Originally Posted by Hubertus

I guess you are talking about the former CIGA, then Starwood properties on the Lido.

Excelsior is a brick moresque building which fits with the venetian heritage.
I have been to the beach club a couple of times. The daily fee to rent a beach tent for the day is scary beyond imagination but the fin-de-siècle atmosphere is priceless. The hotel has been (and still is) the playground of directors/actors/starlets during the Venice Film Festival.
I have not ventured much inside the hotel, so I do not have a real opinion. It may look a little ran down but it's a place with a huge charisma which, in my opinion is not fully optimized, and if FS actually works as good as they did with the Florence property then this is going to be a masterpiece.

Also the Des Bains has a very big potential and is a slice of history. BTW, it is the set of Visconti's "Morte a Venezia". Ok, actually not very appealing to relaunch a hotel.....