lianaks

Please tell me the experience you have at this hotel, pro and con. We plan to stay there in May. How the room, and services, places to eat near by and how easy or difficult to go sight seeing, etc.

LS.

slawecki

we walked through last week. i have stayed at about 10-20 "world class resorts" they all look the same, this place looks exactly like one, down to the conference room set up for the big company. there are not many places to eat in the immediate area. the only sights in the immediate area are on the other side of the lagoon.

the boat ride to venice only takes about 30 min with walking to. there ine finds the sights and foods of venice.

bdemaria

There is a very lengthy thread devoted to the property in the Hilton thread.

Perche

I'd seriously make sure you avoid it. It's on the island of Giudecca, which while technically a part of Venice, is an island across a long canal. I like to stay on the Giudecca because it's far away from the crowds of Venice, but I live in Venice for about a third of the year, and don't need to be around the sites.. There are two old churches to visit, one or two average restaurants, one main street, and that's it. The hotel is way at the end of the Giudecca, close to where the large and super large ocean liners dock. You won't be walking out of the hotel and looking across at beautiful Venice, instead, you will probably be looking at the massive hull of an ocean liner blocking your view. If you look to the left towards the mainland, you'll be looking at factories spewing smoke. Although it is safe, at night if you leave the main canal side street you won't feel safe. And in any case, there is nothing there.

To do anything that people go to Venice to do, you will have to take their shuttle to Venice, and it only runs to a certain time. Otherwise, you'll have to take the vaporetto back and forth to San Marco, or anywhere that you would want to go to see in Venice. That's 6.50 Euros each way, or 26 Euros round trip for two people, or more than $30.

Once there, it's kind of a schlep to go to Venice, where the restaurants, concerts, etc. are. So, unless you are energetic, you'll probably just wind up going to your room rather than making the commute.

The hotel is fine, just like any other upscale Hilton in the United States. That's part of the problem. Once inside you wouldn't really notice that you were in Italy, much less in Venice. Venice is a city of small, ancient buildings. The Molino Stucky looks like someone picked up the San Francisco Hilton and moved it to the Giudecca. I stayed on the Giudecca in December over the holidays. A few times I walked over there to get a drink (a martini is about $20 dollars U.S.). All of the Christmas carols that were piped into the hotel lobby were in English. Listening to Barry Manilow singing songs about Christmas in New York's Central Park Venice isn't exactly a Venetian experience.

The place is clean, well maintained, luxurious, and if that's what you want, you'll get it. But you won't feel like you are getting it in Venice, it would just feel like any other U.S. Hilton.

If it was located in one of the six sestiere or districts of Venice, it wouldn't be so bad. But since it's a boat ride away, it's sort of like going to visit San Francisco, but instead of staying in Union Square or the Marina region, staying in Oakland or Alameda and traveling in to see SF. Or, it's like going to see New York City, and instead of being able to just go downstairs and enjoy the street life, yo took a hotel across the Hudson River somewhere in New Jersey, and had to take public transportation to get to NYC to enjoy it.

The reason there is an extensive thread about it in the Hilton section of FT is because there are very strong feelings about it from people thinking they were going to be staying in Venice proper, and who were very disappointed to find that if they wanted to enjoy a cup of coffee in one of the beautiful squares in Venice, they would need to commute to get there. If on the other hand, you just want to stay in American hotel and are not so excited about being in one of the six sections of Venice proper and being within the actual city itself, you'll like it.

cblaisd

Let's follow and contribute to the discussion there, thanks.

cblaisd
Senior Moderator