spgplat21

Do not count on that. When hotels are busy, I rarely see the room go immediately back into the available pool. So I would not cancel unless you see another room bookable with points prior to cancelling.

beachfan

I believe they will let you put a reservation on hold without the required number of points for a short while (maybe they only did it for me because of status). Then you would be able to book the full points and then cancel the C&P.

beachfan

Hi William;

Didn't know that was policy and definitely not enforced as of a few weeks ago, at least for online bookings.

Starwood Lurker

The policy applies to reservations made as one type of award where someone wants to change it to another type of award. For example, from a C & P to a Free Night Award. Or, where the arrival date is changed. That calls for a new availability check.

If you made changes online to an existing reservation, then there was probably availability to support it and no system conflicts. Try changing an existing C & P award booking online to a Free Night Award and let me know what happens.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Social Media Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts LLC

[email protected]

ec1234

SanDiego1K

The quick answer is that we don't know. There's no downside (assuming you have the points) to making the booking, then seeing if you can modify it come August.

beachfan

I thought I read that existing reservations will automatically get the lower price applied. But we were supposed to get breakfast everywhere and that was a broken promise, so who knows.

KParks

Does anyone the possibilities and cost of upgrading award night stays at the Gritti Palace?

Looking to make a points award for late next summer (of course waiting until August 1 for the better redemption rate! Also will need to wait till at least then to book anyway...) and want to know the possibility and cost to upgrade room type on an award reservation. Since the base reward is in the Deluxe would just really like to make sure we can get into the Giglio Prestige (and not expecting anything beyond that since I'll just be gold and not plat next year).

Boraxo

Has anyone tried to squeeze 2 kids into a standard room? Or perhaps there are suites that will accommodate 2 adults and 2 children? I see the charge for a rollaway is $146/nt at both the Danieli and the Gritti.

Would like to stay here but no way we are booking 2 rooms. From the review photos it looks like the suites would be large enough to accommodate a rollaway but the regular rooms are probably a non-starter.

dingo

platbrownguy

My gut is no way they'd do it, but I would contact directly -- they are very responsive.

I've been meaning to post, had an great one-night stay here last month before a cruise. Used cash and points to book a basic room, which was selling for >$1k euro. Paid for the hotel assisted transfer and thought it was well worth it -- wife was impressed that the airport attendant was right there as we got off the plane (she realized the novelty of that after we exited baggage claim to find the sea of other attendants and greeters and the like). Airport attendant guy took care of the bags, drove us down to water taxi, handed us off, and hotel was ready for us when we came in -- seamless and would do it again. We arrived at the hotel by 6 p.m. or so.

At check-in, no mention of upgrade, and I didn't ask. Just asked about the restaurant, bar, etc. Check-in agent Giorgio then escorted us to our room (224), and as we entered, he mentioned that we had been upgraded to one of their nicest suites -- the Teatro La Fenice suite, with original pieces in the room from the theater! This was one of the most outrageous SPG upgrades we've ever gotten (and we've had some nice ones at Chatwal, St.R Deer Valley, Ws in NYC, Bahia Beach, etc.). We've certainly had much larger suites elsewhere, but the quality of everything in this suite was over the top. Not our style in terms of color scheme or patterns, etc., but definite wow factor. Pictures below. We also had a great balcony from which we could see the canal. Acqua di Parma bathroom amenities were excellent, too. I took the hand lotion with me and ended up buying a couple of tubes of the stuff for daily use.

Went down to the terrace for drinks and late-night-ish food (after inviting several family members, who were staying elsewhere, to check out the crazy suite and join for libations). Staff quickly put together some tables to make a table for 8 and had no trouble at all with the fact that my wife and I were having a full dinner, others were having just cocktails, and others were having dessert -- everything was executed perfectly. After that, family left, and wife and I explored all the cool stuff in the living room downstairs by the lobby -- telescopes, books, atlases, and the like.

Comp bottle of decent red wine in the room was a plus. Still and sparkling waters comp as well. We called for room service to order a tiramisu, which was small but the perfect thing at the time. Might have been 21 euro, but no tax or fees or service charges on top, which was nice. It was brought by the same person who brought us ice when we had called for that an hour earlier.

Breakfast the next morning was delightful. We took a stroll around 11 a.m. but other than that spent the majority of our 21 hours in Venice at the Gritti because frankly it was so hot outside and so nice inside (and I've been to Venice before, so wasn't missing anything!). Sitting outside at brunch watching the world i.e. the canal go by is just the perfect impression to take away from Venice, too, with the birds and the bells and whatnot. We caught a water taxi to the cruise port (90 euro) around 2:30 for our cruise. There was no problem getting the late check-out or having the concierge call a water taxi for us for a set time.

All in all, would return in a heartbeat even for a basic room.




Living room of suite


Bathroom (tub on left, shower on right)


Bedroom


Living room of suite (yes that's a piano)


Living room of suite

bmrisko

Finished up a great 3-night stay here. Only received a minor 2-tier upgrade as a Plat on points as the hotel was quite booked for a couple of the nights we were there. We did have our 1 yr old with us and he was treated very well by all staff.

One weird issue was the first night our doorbell rang at 10pm. I got up and looked and no one was there. Next night, doorbell rings again at 10pm (we had been asleep for an hour or so) and then what I can assume was a housekeeper proceeded to enter the room unannounced. As we have a sleeping baby in the room with us, this is totally unacceptable anywhere, let alone a Luxury Collection property. I escalated to the property manager and apparently it was a misunderstanding with turndown service, yet they couldn't explain why my room would even be checked that late if turndown was already performed earlier and according to the manager all housekeeping staff should be gone by that time anyways. I was assured that the 3rd night would be uneventful and it was.

I know most Venetians eat dinner late and maybe I was missing something, but this event seemed really out of line. Other than that, all other aspects of the stay were superb.

yolie

Yes, I would like to know this as well in regards to how strict are they with occupancy in the rooms?

cup.of.jo

When I called the hotel directly for an upcoming stay, they seemed strict about it at least over the phone. I booked a room to accommodate 3 (2 adults & 11 years). All the hotels I've talked to in Italy point to Italian law regarding room occupancy. Unsure if that is truly the case, but it has been consistent. This is our first experience traveling with a child in Italy, and I was caught off guard by the additional costs involved. HOWEVER, they did confirm that if the child shares the existing bed, the roll-away is not charged.

Does any one know if breakfast is included for Platinum Premier? SPG couldn't answer. Last time I stayed here was at the beginning of the merger (Plat w/ Marriott, but no status w/ SPG) and it was not. Hoping that has changed.

porkie