Ever long for the Sheraton JFK, Four Points Indianapolis or Sheraton South Portland (pre-renovation) while in the charm of The Veneto? The Sheraton Padova is your answer!
When I was researching FT for information about hotels in Northern Italy I found very little about this hotel, so I thought I’d provide some details on my experience in the hope of sparing others from a similar plight.
I spent a night here last week, as I thought it would be a decent place with easy proximity to the Venice Airport for a morning flight. I was wrong on both counts. Admittedly, my perspective is a little skewed because I came from four nights at Villa Cipriani in Asolo and a night at the Westin Palace in Milan, but I do my share of Sheratons around the world, so I think I was managing my expectations reasonably well.
I’m SPG Platinum and I was upgraded to a two-room suite on the top floor of the hotel, which was ready for me upon arrival. Nice so far, huh!? Well. . .
Close your eyes and think back to those wild college days when you’d wake up in the morning after a huge party at your house. Remember that lingering smell of staleness and cigarette butts? Welcome to my room at the Sheraton Padova. I’ve never in my life stayed in a room, anywhere, that smelled this bad. My first thought was to not even open my suitcase so that all my clothes wouldn’t absorb the overwhelming stench of smoke. I immediately called down to the front desk and asked if I could be moved to a non-smoking room as I had requested.
“This is Italy, sir, not America – everyone smokes. We do not have non-smoking rooms.” Silly me. “As a Starwood VIP we have given you one of our very best rooms.”
After hanging up the phone and suppressing the gag reflex from the odor, I began to absorb the décor:
-- Hot pink, with a “salmon-ish” cast, wallpapered walls.
-- Mint green suede sofas with a matching dining table, trimmed in mint green suede with a glass top. Italian post-modern, circa late 1970’s.
-- Four round, fat oversized dining chairs. Remember the big, oversized half-circled chairs that were typically covered in vinyl? (Well these were, you guessed it. . . mint green suede.)
-- Chrome swag lamp, standing in the corner of the room with a sweeping arm high into the air, positioning a small chrome bowl lamp over the center of the table. I think the Partridge Family had one of these.
-- Mauve carpet throughout. The color of a suit Don Johnson MUST have worn in Miami Vice. This was the most recent addition to the room.
-- Bathroom with wall-to-wall (and ceiling) dark chocolate brown swirled 24” x 24” tile. Imagine what it might look like sitting inside a half-eaten pint of Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Fudge Brownie Ice Cream. (I thought of a couple more graphic analogies, but I am a moderator, after all.)
-- Full mirrored shower
(so you don’t miss any of those hard-to-reach spots??)
Ordered dinner from Room Service. I know, I know . . . what was I thinking? Positively awful – in every respect. Hot items were cold. Cold items were warm. Nothing tasted good. Nastiest Caesar Salad I’ve ever sampled. Opened the very young Italian Merlot that was provided as a Platinum welcome gift – undrinkable. And I drink, and enjoy, a lot of inexpensive Italian wines.
Bed was hard as a rock with sheet surface to match – even for Italy.
Drive to the airport in the morning (~25 miles), while very easy on one freeway, took almost 2 HOURS. Don’t stay here merely for proximity to the Venice airport. If you are otherwise inclined to stay at the Villa Cipriani in Asolo, you’ll enjoy the stay much more and have a much easier drive into the airport coming at it from that side of Venice.
There were some positive things:
-- Other than the horrific smell of the room, it appeared clean. The bathroom was very clean and well kept.
-- They offer a regular shuttle into the center of the old town of Padova, which we took in for a few hours in the evening. The center of town is a fun place to stroll around and shop, eat and see the sites. A very pretty, busy center with interesting character. This was definitely the highlight of our stop in Padova.
-- My SPG status was recognized with a big suite on the top floor and a note & gift of the awful wine from the GM. I have to say that I kept wondering, if this is as GOOD as it gets (“we have given you one of our best rooms”), what must the others be like??
All-in-all, were it not for the horrible smell, I suppose this hotel would have just been another old, outdated Sheraton with funky old Italian furnishings, bad food and mediocre service that is badly in need of either massive renovation or demolition. From my experience, I recommend the latter.
This hotel is an embarrassment to Starwood. I can now understand why the folks up the hill at the Hotel Villa Cipriani in Asolo were reportedly so dismayed at being flagged a Sheraton. If this nearby hotel provides their perspective on Sheraton, it’s no wonder they’re embarrassed.