The Gritti Palace, Venice: Outstanding Service, Food, Concierge, and Suite Upgrade

We recently returned from 4 nights at the Gritti Palace in Venice. I had booked a Giglio Prestige Room using SPG points, but I was upgraded thanks to my SPG Ambassador to a Sestiere Suite (The Dalmatia Suite), which was beautiful and spacious--even if it lacked a Canal view.

Our stay was spectacular. The hotel's location was superb, right off the entry to the Grand Canal, but not too close (10-15 min walk) to the craziness of St. Mark's Square. Service was top notch, as good as we've enjoyed at some of the Aman properties. Dining for breakfast was good, and dinner at Club del Doge was very good. The concierge team was amazing, and really helped us organize a phenomenal stay.

But what we will remember most of the Gritti will be having sundowners on the Riva bar terrace, looking onto the Grand Canal and enjoying the view of the Basilica de Santa Maria della Salute....as well as our Riva Experience tour of the Venice lagoon. What a stay it was.

We took a private water transfer from the VCE Airport (209 euros charged to our room). It was worth every penny for this arrival:

After arrival, we were informed of our Sestiere Suite upgrade, which obviously was a lovely surprise. Our mostly carry-on bags had already been delivered from the private water transfer to our suite.

Our Suite was lovely. Even though it didn't have a Canal view, we loved it.

The peek-a-boo canal view, looking out onto Campiello Traghetto:

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There was small walk-in closet off the living room, next to the doorway into the bedroom:

While there was sufficient space for us, we had packed very lightly (both of us with carry-on suitcases, plus my husband's extra small duffel). For anyone who packs more normally, storage would be an issue--though there was still plenty of space to keep luggage in the corners/out of way spots in the living room.

The bedroom was actually spacious and had a lot of natural light due to its sunlight:

There also was a desk in front of the bed with a flat screen TV, though we never used it (sorry no photo). The sky light had a remote control that closed its shade, permitting a true blackout dark room for sleeping.

The master bath was surprisingly spacious, even with the sloped roof (since I'm 6'2" and my husband is 6'5"!):

There even was a gift of wine with a handwritten note from the GM:

The air conditioning worked great--I had both the bedroom and living room (separate control units) set to 17 C for the duration of our stay. No problem. I was in heaven.

Overall, we loved the suite. Even without a true view, we really enjoyed spending time in our suite to relax. 

Service was--in a word--superb. As close to Aman level service as we've ever received without being at an Aman property or Singita Boulders.

The entire hotel staff really went out of their way to make us feel welcome, almost as if this was their home and we were visiting guests. From reception, the concierge, the Club del Doge restaurant, the Riva bar, the spa, and even housekeeping, everyone was welcoming and helpful. 

Even before arrival, the concierge staff was in constant communication with me, arranging all of our dinners and lunches far in advance (as I prefer to do), even as we had to occasionally change our itinerary. The concerige team was A+ for sure.

The service was not without a few hiccups. But its recovery was Aman-like and impressive. We had private transfers arranged to allow us to have dinner our 2nd night at Le Calandre in nearby Rubano--about a 45 minute drive from Venice. There were some issues with the private transfers, both on the way out (our driver didn't seem to connect with us as he should have) and on our return (we had to wait a while for a boat to meet us). But on sharing that experience, the concierge took care of the entire charge with sincere apologies...and comp'd us another (very pricey) excursion, despite my protest that such action was unncessary. The Gritti team really went overboard in making sure we were treated like royalty. Again, like an Aman.

Even when a problem wasn't the fault of the hotel, the service was extraordinary. The Riva bar terrace has heat lamps which create quite the glow after dark...and quite enough heat for me! I detest heat, so the first time they came on for our 1st evening, I moved to the far side of the terrace, looking back to the Gritti instead of out onto the amazing Grand Canal view. The next night, I complained that it was too early and not cold enough...and they turned off the heat lamps for me. 

On our final night's dinner at the Gritti's Club del Doge restaurant, they had those heat lamps on, as well...but no table on the far end of the terrace for me to minimize their heat. (The restaurant was completely full, I might add.) I was pissed and couldn't stand the heat, so I decided to order room service instead. The restaurant manager spoke to my husband, saying they would buy us a round at the bar while they waited for the first canal-side table to clear so that I would be comfortable. It turned out to be only a 15-20 minute wait. I very much appreciated the manager going the distance for me.

That same final night dinner, my husband ordered the souffle after we'd finished our meal. I was ready to kill him--since it would take 25-30 min. After 35 min, they apologized that there had been a mistake with the souffle, so they were making us a new one--which would take another 20+ minutes. I was really warm by then after waiting so long with the heat lamps, so I was done and said I'd leave for the suite...leaving my husband behind. He came up a few minutes later to the suite, telling me the restaurant manager apologized for the error and that they'd bring the dessert to our suite with their compliments. They even comp'd our bottle of wine for dinner as an additional gesture.

There's no question that the service standard at the Gritti is incredibly high.

Even though the Gritti offered us room service breakfast gratis as part of my Platinum elite status, we had breakfast every morning in the Club del Doge restaurant--to make my husband happy. Breakfast was usually very good and very prompt. However, breakfast was probably the weakest service experience we had at the Gritti--especially with regard to consistency--but it was still of a very high standard.

Dinner at Club del Doge was very, very good. 

The concierge team was amazing. They booked us for top restaurants (including our private transfers to 3* Le Calandre in Rubano), our private guide, our airport transfers, my train tickets to Milan, and our private Riva half day tour of Burano, Murano, and Torcello. In the rare instance where something went wrong (as with our Le Calandre transfers), the concierge team really made up for it by comp'ing the transfer and comp'ing a few other things!

The location is amazing. Right off the entrance of the Grand Canal, it makes it quite easy to get anywhere by water (especially with a vaporetto stop adjadcent to the hotel!), and it was quite easy to walk around town by foot. It was just a 10 min walk or so into St. Mark's Square, but it was also just a 30 min walk to the Aman Venice property!

I don't do spas, but my husband did have a massage. He said that while the spa facility was small and uninspiring compared to most modern hotel spas, his massage was great. 

We decided to do the Gritti's Riva Experience, taking their private Riva yacht out for an exploration of the Venice lagoon and other islands like Burano (a major highlight), Murano, Torcello, etc. 

Definitely one of the most memorable parts of our stay. Not cheap at 1200 euros for 4 hours, but ours lasted closer to 5 hours and was worth every euro!

We absolutely loved the Gritti. Everything about it was top drawer and made us feel like visiting guests in a large home in Venice. The service was extraordinary, the food and amenities were great, the staff was amazing, and the Riva bar terrace and Riva Experience were incredibly unique and our best highlights. If ever our travels bring us back to Venice, we would be thrilled to stay again at the Gritti Palace.

FWIW, we also had lunch at and toured the the Aman Venice Canal Grande. It is, indeed, a spectacularly beautiful property. Service was wonderful during our visit, and lunch was very good. While the Alcova Tiepolo Suite was beautifully historic, we would choose another suite to be sure. And while the Aman property is spectacular, we were disppointed that there was no terrace akin to that of the Gritti--where we spent so much time enjoying the view along with cocktails and snacks. While the Aman Venice may be the better regarded property by many, the Gritti for us comes very close to or maybe even matches the Aman Venice in service level and food & beverage...and absolutely surpasses it in terms of the Riva bar terrace.