Hotel Danieli, Venice, Caution
 

The Hotel Danieli, a favorite of those wanting a luxury hotel in Venice, is at significant risk of closure. I wouldn't say not to book it or cancel an existing reservation, but people should be aware of the risks, as it is being well covered in the Venetian newspapers.

The reason is, the current owner has not been able to keep up with the mortgage payments, is three months behind, and has been given 10 days to pay up or else go into foreclosure, and he hasn't responded to that notice. It's the same guy who owns the Four Seasons and the Mandarin in Milan. I would still go if this results in major discounts, but people planning a trip who haven't made choices, should have access to this information, which to my knowledge, is only published in the Italian press. http://www.corriere.it/economia/card...incipale.shtml

Thank you for the alert. At our recommendation our son & his wife have a reservation to stay here on their last night in Italy in January. And we have our own reservation next year.

We love the Danieli & hope this works out. Please keep us posted if you can.

I'll keep you posted. Right now, sit tight. It's in the paper again today.
http://www.ilgazzettino.it/nordest/v...i-2054892.html

Basically, the group that owns it has been developing luxury properties in Milan and Sicily,and should have plenty of cash, but they don't have liquidity, and haven't paid their mortgage in some months. If they don't settle up soon, the bank will repossess the property. They won' shutter it up, and leave you without a place to stay, and letting it go to the birds would decrease its value as an asset. There would certainly be changes in service and things, but right now, I'd sit tight and see what happens. Remember that there are two Danieli's, the original, and right next door they build an annex. The original is the beautiful one. The annex next door looks like a typical cement post WWII building. Venetians hate the annex because of its poor asthetic impact on the scene. Try to get a room in the original Danieli building.

We have stayed there 4 or 5 times, always in the original.

In 2007 the Danieli upgraded us to a Signature (they called it Royal back then) Suite with a huge living room with a fireplace and gorgeous Murano glass chandelier with a stunning view of the Lagoon. It was our 30th wedding anniversary and we already have reservations there next year for our 40th. I hope this all gets worked out.

Thanks for keeping an eye out.

Nothing in the US news, so I am having to find Italian articles and use Google Translate

Looks as if the total debt is 242 million euro owed to 3 banks- MPS, Banco di Sardegna (Pop Emilia) and the German Aeral Bank

Per Tiscali- the payments are "overdue for months, perhaps for years, during which the Campania property developer has however acquired a Roman palace headquarters of the former BNL for a luxury hotel."

And per Corriere del Veneto
"The hotel these days continues to remain open, probably tourists will not notice anything"


Sad news for a grand old hotel.

I fell in love with the Danieli myself. In the early 1990's I was invited as a lecturer to the University there. They put me up in the Danieli. Absolute magic. The woman I was traveling with asked the housekeeper for an iron, because our clothes had gotten wrinkled. The housekeeper practically fainted at the thought of a guest doing her own ironing. She stopped what she was doing, and ironed everything. Of course she would not accept a tip.

The Danieli is where they fimed the James Bond movie Casino Royals. It is where they filmed the Angelina Jolie Johhny Depp movie the Tourist, and many others. It won't just go away. The bank will likely take over, and they'll be some burp in services. If that outlook changes, I'll post it here.

Browning and Proust said it most poetically- our heart belongs to Italy and our dreams in La Serenissima.

I agree that an institution like the Danieli will not just go away.

Let's hope this all settles peacefully.

My reading is that there was a foreclosure ("pignoramento") after the bank missed various mortgage payments and then ignored a ten day order to repay its debt. In a normal country the banks would have taken control and would then auction off the hotel but in Italy I imagine things will evolve in a different way.

As always, travel insurance is a must...

What a condescending post: this is exactly what's happening. As for "normal" country, given Donald, I'd be rather cautious with such statements.

I was speaking with one of the concierge at the Gritti about this yesterday morning and he suggested that the owner would simply find another bank and said there was no way that the hotel would actually close; even temporarily.

Sorry no condescension intended. See The Economist (here: http://www.economist.com/news/financ...non-performing ) for a description.

"Bankruptcies take more than six years on average—down from nine in 2008—and foreclosure lasts four-and-a-half, longer than almost anywhere in Europe (see chart)."

I don't think he's being condescending. Italy is a tough place to execute any kind of commercial transaction, let alone the remedy, due to bureaucratic and judicial inefficiency. Nobody's saying it needs to be like the US where you robosign some documents en masse and flip the house over to the bank, but in a place like Italy, there's real risk of the underlying asset being neglected and falling into disrepair as the foreclosure process drags out into multiple years. Italy's banks are also holding a lot of bad debt - I don't know the particulars, but I'd bet that being able to liquidate commercial assets in under a year would help that situation.

@ckendall

Apologies if I was/sounded offensive. I am aware of Italy (and, btw, my own home country) being anything but business friendly. As a matter of fact we see examples of the kind in Greece every single day. Also, almost all matters going to court, both civil and penal, take ages, such that this simply can no longer be called justice.

When replying I referred to the term "normal country"! I simply don't like the idea of not being normal because something is different. I'd say that if one includes all countries in the world, what is normal, is Italy (and Greece), rather than the places where things are simple and fast, which are the minority. See for example most African, Asian, Latin American and many European countries. Unfortunately... :(

This story has had so much press coverage all over Italy, and it does sound serious. The Danieli is so far behind in paying its mortgage with multiple banks, and the owner was found to be opening up 5 star hotels in several other places without adequate cash while the banks in Venice were demanding their money for over a year. The owner is now no longer responding to authorities or inquiries. It is actually a Starwood property, but they haven't said much, it's a franchise for them. When several banks take over and run a hotel, I doubt the bankers will be investing in services and quality. I don't know that I would change my plans in someone else's place, and I'll probably be able to find out more when I go back in ten days, but right now, I would say this has a risk of affecting quality, although I don't see the doors being shuttered.


BTW, I wouldn't say that bankruptcy is what applies here. The property has been impounded, or seized by the banks, in lieu of mortgage payments that the owner almost certainly won't be able to make. If that goes through, I don't see the five banks who hold mortgages are going to invest in replacing worn rugs, refurbishing rooms, and will probably be cutting staffing to minimal levels. The banks will probably be running it that way until they can find a buyer. It's a little opaque, but such things always affect morale of the staff.