Marriott Bonvoy hotels in Venice [Master Thread]
Jul 28, 2016, 12:16 am
#212
Join Date: Jun 2011
Posts: 794
I'm going to Venice thanks to the recent BA Club World sale. Will be there during the Carnival festival. Anyway, I'm narrowing down to two choices
Gritti Palace vs. Hotel Danieli.
Will be using Citi prestige 4th night free + SPG Luxury Privileges rate + SPG Plat suite upgrade. The rate includes full breakfast & $100 food credit.
The price difference between Gritti Palace and Danieli is about 350 Euro. Is the Gritti Palace 350 Euro better than the Danieli? Currently have the Danieli booked, but can easily switch over.
For those who've been to both, which is better for
Breakfast?
Dinner?
Basic room?
Basic suite?
Concierge?
Spa?
Any space where I can enjoy a few glasses of wine and just relax?
Will try to get into osteria francescana in this trip, so hopefully the concierge can do something about it. Not sure if I want to stay in Modena overnight though.
TIA
Gritti Palace vs. Hotel Danieli.
Will be using Citi prestige 4th night free + SPG Luxury Privileges rate + SPG Plat suite upgrade. The rate includes full breakfast & $100 food credit.
The price difference between Gritti Palace and Danieli is about 350 Euro. Is the Gritti Palace 350 Euro better than the Danieli? Currently have the Danieli booked, but can easily switch over.
For those who've been to both, which is better for
Breakfast?
Dinner?
Basic room?
Basic suite?
Concierge?
Spa?
Any space where I can enjoy a few glasses of wine and just relax?
Will try to get into osteria francescana in this trip, so hopefully the concierge can do something about it. Not sure if I want to stay in Modena overnight though.
TIA
Sep 12, 2016, 11:04 am
#213
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Join Date: Feb 2002
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As others have said - Venice Italy is a cornucopia for Starwood hotels. Maybe there is no other place on earth with so many good hotels available with the Starwood brand.
My wife and I had a fantastic stay in Venice last month. It was a short stay - 3 nights - but was such a unique experience!
We stayed at the Gritti, but visited the Danielli and the Westin. (Not the St. Regis). Thoughts follow:
Gritti:
Intimate, precious, quiet, elegant, gracious. Breakfast on the terrace is unbelievable. The concierge desk is very useful. The décor is Venice style and very decadent. We used points, and SNAs, ended up in a Senestiere Suite facing the side canal. Though I tried - there was no talking them into a canal room or even a room on the square (trust me, I've practiced the spiel for years). In any case we really enjoyed the location. The room on the side canal was interesting. If we leaned out the window we had a great view down the canal, or to the grand canal. Bang and Olufsen stereo. Great bathroom, killer toiletries, two bathrobes. Closet was small but sufficed.
Danielli:
We didn't see any rooms, just the public areas including the roof terrace where we went for an expensive drink. The public spaces are certainly heads-and-shoulders more extravagant compared to the Gritti. The roof terrace is quite impressive. As others have said - a busier alternative.
Westin:
When I was booking, I thought: "I don't want to go to Venice and stay in a Westin...". In hindsight I certainly feel differently. While this hotel is branded a Westin (and it is definatly larger than the Danielle or Gritti) - it is still a beautiful hotel. The big upside here is that there are many, many rooms with direct or indirect Grand Canal views. Including many with terraces, as others have noted. Honestly, in hindsight, I might have booked here. It seems to have the most available rooms for upgrades.
In summary - you can't lose. Choose as you wish!
Off the hotel topics, some other advice:
We took a water bus (the cheap service) in from the airport. While it met my bargain goals - it was really slow. It was interesting, but after a long travel experience, it was a bit tedious. And - after The $110 charge for a private taxi was hard to swallow. But we did it on the way back to the airport.
Even though we had a favorable exchange rate - Venice was still expensive. be prepared! Look out for restaurants with "cover charges" and with "mandatory service".
Venice is filled with incredible boutiques for shopping. If you are going with your wife - leave a lot of extra luggage space and budget space. We spent a lot of time browsing shops (or she did, at least) and there were many more things I really wish we could have bought. One could stock up on gifts for years.
My wife and I had a fantastic stay in Venice last month. It was a short stay - 3 nights - but was such a unique experience!
We stayed at the Gritti, but visited the Danielli and the Westin. (Not the St. Regis). Thoughts follow:
Gritti:
Intimate, precious, quiet, elegant, gracious. Breakfast on the terrace is unbelievable. The concierge desk is very useful. The décor is Venice style and very decadent. We used points, and SNAs, ended up in a Senestiere Suite facing the side canal. Though I tried - there was no talking them into a canal room or even a room on the square (trust me, I've practiced the spiel for years). In any case we really enjoyed the location. The room on the side canal was interesting. If we leaned out the window we had a great view down the canal, or to the grand canal. Bang and Olufsen stereo. Great bathroom, killer toiletries, two bathrobes. Closet was small but sufficed.
Danielli:
We didn't see any rooms, just the public areas including the roof terrace where we went for an expensive drink. The public spaces are certainly heads-and-shoulders more extravagant compared to the Gritti. The roof terrace is quite impressive. As others have said - a busier alternative.
Westin:
When I was booking, I thought: "I don't want to go to Venice and stay in a Westin...". In hindsight I certainly feel differently. While this hotel is branded a Westin (and it is definatly larger than the Danielle or Gritti) - it is still a beautiful hotel. The big upside here is that there are many, many rooms with direct or indirect Grand Canal views. Including many with terraces, as others have noted. Honestly, in hindsight, I might have booked here. It seems to have the most available rooms for upgrades.
In summary - you can't lose. Choose as you wish!
Off the hotel topics, some other advice:
We took a water bus (the cheap service) in from the airport. While it met my bargain goals - it was really slow. It was interesting, but after a long travel experience, it was a bit tedious. And - after The $110 charge for a private taxi was hard to swallow. But we did it on the way back to the airport.
Even though we had a favorable exchange rate - Venice was still expensive. be prepared! Look out for restaurants with "cover charges" and with "mandatory service".
Venice is filled with incredible boutiques for shopping. If you are going with your wife - leave a lot of extra luggage space and budget space. We spent a lot of time browsing shops (or she did, at least) and there were many more things I really wish we could have bought. One could stock up on gifts for years.
We ended up staying at the Westin. I thought it was fine, if pricey (but Venice is outrageous in general). As a Gold, breakfast wasn't included, and we didn't get it (we looked at the buffet and were not impressed), particularly for 38 Euro /pp. The room was a deluxe but was pretty sizable for a euro room, classically decorated, nice bathroom. They gave us a bottle of prosecco for my mother in law's birthday (and a chocolate cake) so very nice touch. The Gold drink for two would've blown well through the 15 euro max for a single drink but they happily gave us our choice of two drinks and took the card.
One "hint", I guess, is that they will give you one coffee (espresso/cappuccino) per person per day comp'd, you call and order it and they bring it, in exchange for a card near the mini-bar. they don't advertise that feature, I happened upon it.
Another nice feature is that unlike the Danieli, it is ON the canal, including the bar, dock, an open area which you can sit at, which is fantastic, and the restaurant. So plenty of opportunity to enjoy the canal view without being relieved of an extra 500-1000 euro a night.
Sep 12, 2016, 12:28 pm
#214
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: ATL
Programs: SPG, DL
Posts: 307
Another nice feature is that unlike the Danieli, it is ON the canal, including the bar, dock, an open area which you can sit at, which is fantastic, and the restaurant. So plenty of opportunity to enjoy the canal view without being relieved of an extra 500-1000 euro a night.
We spent 2 nights in the Danieli last month, our SNA cleared into a canalfront suite with balcony (was 2 floors directly below the breakfast/bar on the top floor). The suite was absolutely amazing--exact same view as the restaurant everyone raves about for breakfast, except private!
As for Gritti vs. Danieli, you're more likely to get upgraded to a room with a view at Danieli--they just have more of them. Venice itself is absolutely packed with tourists. Danieli is right in the heart of this, whereas Gritti is slightly more secluded in the sense of not having a major walkway right in front of it.
We paid about $75/night more for Danieli than Westin, which was easily worth it. Gritti was almost $500/night more. Absolutely not worth it, imho. On points, just depends on what you want. I'd consider both Gritti and Danieli on points, although probably would just pay for Danieli because point value isn't great (1.8cpp when we stayed). Gritti seems to always exceed 3cpp.
Sep 12, 2016, 3:38 pm
#215
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Location: Southern California, USA
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Posts: 8,764
I'm going to Venice thanks to the recent BA Club World sale. Will be there during the Carnival festival. Anyway, I'm narrowing down to two choices
Gritti Palace vs. Hotel Danieli.
Will be using Citi prestige 4th night free + SPG Luxury Privileges rate + SPG Plat suite upgrade. The rate includes full breakfast & $100 food credit.
Will try to get into osteria francescana in this trip, so hopefully the concierge can do something about it. Not sure if I want to stay in Modena overnight though.
TIA
Gritti Palace vs. Hotel Danieli.
Will be using Citi prestige 4th night free + SPG Luxury Privileges rate + SPG Plat suite upgrade. The rate includes full breakfast & $100 food credit.
Will try to get into osteria francescana in this trip, so hopefully the concierge can do something about it. Not sure if I want to stay in Modena overnight though.
TIA
We decided against a night away in Modena to get into Osteria Francescana, much as we are dying to try it, too. Instead, we used the Grittie concierge and hired a private car and driver to take us to Rubano for dinner at fellow 3 star and world top 30-40 Le Calandre...just an hour's drive away.
Oct 19, 2016, 10:21 am
#216
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So we loved our stay at the Gritti. The review is here:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/luxur...l#post27349332
We also had lunch at the Aman and toured the property with the GM/AGM (not sure!). It certainly is the most beautiful property in Venice. But the service and food/beverage standard at the Gritti easily was comparable to that of the Aman, FWIW. I'm sure my SPG Plat Ambassador status was a factor, to be sure. But that's the whole point for a hotel loyalty program.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/luxur...l#post27349332
We also had lunch at the Aman and toured the property with the GM/AGM (not sure!). It certainly is the most beautiful property in Venice. But the service and food/beverage standard at the Gritti easily was comparable to that of the Aman, FWIW. I'm sure my SPG Plat Ambassador status was a factor, to be sure. But that's the whole point for a hotel loyalty program.
Oct 19, 2016, 6:16 pm
#217
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: La Jolla, CA
Programs: Marriott Ambassador, Lifetime Titanium, Delta Plat, Hilton Diamond , Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 2,615
Great review bhrubin.
Our son and his wife will be visiting Venice in December. They have most nights booked at PalazzinaG with a final night at the Danieli. I am very excited to hear their trip report on PallazinaG. We've had wonderful stays at both Gritti and Danieli but our heart belongs to the Danieli. So far they have always treated us well.
Our son and his wife will be visiting Venice in December. They have most nights booked at PalazzinaG with a final night at the Danieli. I am very excited to hear their trip report on PallazinaG. We've had wonderful stays at both Gritti and Danieli but our heart belongs to the Danieli. So far they have always treated us well.
Oct 19, 2016, 6:25 pm
#218
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Great review bhrubin.
Our son and his wife will be visiting Venice in December. They have most nights booked at PalazzinaG with a final night at the Danieli. I am very excited to hear their trip report on PallazinaG. We've had wonderful stays at both Gritti and Danieli but our heart belongs to the Danieli. So far they have always treated us well.
Our son and his wife will be visiting Venice in December. They have most nights booked at PalazzinaG with a final night at the Danieli. I am very excited to hear their trip report on PallazinaG. We've had wonderful stays at both Gritti and Danieli but our heart belongs to the Danieli. So far they have always treated us well.
Last edited by bhrubin; Oct 19, 2016 at 6:53 pm
Dec 7, 2016, 5:25 am
#219
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Sydney, Australia
Programs: HH Diamond, Marriott Titanium/LTG, IHG Platinum
Posts: 1,921
That brings me to a few other questions; my visit to Venice is likely to be in February - weather will be nice and cold, tourist crowds will be lower, is it really worth visiting at this time (like are restaurants/cafes mostly open)? And if occupancy is lower than normal, am I expected to get a nicer upgrade?
I will likely book a Venetian Room at the Gritti, so if I might get a suite upgrade there - I will book now
Last time we stayed at the Danieli and it was right in the middle of July when it was like tourist-mecca. Grand hotel but I hear the Gritti might be just a little nicer
Last edited by alanslegal; Dec 7, 2016 at 5:41 am
Jan 25, 2017, 3:11 pm
#220
Join Date: Jun 2011
Posts: 794
No luck with osteria francescana.
Got into Enoteca Pinchiorri in florence with local hotel concierge there though. Seems easy to get in.
Still undecided which option to pick. Gritti appears to be selling out. They only have rooms/suites at 1700 Euro/night left. Not sure how that affects the upgrade chance. Danieli still has a lot of suites and rooms with view left.
Got into Enoteca Pinchiorri in florence with local hotel concierge there though. Seems easy to get in.
Still undecided which option to pick. Gritti appears to be selling out. They only have rooms/suites at 1700 Euro/night left. Not sure how that affects the upgrade chance. Danieli still has a lot of suites and rooms with view left.
Oct 5, 2017, 4:57 am
#221
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Canada
Programs: Star Alliance G*, Marriott Bonvoy Titanium,
Posts: 3,585
Venice : affordable point stay
We had an SPG points stay @ the new Four Points in Mestre last month. I recommend this property for:
- escape from the crowds of tourists in Venice (hourly trains to Venice cost 1.25 Euros);
- decent buffet breakfast (for Plats).
I was aghast to discover the best available rates at this property are now 172 Euros! That's ridiculous. You can find affordable 3-star hotels in Venice for 1/2 that. My advice? Book (early) on points.
- escape from the crowds of tourists in Venice (hourly trains to Venice cost 1.25 Euros);
- decent buffet breakfast (for Plats).
I was aghast to discover the best available rates at this property are now 172 Euros! That's ridiculous. You can find affordable 3-star hotels in Venice for 1/2 that. My advice? Book (early) on points.
Oct 5, 2017, 5:18 pm
#222
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: San Francisco
Programs: Marriott Titanium, HH Diamond, A3-Gold
Posts: 204
We had an SPG points stay @ the new Four Points in Mestre last month. I recommend this property for:
- escape from the crowds of tourists in Venice (hourly trains to Venice cost 1.25 Euros);
- decent buffet breakfast (for Plats).
I was aghast to discover the best available rates at this property are now 172 Euros! That's ridiculous. You can find affordable 3-star hotels in Venice for 1/2 that. My advice? Book (early) on points.
- escape from the crowds of tourists in Venice (hourly trains to Venice cost 1.25 Euros);
- decent buffet breakfast (for Plats).
I was aghast to discover the best available rates at this property are now 172 Euros! That's ridiculous. You can find affordable 3-star hotels in Venice for 1/2 that. My advice? Book (early) on points.
I'm staying next month for 56 Euros (4K free/2K +$35 are also available).
Sep 9, 2018, 9:02 am
#223
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I will be heading to Venice in 3 weeks and have 2 nights there. I booked the Gritti for the first night on points (35K SPG) and have both the Gritti and the Danieli booked for the second night for 37,750 and 31,500 SPG pts respectively. Still waiting for my Ambassador to confirm how many points I get back for the last 2 reservations.
This may be my only opportunity to be able to afford these properties (cat 7 until the end of the year). Does it make sense to spend one night at each? According to Google Maps, it's only an 11 min walk between the properties.
TIA
This may be my only opportunity to be able to afford these properties (cat 7 until the end of the year). Does it make sense to spend one night at each? According to Google Maps, it's only an 11 min walk between the properties.
TIA
Sep 9, 2018, 9:28 am
#224
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Germany, Austria
Programs: IHG Diamond Ambassador, ALL Silver,, Miles&More
Posts: 1,122
I will be heading to Venice in 3 weeks and have 2 nights there. I booked the Gritti for the first night on points (35K SPG) and have both the Gritti and the Danieli booked for the second night for 37,750 and 31,500 SPG pts respectively. Still waiting for my Ambassador to confirm how many points I get back for the last 2 reservations.
This may be my only opportunity to be able to afford these properties (cat 7 until the end of the year). Does it make sense to spend one night at each? According to Google Maps, it's only an 11 min walk between the properties.
TIA
This may be my only opportunity to be able to afford these properties (cat 7 until the end of the year). Does it make sense to spend one night at each? According to Google Maps, it's only an 11 min walk between the properties.
TIA
Sep 9, 2018, 10:28 am
#225
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Location: Southern California, USA
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I will be heading to Venice in 3 weeks and have 2 nights there. I booked the Gritti for the first night on points (35K SPG) and have both the Gritti and the Danieli booked for the second night for 37,750 and 31,500 SPG pts respectively. Still waiting for my Ambassador to confirm how many points I get back for the last 2 reservations.
This may be my only opportunity to be able to afford these properties (cat 7 until the end of the year). Does it make sense to spend one night at each? According to Google Maps, it's only an 11 min walk between the properties.
TIA
This may be my only opportunity to be able to afford these properties (cat 7 until the end of the year). Does it make sense to spend one night at each? According to Google Maps, it's only an 11 min walk between the properties.
TIA
We stayed 4 nights at the Gritti and had a spectacular stay. We particularly enjoyed having sundowners on the canalfront Riva Bar every night—and its canalfront restaurant also has a Michelin star. We also had a wonderful lunch at the Danieli’s lovely rooftop outdoor terrace restaurant looking onto the Grand Canal. So you can enjoy both while staying at one, anyway.
I agree that the Gritti’s location is a lot less hectic and less touristy than the Danieli’s.
As an Ambassador level guest, assuming it’s not sold out, you are likely to also be upgraded beyond the award room category you’ve booked—even at the much smaller Gritti. We were upgraded on an award stay of 4 nights at the Gritti to the Dalmatia Suite.
We thought the Gritti was the city’s best hotel; we liked it even more than the vaunted Aman Grand Canal Venice property that we also toured and at which we also enjoyed a lovely lunch. I can’t recommend the Gritti enough. Here’s my Expert Review from Oct 2016 was posted to the Luxury Forum:
https://www.flyertalk.com/hotel-revi...e-upgrade-1632
Last edited by bhrubin; Sep 9, 2018 at 10:34 am