i was wondering if some people can give me some advice on my upcoming trip to italy next summer. I am going with my wife and baby. I am landing mon morning in rome and thought to stay till thurs night and then take the train to venice for the weekend.

My flight home is the next wednesday so I was thinking of maybe going for an overnight trip to florence is this a good idea?

Also in regards to spg hotels in these places any body have recommendations for rome and florence

I am a spg gold member (not much) and my main concern is a bigger room bec of the baby. So in regards to venice the westin basic room says its 181ft which is tiny and i dont think its wise to rely on a upgrade in the busy season of august.So does it make sense to book the griiti which according to spg the basic room is double the size of 350 sq ft or for 2.5k more a 500 sq ft room.

Also, since i will be in venice for 6 days should i take advantage of cash and pts(available) or 5th free with just points.
thank you so so much for your advice

tzvika01, as your trip is to Italy, the most focused advice will come from the Travel->Italy forum, and I'll move it there. [I'm sending you a PM as to a tip to get the best replies with your Starwood questions.] Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator.

What do you mean by "overnight trip to Florence?" Does that mean staying there for a day and night, then leaving early the next day? Please provide more info so folks can help you. How long are you in Italy? What cities are you going to? More info will net you the same in return. Ciao.

never stayed at the gritti, but been in 2 in venice and 2 in florence. they do not have cookie cutter rooms. got "good ug as plat in all off season. lots of the rooms are very small. have you traveled in europe before? most of the rooms are very small. the bahtrooms miniscule. have to stand outside the shower to bend over and wash one's feet. do not know how cheap spg gold is these days, but do not expect much at a 5*hotel.

they may charge for a crib. may charge big bucks. do not make the mistake of staying at one of the spg out in the boonies.

One thing you're going to need to be aware of with the baby is that a lot of the rooms in Italy have strict occupancy restrictions due to fire codes (and to protect the hotel industry). You may require to be in a category larger room in order to have three people. I found it worked well to write directly to the Starwood properties I was interested in to work with them on rooms/crib.

thank you for you for your advice.

on the spg website it does say crib is free

i plan to fly in on monday to rome and the ntrain up to venice on thurs night and then have flight out next wed afternoon. so i thought that would be too much time in venice and thought to do one day in florence (overnight) but not sure now if it is a good idea because as the wife says the less travel the better

has anybody had experience doing such a trip with a baby (under 1) and how was the experience?
thank you

Have you thought of going Rome-Florence-Venice instead of backtracking to Florence?

i have thought of it but the prob is i need to be in venice for the weekend.

is there enough to do in venice for like 4-5 days including the islands?