Sam P. Goodman

I had the same problem a couple of years ago. It must have been 80+F in our room. Luckily, it was pretty cold outside so we kept the window open day and night to keep the room bearable. No balcony for us, but a great lagoon view.

stevens397

We have the Danieli reserved for Aug 6-7 for one night prior to boarding a cruise. Took the Junior Suite for the additional 2,500 points.

It is important to remember that unlike in the states, Junior Suites in Europe are often two separate rooms - what in the US would be termed a regular suite. I always check into this and when it is two separate rooms, I reserve the Junior Suite for the small addition in points and then hope for an even better Platinum upgrade. It has occasionally resulted in magic - a magnificent one bedroom, two bathroom suite at the Prince de Galles in Paris.

It is a very wise use of points to me. Yes, you could possibly have gotten it for no additional points but to guarantee a real suite for 2,500 points per night is, to me, a no-brainer!

couscous

I am staying at the Danieli this weekend and I can see on my reservation that I have already been upgraded to an executive suite in the new building.
From people's previous experience, is this a great room or should I request something in the old building ? Thanks in advance.

SanDiego1K

couscous, how was your stay?

EWRFlyerAL

I stayed here for 3 nights two weeks ago on C&P. I was upgraded to a Junior Suite, which was spacious and had the feel of the old hotel. The bathroom was modern and large. I really enjoyed the staff.

couscous

My stay was simply amazing. This was a weekend to celebrate our tenth anniversary and I mentioned it casually to my ambassador
We were upgraded to the Presidential suite. Simply amazing room with an amazing view. Service was top class. We will never forget it

Tak

We plan to go Venice in early June, again.
This was the fifth time in Venice.
I have stayed both Danieli and E&R before.
Usually, I prefer the view from E&R over Danieli, but if the rate is the same, which one do you recommend as the SPG platinum member/AMEX Platinum Member.
The main lobby of the Danieli is much impressive than E&R, and the entrance of E&R is not attractive.
As I mentioned, the view from E&R is one of the strongest point, but sometimes, lagoon facing room are quite small if those are not suite.
If staying Danieli, I can reserve it through AMEX FHR which includes breakfast and afternoon tea.

Since I take my wife and sister family and sisiter family visit at Venice first time, I want them to enjoy the hotel as well as the view.
I have read good reviews of Danieli recently with good upgrade as the platinum members.

If E&R is much cheaper than danieli, I would choose E&R, but if the rate is the same(I will reserve a lagoon facing room, and expect to upgrade to suite), ?????

snufl

Jealous, jealous, jealous...the least you could do is show us some pics.

free101girl

We stayed here for one night recently on a points redemption. A standard room would have been 20,000 points. For 40,000 points we got a Lagoon View Junior Suite.

The junior suite was almost a "real" suite in that the bedroom is a separate room from the living room. However, while there is a double doorway between the two rooms, there are no actual doors to cut off one room from the other. It was a sizable accommodation and the view of the lagoon was lovely. The windows had good enough noise blocking to prevent us from hearing all the tourists and water taxis/buses/gondolas coming and going, fortunately.

The room decor was sort of unattractive, unfortunately. One expects an "over the top" look in Venice, but it seemed someone got a deal on millions of yards of floral silk fabric and upholstered everything (walls and all furnishings) with the same stuff. Our room, at least, was a welter of faded grey/pink floral, with no contrast or variation (you know how there are usually contrasting striped or solid items as well? not here). It was fine for one night, but it might have driven me slowly mad if we'd stayed longer.

My laptop didn't detect any Wi-Fi and the Ethernet connection, which goes through the TV, did not seem to work. No connection to the Internet was detected, even after restarting my laptop a few times. I didn't pursue it with the hotel because we were there for only one night, and frankly it didn't surprise me, as I have been unable to get an Internet connection at half the Italian hotels we've stayed in, in recent years.

The bathroom was large, with a separate tub and shower, but not overly luxurious (cheesy curtains on both tub and shower, standard Luxury Collection toiletries).

Service was very pleasant and amazingly efficient. We sent out some clothes for ironing and they were back in a flash. We called for help with our luggage and they were right on it, and got a water taxi arranged immediately. No complaints there!

The a/c was working (this was June 1, so apparently the powers that be had allowed it to be turned on) and nice and cold.

MichaelColey

Many of us have received junior suites for 22,500. (See earlier posts in the thread.)

sbtinme

I think that suite is generally known as the DOGE SUITE and it's one of Starwood's finest suites in all of Europe. Several heads of state and US Presidents have stayed in that suite and Elizabeth Taylor spent one of her many honeymoons in that very suite!

The chandeliers are all Murano (of course) and the soft goods are all adorned with substantial gold threading.

We were lucky to get that suite a few years ago for two nights and it was, in a word, magical. It felt like castle quarters in the 18th century to me!

We also had the adjacent, connecting King room, too, so we ended up with I think four balcony windows overlooking the canal and the Santa Maria della Salute cathedral. Just a sensational experience.

free101girl

You know, it's funny you mention that, because I thought 22,500 was what I was quoted on the phone. But I was charged 40,000 points, and that's what's on my confirmation as well. I didn't catch it at the time I received the confirmation or I would have called to check on it. At this point it's probably too late.

Edited: I just called SPG. It is 22,500 for a regular (non-view) Junior Suite and 40,000 for the Lagoon View. I don't think I realized I was paying all those extra points for the Lagoon View. It was probably a miscommunication with the SPG agent on the phone. Something to bear in mind if you are booking a Junior Suite at this property!

Flying Lawyer

It is view what counts and costs in Venice. Plain and simple. I remember having paid this 20k extra too for a suite with a view and it was worth every point.

SanDiego1K

Here are YouTube videos of the hotel made by/for different booking agencies:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIVVZyuPBwI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RctH5Vi-KHg7
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUpiydMUcKw

aku

As long as I've been with SPG, I've never used points for an upgrade, so I have a really basic question. I've booked the Danieli for five nights in October, total of 80k points with the free night. Do I now call SPG and ask for the upgrade at another 2500 points per night? And if so, should the fifth night also be free for the upgrade?