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Hotel Cipriani :: That "Anniversary Facelift" Can't Come Soon Enough
Introducing our first submission for a Paula Abdul Hotel.
Earlier this month we wrote about how the Hotel Cipriani in Venice was undergoing an 50th "anniversary facelift", but too bad the Wall Street Journal's Finicky Traveler got there before the new look was completed.
Our fave hotel critic Laura Landro spent a few nights there and the opening of her review says it all:
Our suite at Venice's legendary Hotel Cipriani has stained mauve carpet, ratty faux-bamboo furniture and a platform bed looking into a whirlpool tub-for-two that seems not to have been scrubbed out since the 1970s. We feel positively transported -- to a honeymoon motel in the Poconos.
Tags: Venice Hotel Reviews / Hotel Services / Hilton Hotels / → All Tags
Hilton Molino Stucky Venice Offers Gondolier Training Classes
We've already been quite excited about the Hilton Molino Stucky in Venice, largely because of the rooftop pool with amazing views over Venice, which is surely one of the cities in the world where you most want to have a good view.
But now the people at the Hilton Stucky have got extra creative and put together a deal that has made us get pretty excited. Here's a question: what is more Venetian than the Rialto Bridge and glass works put together? Of course, it's the ultimate in Venetian style, a gondola ride. And the gondoliers themselves are the kind of people you can only envy. Hilton knows this and is giving its guests the chance to be a gondolier. At least for a day or two.
Here's what the Gondolier Training Program involves: you get training in both the physical side of being a gondolier (mainly rowing and balance skills) and the spiritual side (etiquette, attitude and what it really means to be a gondolier). You'll also be taken on a visit to the Venice Squero, an old factory where gondolas are still produced.
Courses start from 360 Euros for three hours and we've saved the best bit of news for last: at the end of the day, you'll be given a classic gondolier's black and white striped shirt. That's a souvenir we'd be very proud of.
[Photo: kh1234567890]
Related Stories:
· New to Venice: Rooftop Pool and the Largest Spa [HotelChatter]
· Hilton Gives a Venetian Flour Mill a Face Lift [HotelChatter]
Tags: Hotels-Near-Eurail-Stops / Venice Hotel Reviews / Budget Hotels / → All Tags
Eurail Hotel Stop: Brilliant Budget in Venice
Eurail journeys to Venice often end at the main Santa Lucia train station which is why we're offering the cheap-but-cheerful Hotel Santa Lucia as a good stop for budget travelers in this otherwise expensive city.
The Santa Lucia is just a few minutes' walk from the train station; the hotel website says three minutes, to be precise, and recent guests agree the location is ideal.
It's advertised as a one-star hotel which sounds rather low, but it seems to have everything you need and has the big advantage of not breaking the bank in Venice, where accommodation prices can be astronomical--not easy to run a business when you have to carry everything around on boats. You can choose from rooms with a bathroom or to share one with other guests, and prices with a bathroom for a double range from €70 (US$100) to €110 (around $150), which is really reasonable for Venice.
If you're planning your trip for winter, however, be aware that the Hotel Santa Lucia staff are taking their own holiday then: the hotel will be closed from November 25 through to January 25, 2008. But since the best time to see Venice is in the spring or the fall, this shouldn't be too much of a drama.
[Photo: kersan]
Related Stories:
· Travel Stories in Venice [Jaunted]
· Venice Hotels [HotelChatter]
Tags: Venice Hotel Reviews / Hotel Openings / Hilton Hotels / → All Tags
New to Venice: Rooftop Pool and the Largest Spa
We've been watching it for a while, and now it's finally open: the all-new (but in an old building) Hilton Molino Stucky Venice. Hilton bought up an old flour mill in a pretty delightful neo-gothic building and they've turned it into a something-special luxury hotel. Well, let's put a proviso on that: the first guests are still sleeping, so we'll wait for more confirmation, but it certainly sounds good.
Why? Well, if you believe the hype, you can get fantastic views over Venice from the rooftop pool. That's the first (and only) rooftop pool in Venice, and we know that any views over super-photogenic Venice from a reasonable height are pretty spectacular. And this is one of Venice's tallest buildings. The Hilton Molino Stucky also has a 7000-square-foot spa--the largest in the city--all done up in old Turkish bath style.
There are five restaurants in the new hotel complex, and chef Franco Luise is promising to source at least 80% of the ingredients from fresh local produce, including some seafood, of course. The cheapest room you can get will be 295 Euros (almost $400) in low season, 750 ($1000) in high; if you're thinking presidential suite, think 12,000 Euros or $16,000 (but the butler's included).
Related Stories:
· Hilton Gives a Venetian Flour Mill a Face Lift [HotelChatter]
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Venice Hotel Find Pans Out For Reader
For as long as we have chronicled hotel reviews, it has been duly noted that finding excellent, decently priced, accommodations in Italy can be, how do you say, spotty.
In light of this plight, when we find Italian hotels that appear to hold up, we always try to let you in on the secret.
Back in 2005 we found Pensione Accademia in Venice. A hotel even Philly Phan could love.
A HotelChatter reader recently put our post to the test in Venice. His thought are this way.
Tags: Cubicle Dreamin' / Venice Hotel Reviews / → All Tags
Cubicle Dreamin': Luxury Above the Tourists in Venice
Cubicle Dreamin' is a feature in which we ask the hotel mavens to take some time out of their busy work day, surf the Internet, and tell us what hotel they wish they could beam themselves to right that very second--all on the slave driving companies dime, of course. Oh, like these people aren't surfing aimlessly anyway--at least now their purposeless clicking will be cobbled together into useful hotel stories--we hope. Have a destination hotel you are just dying to leave your cube for? Send the story our way.
In this episode, Hotel Maven Amanda K let's us know where she wants to go for some romance. Enjoy.
With an anniversary in the wind I've been dreamin' romance this week, and when you think of romance you can't get past Venice, right? Well, what you usually can't get past in Venice is all the gawking, gondola-riding tourists (yeah, yeah, we're different of course), but if you manage to stay in totally luxury perhaps you don't notice them so much.
This time round my dreaming's taken me to Hotel Cipriani--pronounced, as they helpfully announce at the top of the website, as Chipriani. Located in gardens at one end of Giudecca Island, and just a short boat ride from St Mark's Square, and thirty minutes from the airport; for a mere 130 Euro ($170) they'll meet and greet you and get you to the hotel.
And while the name sounds a little unromantic, the Dogaressa Suite sounds like the kind of luxury we're after:
This new Suite is located right opposite St. Mark's square and the world-famous piazza appears through its four gothic windows. The sitting room, the largest in the palazzo, is decorated with original Coromandel screens, antique Chinese lamps, Fortuny and Rubelli fabrics. The imposing, airy bedroom overlooks peaceful gardens; a spacious corridor leads to an elegant pink-marble bathroom.
This sounds like the kind of place you can actually spend your entire holiday in your hotel and still be able to say you've experienced Venice--without having to mingle with the millions of tourists.
[Photo:* * Claire * *]
Related Stories:
· Hotel Cipriani reviews [TripAdvisor]
Tags: Movie Set Hotels / Venice Hotel Reviews / → All Tags
Movie Set Hotel: Woody Allen and The Hotel Gritti Palace
While we're not quite done with discovering what celebrities are staying in what hotels, we are taking a page from baby bro Jaunted's playbook this week by looking at hotels that have appeared in movies. However, we are eschewing the cliche movie hotels like those that appeared in"Pretty Woman" and "The Shining." Instead, we are looking at recent movies or little-known hotel cameos. If you happen to be a movie hotel buff, send us your fave appearances.
Thanks to Hotel Maven Ann, who happens to be extremely knowledgeable in movie set hotels, we learn that Woody Allen seems to give hotels cameos in his movies as much as he gives pretty starlets lead roles.
"Everyone Says I Love You" is one of Allen's musical films from the mid-90s about (what else) an eccentric family on New York's Upper East Side. It's chockfull of stars like Goldie Hawn, Julia Roberts, Alan Alda, Edward Norton, Natalie Portman and Drew Barrymore.
Allen himself plays an ex-husband who's still friends with his ex-wife and her new family. But he ends up jaunting off to Venice where he meets a woman Von (played by Roberts) and tries to convince her he is the man of her dreams. (Like all Woody Allen movies, that's not the only plot at work here.)
When Allen's character is in Venice he holes up at the Hotel Gritti Palace one of Starwood's Luxury Collection properties that overlooks the Grand Canal. When his character heads to France, the Ritz makes an appearance.
Similarly, Allen puts The Waldorf-Astoria in "Crimes and Misdemeanors", and the Carlyle in "Hannah and Her Sisters." However, with all of these hotels you are going to have to have Woody Allen's paycheck to stay there.
Related Stories:
· Hotel Gritti Palace reviews [TripAdvisor]
Tags: Venice Hotel Reviews / → All Tags
Bellini-Time at the Hotel Londra
The News Down Under recently checked out the Hotel Londra Palace in Venice, calling it a "gem" that has "unequalled views of St. Mark's Basin."
But never willing to take just one person's word for it, we found that their opinions are matched by past guests. The staff in particular at Londra Palace get continuously praised:
The concierges, especially Walter and Alvise, were incredibly helpful with directions, recommendations, and reservations for dinner, even assisting my husband to find a pharmacy when one was unexpectedly needed.
Other guests found the staff to be extremely helpful with their young children and in one person's case, her aging mother. These happy Venetians must be sipping back a lot of Bellinis to keep up this attitude.
We suggest you do the same however, as Bellinis may be the only form of entertainment. Although it's clear that the views are incredible, the furniture authentic, and the staff extraordinary, we found nothing in regard to WiFi, spa, fitness room, or anything of the sort.
Related Stories:
· Sweet Life on Canals of Venice [News.com.au]
· Hotel Londra Palace Reviews [TripAdvisor]
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