Hotel Des Bains, Venice left Starwood 11/1/2008 [Master Thread]

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i searched the forum and there weren't other threads on this hotel, so i started a new one.

i am going to add to this later, but i just wanted to get some brief thoughts out for those traveling to venice.

upon arriving, mr. Gabriele Gneri, the front office manager of the Westin Excelsior Lido and the Des Bains greeted me. he told me that the hotel was monitoring the progress of my flight (i left on blackout thursday). mr. gneri waited for me to complete the paperwork and personally escorted me to my room. the room had a beautiful assortment of fruit and a great bottle of prosecco (sparkling white wine).

my parents were on the same trip. we had a large sitting room that joined two bedrooms. the room had a gargantuan terrace, the only terrace on the front of the hotel facing the ocean. the room was absolutely magnificent. the terrace had about eight full lounge chairs, several sitting chairs, a couple of tables, and an umbrella in case the sun was too much.

let's just say that i don't think i have ever been so warmly greeted at a hotel in my entire life. this would be a theme throughout the stay. the service from the concierges, the front office, the pool staff, the restaurant staff, the roomservice staff, the housekeeping staff, etc. were all excellent, professional, friendly, and took great pride in their their hotel and their work.

the hotel was constructed in 1900 and was in pristine shape. unlike a recent stay at the royal hawaiian (another old hotel), there was no evidence of peeling wallpaper and chipped doors. this hotel was in magnificent shape. the pool is amazing/huge/beautiful. there is a connecting kids pool with a small bridge over the water connecting the two pools. there are several clay tennis courts.

the buffet breakfast was very nice and the coffee was great.

upon checking out, mr. gneri came to wish me well. again, he is very proud of this hotel and was beeming every time i met him. this is a man that loves his job.

in addition to the initial amenity i received (mentioned above), within a half hour of arrival, a second bottle of wine with a delicious box of cookies arrived. then, the evening before my departure i arrived home from dinner to find a beautiful bowl of fruit in my room to enjoy on the terrace.

what a great stay. A++++++

i will write more later.

[This message has been edited by fly co to see the yanks (edited 08-20-2003).]
I have booked a stay at this property for October. Let's hope your wonderful experience can be duplicated!!
Quote:
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by ac777:
I have booked a stay at this property for October. Let's hope your wonderful experience can be duplicated!!</font>
if you have any questions, email me.
contacts: GM is leone jannuzzi (didn't meet him)

resident manager: charles-eric merchie, [email protected] (didn't meet him)

front office manager: gabriele gneri, [email protected] (met him, he's great!)

edited to add:

credit office: debora evans, [email protected] (faxed me a copy of my mother's bill)

[This message has been edited by fly co to see the yanks (edited 09-03-2003).]
couple of other points:

my mother lost her copy of the final bill. i emailed the front office manager yesterday (after business hours in italy). when i came into the office today, the bill was sitting on my fax machine.

upon reviewing her bill, i noticed the charges for several local calls. knowing the angst on flyertalk regarding local phone charges, i thought it might be informative to post what the Des Bains charges. the calls were each several minutes long to local numbers: E0.21, E0.14, E0.14.

not bad, less than a half of one euro for three local calls.

[This message has been edited by fly co to see the yanks (edited 09-03-2003).]
Very nice indeed. Thank you. Venice is always difficult when booking in my mind. The prices test the mind. Nice to know something else is available. And the service sounds great. I'll bookmark this Hotel for future use. We will be with my wife's parents. Regards
Quote:
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by RTWSTARALLIANCE:
Very nice indeed. Thank you. Venice is always difficult when booking in my mind. The prices test the mind. Nice to know something else is available. And the service sounds great. I'll bookmark this Hotel for future use. We will be with my wife's parents. Regards</font>
after this visit, i will never stay in venice-proper again. it's just too easy to get from the Lido to Venice and the Lido is so beautiful and relaxing (beach, pool, restaurants, etc.).

[This message has been edited by fly co to see the yanks (edited 09-03-2003).]
Glad that you had a great trip. I unfortunately booked a point-stay 11 months ago at the Gritti Palace. The room description sounded incredible and was hoping for an upgrade due to Platinum Status - didn't know about the film festival.

I found the staff to be completely unattentive. Used 40,000 points for a two-night stay in the worst room in the entire hotel, I'm sure. The manager's only response was "the paying guests" get the nicer rooms.

Also, while not completely in the concierge's control, my unpleasant stay was topped off by the concierge convincing me to use the hotel shuttle to the airport for 60 Euro instead of the 80 Euro for a water taxi. I was told to arrive at 9 a.m. sharp or else I wouldn't make it to the airport when I should be there. I was there at 8:45 but their shuttle didn't show up. I tried to discuss it calmly with the concierge but he basically dismissed me - ultimateley, their shuttle arrived at 9:20 even though they led me to believe that they were putting me in a private taxi at their own expense (which just happened to stop at all of the other Starwood properties after they picked me up).

The Westin Excelsior in Florence on the other hand was incredible. I'm glad to know that there are other alternatives to the Gritti Palace in Venice.

[This message has been edited by bigjim (edited 09-03-2003).]
We also had a negative experience at the Gritti with the concierge staff. I will never ever use the concierge staff again at the "Palace". Not only does the Hotel try and depart you and your money so does the staff.
i think this thread is about the Des Bains.

there are other existing threads on the Gritti, etc. (the key word being "other").

[This message has been edited by fly co to see the yanks (edited 09-04-2003).]
Quote:
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by fly co to see the yanks:
i think this thread is about the Des Bains.

there are other existing threads on the Gritti, etc. (the key word being "other").

[This message has been edited by fly co to see the yanks (edited 09-04-2003).]
</font>
Sorry to intrude on your thread; however, I was glad to know that there was perhaps a decent Starwood Hotel in Venice after all.


Quote:
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by bigjim:
Sorry to intrude on your thread;</font>
don't sweat it. it just seemed like we were swerving off course a bit, particularly given the Topic title.

[This message has been edited by fly co to see the yanks (edited 09-05-2003).]
Glad to hear those good comments. I also had a wonderful stay in July using Cash and points award. I did not get a room as large as mentioned but a nice junior suite on the top floor looking on the ocean.

Also got wine, cookies, fruits. etc.. The arrival was also very professionnal having somebody showing me the room etc.. At check out I was given a nice book relating the story of the golden years of this hotel.

They have a convenient shuttle bus going to the Westin dock to connect with their fleet of shuttle boat.

To me staying at the Lido seemed much better than staying in the noisy and crowdy Venice environment. It is quiet at night and there is plenty of restaurants within walking distance of the hotel. As mentioned the Shuttle service provide ample opportunities to travel frequently (even late at night) to Venice.

Yes the hotel would need some renovation but you have to consider that you pay less than in other Starwood hotel in Venice. Also the entire staff really "try harder" because I think they are aware of this situation and also that customers loyal to Starwood have multiple choices in Venice. For me feeling this attitude really made a difference.

I certainbly recommend this Hotel and would stay there again on a next trip.

Hotel Des Bains - Venice (Master Thread)
I am looking at staying at the Hotel Des Bains Venice for 3 nights to visit Venice. It will be my wife and two boys. Staying on points and this fits my balance for 2 rooms... Any comments on the hotel, transportation, travel from the train station to the hotel, cost of meals and other things in the hotel, mid priced restaurants in the area.

Thank you in advance...
This hotel is on the island of Lido, about a 20 min water taxi ride from the city of venice, right across the street from the beach in lido (on the adriatic sea). There is a free boat every hour that goes from the sheratons in lido to venice, takes about 30 mins. This boat leaves from the dock at The Westin Excelsior, about a 5 min drive from the des baines, but there is a free shuttle van from the des baines hotel to the westin, sync'd up on schedule with when the boat leaves from the westin.

when you get into the train station, you can probably walk to the spot near san marco piazza (or to the docks at any of the sheraton properties in venice) where the sheraton boat leaves from and just take the spg boat from there (but you are supposed to be a registered guest and they give u these passes when u check in (though they never actually asked for mine)). these boats go once an hour. otherwise, a water taxi from the mainland venice will cost you about 80 euro. if you get in late at night, the sheraton boat wont be running (i think the last one is just past midnight). from the train station in venice, there is public transportation (including the night ferry) that goes from venice to lido by public ferry and then when u get to the dock in lido (its not the private westin dock, but a main dock), you can either walk to des baines (about 1 mile) or take a quick cab.

The hotel was very nice, i had a wonderful weekend, they upgraded me to a nice jr suite with an ocean view(im platinum on spg). the concierge was also very very helpful. i didnt eat in the hotel or in lido at all, but walking from the main dock on the island to the hotel, i saw a bunch of restaurants that looked reasonable. the hotel is very nice, but not as nice as the westin excelsior in lido. the grounds are also nice, but the pool was closed when i was there (in may), and i found out at the end of the weekend that you can use the pool and facilities at the westin excelsior if you want.

personally, i liked staying in lido as venice is super crowded and it was a nice break from the craziness. a quick recomendation, try to be on the ferry coming to venice during sunset, its unbelievably beautiful. had taken an afternoon nap then headed back to venice in the evening and got a very pleasant view from the boat.

enjoy the trip!

Quote: I am looking at staying at the Hotel Des Bains Venice for 3 nights to visit Venice. It will be my wife and two boys. Staying on points and this fits my balance for 2 rooms... Any comments on the hotel, transportation, travel from the train station to the hotel, cost of meals and other things in the hotel, mid priced restaurants in the area.

Thank you in advance...