travelmom4

My husband and I will be taking the kids to Italy this summer and are planning 4 nights in Venice during the first week of June (we like to take our time and visit fewer places rather than hop around a lot). I have a stash of SPG points that I was saving for airline transfer but with the Marriot buy I am not sure that hoarding is a great idea. Considering burning a bunch in Venice. Both the Gritti and the Danieli show availability online and the Westin Europa has the standard "call for availability" message.

The trick is that there are six of us so we need two rooms of decent size -our youngest is a teen so they are not little kids. European rooms are always small and some won't offer two beds or a roll away so this can be tricky. Also, I am a lowly Gold so breakfast benes and upgrade options are probably not relevant. I would love to have a canal view so I will inquire about paying more points for that option.

Any advice on which SPG hotel would be best suited to three people in a room? Thanks in advance for your guidance.

pageboy

We were there last summer with 2 kids (23 & 21). My wife and I stayed at the Gritti and my kids at the Danieli. I would not recommend this, so you'll have to choose one. The Gritti is a top 5 hotel in my favorite hotel book. Just awesome in all respects. It is, however, somewhat off the beaten path. The Danieli is maybe 80% as nice, but has high traffic in the middle of all things Venice. I did use SNA's there, and was upgraded in both hotels as a Plat75. The Danieli upgrade was a suite on the 3rd floor overlooking the Grand Canal- a spectacular view. On a different subject, they are very strict with the number of guests in their rooms. Anything over 2 people changes the $, but I don't think it necessitates more points. Lastly, I would recommend getting a guide for 3 hours through your hotel concierge. Expensive, but it made our trip special.

neo_781

Also note that Italy in particular is usually very strict about number of people occupying a room. You'll have to register all guests at check-in and you need to make sure that any rooms you book will allow for the number of guests you plan to sleep in the room.


Note: this is not a SPG specific issue, just something to keep in mind with Italy

Flying Lawyer

The Gritti and the Danieli are in less than 10 minutes walking distance from each other. The Danieli does not face the Grand Canal but the lagoon, the view is spectacular anyhow. The Gritti overlooks the canal and certainly is the more romantic and quiet property. With a party of six you will most likely need three rooms; the extra charge for any roll away is prohibitive.

Life_Platinum

We have stayed at all the SPG hotels in Venice using points over the past few years and liked the Danieli best, the E & R second and the Gritti the least of the 3, although it is a superb hotel. All three recognized our Life Platinum status and gave us large rooms (jr suites) overlooking the Grand Canal at the Danieli and the Gritti, or a multiroom city view suite at the E & R. What we liked best about the Danieli was that it was in the middle of many sites for us that were easiest to reach by walking, and the view during breakfast or dinner at the Danieli outside on the top floor of the new building is spectacular. We had dinner at the Danieli on one of the our evenings there and found it very memorable-if you choose not to stay at the Danieli, you should still consider making reservations for dinner here (we did it 5 nights out). At the first cross street (path) behind the Danieli is the Campo SS Philippo E Giacomo where we spent considerable time shopping for Murano Glass at KIMO Murano. Here we purchased glasses made by Maestro Imperio Rossi at his factory DIPI; these glasses sell for about $125 each in the U.S and we purchased them for about 1/3rd the price here. At the last day we stayed at the Danieli, they obtained a few more glasses to complete the set with one days notice.
A few doors away is the restaurant, Il Ridotto, which is listed on some of the Best 10 in Venice Lists, and it is reasonably (moderately) priced. If you are interested, we would recommend you make a reservation using their webpage before traveling to Venice.
As others have pointed out, Venice has stringent laws about the number of people that can sleep in a room with the maximum of 3!!! Hence for the 6 of us (2 kids 5 & 7, 2 parents, and 2 grandparents) we arranged for a roll away bed in each room and on some nights used the 3rd bed in the grandparents room. (The beds were big enough for 2 people) As for the Concierge services, we found Fillippi, the Head Concierge at the Danieli as the best of those at the 3 hotels, as he was born in Venice and knew almost every crevice in this fantastic city. The E & R had a superb concierge as well, and I have forgotten his name, but can easily be identified by his height of about 6'5''.
In summary, any of these properties are outstanding and you can't go wrong if you stay at any of them.
In my view, the St. Regis on San Clemente Island is not of the same quality, and it should not be considered as it is leaving SPG soon.
If you need any additional advice, feel free to PM me.

3rdworldresident

I had stayed at Hotel Danieli twice, once at the Gritti. Both are nice and great hotels.

personally if i can afford the Gritti (point, cash, point+cash), I will choose it. otherwise hotel danieli will be my choice and i'm sure it's not gonna disappoint me.

dlerner

We always enjoy the Gritti, but for my cousins next June traveling with kids we booked them in the Westin Europa and Regina thinking they'd prefer being closer to the action and in not quite a posh hotel. I'm afraid that their trip report will not be in time to help you.

Centurion

I am going to tell you to forget the SPG hotels and any hotel in Venice. Unless you just like to burn your money or spg points. Some people have enough to burn. If you want value and comfort I suggest one of the cruise lines. RCL which owns several in the old days would give you free boat rides into the square. I think they started charging so check up on that. If you go with a small ship I still think they can dock very close where you can walk. With a ship which is actually a floating hotel you will have all the food you can eat , great accommodations, and clean bathrooms. Most of the ships long ago would dock at least two days in venice and I am sure you can find one that may do four days

triptastic

Is it possible to book on points the family room the sleeps 2 adults and 2 kids under 12 at the Westin E and R?

rbAA

Possibly, but it will require a phone call.

rbAA

We have a 2 night stay in Sept and unfortunately nothing (SPG) reasonable is available. OK maybe it's actually fortunate as it "forces" us to stay at one of the small pensiones I always enjoy which are "reasonably" priced and have more "local" charm. Even though these days even they have relatively high prices, also. Well, it's Venice. Not that I haven't enjoyed staying at the E&R or Gritti in the past, they're just not same, and the value is questionable-Gritti is over 1100 euro and E&R is 428 the nights I need and neither have any, 35k, ouch, points nights available.

Cruise ships stays? Pass. Too many tourists to deal with in Venice anyway, why subject myself to more. And, cruise ship food compared to the Venitian cuisine? Really? Might as well stay at the 4 Pts in Maestre for 4,000 points. Maybe there's a McD's down the street too... OK, wouldn't consider that either. The chiccetti in Venice is inexpensive (OK, again it's Venice so relatively,) for lunch/afternoon snack to hold you over for a great seafood/Italian dinner. Hang with the locals, maybe even meet some. Don't think the cruise ships can compare, sorry.

fdem

fdem

What?! Who on earth would want to be on a huge floating hotel with 3000 tourists? Another reason to ban these massive disgusting cruise ships of a certain size. You could justify smaller vessels like Regent, seabourn etc. But no larger Tha 600 passengers It is a nightmare when these massive ships dock for residents and gelnuine tourists who are making a specific effort to visit Venice, not those on a quick stop off, take the selfie, post on Facebook crowd, then move onto the next selfie stop! Seriously you wouldprefer to eat on a cruise ship rather than sample genuine Venetian cuisine?

banzani

We were facing the same problem and ended up at the Sheraton in Padova. Of course entirely different, but a tiny fraction of the cost and an easy train ride into the center of Venice.

GUWonder

Some of the SPG hotels in Venice have offered upgrades and/or rollaway beds in rooms for those on award stays, but after booking the refundable award booking it requires a call to try to set up things properly and often requires paying a cash supplement.