aceflyer2

My elderly mom will be visiting Venice with us next spring. We plan to take a private water taxi directly to the hotel from the airport. Question: She is not extremely sturdy on her feet, although she can walk- my understanding is that the taxi will drop us off at the pier at the front/back of the hotel. Given that the boat may be rocking back and forth, for those of you that have done this, is it pretty easy to step from the boat to the dock? If we don't do this, I suppose we could take a taxi or water bus to St. Marks and walk; is it a pretty easy walk from there? The hotel says it's about a 4 minute walk.

stimpy

Yes the boat rocks a bit, but there are nice strong gentlemen on both ends of the trip to help people in and out of the boat, no matter what their capacity.

tyn

My biggest concern would not be the water taxi, like stimpy said she'll have plenty of assistance, but the fact that visiting Venice implies lots of walking and that a goodly part of it is up and down bridges with some uneven footing

nologic

Walking from St. Marks Square is not far geographically or in terms of time, but is not so easy with luggage...up and down numerous canal bridges/stairs, whereas the water taxi drops you off right at the hotel's private dock and I am sure the hotel staff will pay lots of attention to helping you get your elderly mom off the boat.

aceflyer2

Not an issue for her. She's been to Venice several times (in her younger years). So she can do as much or as little as she wishes. We're leaving on a cruise from there.

diggity

My wife and I stayed at this hotel recently. The lobby, bar area seating, and restaurant seating are amazing. The hotel is in a very good location and was a little bit tough to find at first. But it's within walking distance to just about everything that we wanted to see. We were upgraded to one of their renovated rooms, which was MUCH nicer than the older rooms. We saw an older room and it was very, very dated. The room we were in was nicer, but not what I expect for $700 a night (albeit, I used points). The bed was pretty firm and not what I normally sleep in at a Westin property. The staff I found to be smug and not too friendly or helpful. We had breakfast in their restaurant which was very nice. The food was ok (nothing special), but the views were amazing. A very nice way to start off the day (a bit pricey normally, but we had the breakfast comp'ed for our stay). Overall, the hotel was average in my opinion. If I were to go back to Venice, I would shop around and probably stay at the other Westin property. But for first timers to the city, it was in a good location.

Orange County Commuter

I stayed here for three nights in May in a standard room. Was not upgrade, but really didn't expect to be as place was full.

That said I was unimpressed overall with the service and quality and would only recommend this is you get a great rate. Service in particular was amazinly bad! Front desk and concerige staff have "attitudes" that were just amazing. I was sitting in the lobby using my Iphone to check on another reservation and was just shocked at how I saw them treat guests. Luckily my check in was pleasant, but it's very much a roll of the dice on how you will get treated.

Also housekeeping needs work! Room was not really cleaned and leaving dirty towels, dishes in the hall for over 24 hours is not acceptable at this level!

barelyelite

I have a one-night stay coming up next week a the Westin Europa & Regina, and I got an email--because I'm a valued Platinum member--offering an upgrade to a deluxe terrace suite for only 870 euros. Even considering I'm staying on a C&P award, this is barely a discount compared to the 1200 euros the room is currently selling for. If I was going to spend $1000+ a/i for a suite, wouldn't I have done it outright?

Maybe it was a typo, and they meant 87 euros extra .

nologic

If you are talking about a canal view full suite, it's a pretty cool room, but I hear you...you might ask the GM or revenue manager if they would confirm a deluxe suite upgrade if you booked a junior suite, either using cash or points?

peroorim

Stayed there in May for 2 nights on C&P and found the location and service just perfect!

We had a standard room which is fine since I do not have any status.

We emailed them that we are coming for our anniversary and a personal welcome note with a piece of cake and a bottle of Champagne was waiting for us in the room.

We were very happy with the staff, service and room.

vg247

Platinum here--Looking at 3 nights paid stay in first week October at Gritti, Danieli, or Westin..any recent stays and feedback on upgrades or rooms appreciated..

barelyelite

Booked one night using C&P for my parents a few weeks ago at the Westin. They were upgraded to a big 1-bedroom (non-view) suite.

Time traveller

Stayed here back in May. They have an elite check-in area for Gold/Platinum and so there was no wait to check in. No upgrades were available as a Gold as the hotel was quite full, so got a small room with no view.

The location is very convenient and close to most sightseeing areas. If you are traveling from the airport on the Alilaguna water shuttle (12 euros), it is a 5 minute walk to the Hotel, though you have to go up and down a set of stairs of a bridge. Otherwise, private water taxis will take you straight to the hotel for about 100 euros or so.

Braindrain

If you take the Alilaguna, don't cheap out. Take the Linea Oro which goes just as fast as the water taxi and has only 2 stops. The other lines (red and blue) take forever.

3544quebec

I almost always take the slow vaporettos in Venice - its one place where public transport taking forever is an absolute pleasure.