *value*.
On my dates, I'm seeing a standard room at Il Palazzo for 484 Euros, roughly double what I'm paying for a grand deluxe lagoon view at the Danieli. The cheapest view room I'm seeing is in excess of 700 Euros.
Your rate sounds like very good value actually. Congratulations! Danieli is a good hotel for VCE- while others are right, there are nicer, for your rate I would say you have done very well.
Right - my question wasn't, however, whether the Danieli is currently the most luxe property in town ... clearly it's not. Mine was more a question of whether the rate/upgrade combination represents good *value*.
On my dates, I'm seeing a standard room at Il Palazzo for 484 Euros, roughly double what I'm paying for a grand deluxe lagoon view at the Danieli. The cheapest view room I'm seeing is in excess of 700 Euros.
Not sure how a bad hotel can ever represent good value.
Not sure how a bad hotel can ever represent good value.
Venice has no truly great hotels, so you are simply paying for degrees of decency!
There are a number of upscale properties, and any of them can probably offer you 2-3 of the following: good location, good room, good view, good service, historic property ....
Danieli scores on location and historic property, with a bonus point for view if you're facing the right way.
