More about Santa Marina Hotel Venice
We loved htis hotel
by TripAdvisor Member dlpicha
I booked this hotel for my parents anniversary. They are 71 and this was their first trip to Europe...
Santa Marina Hotel - Venice
We loved this hotel, a former convent. It is on a canal in back, so water taxi is close. All beautiful warm wood on the inside. They have a bar (open evenings only) breakfast room and patio room for dining. Continental breakfast had a good variety. Our room was unique with brocade on the walls, folk art hand painted desk and armoire, and chair. So European! The staff was very friendly and helpful. There were many shops and restaurants close by. You just have to walk a few blocks in any direction and find lots of interesting places. The Rialto Bridge is 4-6 blocks. We ate at restaurants next to the bridge on the water. Not expensive and fun to people and goldola watch. Wine is reasonable. We are 71 and walked to Piazza San Marco, so it's not that far. There is a lot to do in that area. You don't have to eat or drink at the restaurants in the Piazza to hear the bands. But if you do, they don't push drinks, so you can sit for quite awhile.
Elegant hotel
by A TripAdvisor Member
We spent 5 nights at the Santa Marina and enjoyed it. Location is superb once you learn your way through the alleys. Staff was pleasant and generally helpful. Very sumptuous decor on ground floor is probably what earns it 4 stars. Room was small but adequate, bathroom good, bed comfortable. Breakfast OK though gets boring after a while. It's on a pretty little campo with a canal behind.
great hotel and location
by TripAdvisor Member Michelle27
We recently spent 4 nights at this hotel in Venice and were very pleased with out choice. The water taxi stop is a stones throw away from the hotel so it was convenient for transfers to and from the airport. It was also a short walk away from the Rialto Bridge and only about 15 minutes stroll to St Marks Square. Local restaurants were not too expensive and the hotel was in a quiet location. We were not in the main building but were very pleased with our room. Whilst it was very small it was fine for 4 nights and was beautifully clean. Breakfast in the main hotel was fairly basic but of a good standard and served by very friendly staff. Staff spoke excellent English and were very helpful in directing us and providing us with information for our short stay. We would definitely recommend this hotel as an excellent base for a short stay in Venice,
Brits unite and avoid this hotel!
by TripAdvisor Member ClaraM
I have just returned from another wonderful trip to Venice marred by one very bad experience.
My friend and I were visiting various hotels to find one suitable for a Christmas/New Year break for ten of us.
We found the Santa Marina hotel, entered and asked for a brochure. The reception staff were not at all welcoming but handed me one and we started to look around the public areas before asking if we could view a room and discuss our requirements.
My friend needed to use the toilet and so headed off to find one. (I do admit it was bad of her not to ask first if it was alright). As she disappeared into the loo an extremely agitated and angry member of staff verbally attacked me, pointing and saying that we obviously had no intention of looking at the hotel but just wanted the toilet, which was totally untrue.
Although I apologised three times and was very polite there was no stopping him and he proceed to have a real hissy fit, mincing about and totally berating me. Then he said we were 'just like all the English -Rubbish'!!!
With someone who thinks that about the English we will definatly not stay there and think that others might want to boycott it for the same reason.
Don't the people who give such appalling customer service understand that without the customers (whatever nationality) they would have no jobs!
Romantic Italy?
by TripAdvisor Member chorus
Having contacted the Hotel directly after it being recommended to us, the flight company we booked through could also book us the room so it was done through them instead.
We had been married the day before and were so looking forward to our honeymoon in Venice - Very Romantic! However, when we got to the hotel the gentleman who checked us in did not seem to have any record of our booking and was quite flustered for a few minutes. He then said that he had a room that was in the annexe. We joked that we hoped it was nice because we were on our honeymoon but as we are a couple in our early 50's we don't think he believed us! We were taken to the room in the annexe and were a little disturbed by the fact it smelled quite musty/dampish. I obviously checked the room for cleanliness and I have to say it was spotless and the bathroom very good other than the fact that the toilet seat was broken. We went to talk to the gentleman on duty (a different one) and asked about the room - it was very small and my husband is a large/tall man and we could just have done with a little more room. We were told that if we had booked a double standard room then that is what we had got! We informed him of the broken toilet seat and he said it would be seen to. We stayed three nights - Our stay at the hotel did not feel special at all and the toilet seat was not mended. We feel we should have been informed of the fact we were not in the main hotel and basically we had been so excited spending our honeymoon in Venice, and it was FANTASTIC but not because of our hotel and that was very disappointing. The hotel is a beautiful building but we did not feel we were welcomed or indeed listened to. Added to that they did not serve fresh fruit at breakfast - it was tinned fruit cocktail!
Loved this hotel
by TripAdvisor Member Larral
The experience with this hotel was the opposite to the one with at the hotel in Rome. We enjoyed the stay at this Hotel and the staff was wonderful, very helpful and friendly. We did stay at the main building and we loved the fact that it was in a very quiet area.
Be careful your room is not in the annexe - very cold, very small, very noisy!
by TripAdvisor Member LTJT
Stayed 3 nights. Booked hotel on basis of it being in a quiet and tranquil location, but central. We were put into an annexe, approximately 100 metres away in a narrow lane, right next to a bridge on a busy thoroughfare. Noisy at all times and paper-thin walls where you could hear every noise generated in almost the entire building. Very cold but informed that heating not switched on until 25th Oct (we stayed 19th-22nd Oct!) Room nicely decorated, clean and well-furnished but absolutely tiny.
Requested to transfer to main hotel, but informed there was only one room vacant and it was even smaller than the one we were in.
Requested an alarm call on day of departure, which did not happen.
Venice was astounding. The people mostly welcoming and friendly. The main Santa Marina hotel looks very nice but beware the annexe!
One of the worst hotel experiences EVER!
by TripAdvisor Member CaliforniaKFR
After an overnight train from Paris to Venice, my husband and I finally arrived at the Hotel Santa Marina. After the small and bland room in Paris, I was excited when I stepped into Santa Marina. It looked much nicer and more in-line with my expectations.
Then the "attitude" and horrible treatment began. We arrived at 11 AM and were told we could leave our things but check-in wasn't until 2 PM. They also took our passports which we did not get back until the following day when my husband had to go back and ask for them. We asked for help with restaurants and they reluctantly gave it to us - as if they were totally going out of their way. When we mentioned a restaurant that was recommended to us by a few different people, they actually tried to dissuade us from going there (said it was too far, which is wasn't at all) - and said they had other suggestions (we surmised this meant they were in a certain relationship with the other places...)
We came back a few minutes after 2 PM. We were told our room was in the "other building" - although there was NEVER any mention of this anytime before this point. The bellboy walked us over across the plaza where he went into a narrow building and proceeded to keep walking up flights of stairs - six to be exact. I asked about an elevator and he said "no". He took us to a room that I coined the "dungeon attic" (room 608). It had an uneven ceiling - we both hit our heads several times. The bathtub in the tiny bathroom was on the "short" side of the room making it impossible to actually stand up and take a shower. I had to carefully crawl into the tub and use the shower hose. Our bed consisted of two warped twin beds shoved together so that the slant was actually so the blood would rush to your head. The headboard actually had dried smeared blood on it. We slept in reverse with our feet up against the headboard.
I was extremely upset upon seeing the room and called the front desk. I was told I ordered a "standard room". The woman was condesceding, terse and dismissive. All the advertised rooms we saw looked NOTHING like this room. They actually have on their brochure, "Our focus on elegance and class is reflected in every detail, to ensure our Guest a complete venetian experience." I couldn't believe it when I read that. Nowhere does it say that some rooms (or even "standard" rooms) are located in a different building. In fact, the website description says, "Located on three floors, the hotel has a convenient elevator."
The next day we were lucky to find another hotel (far superior in every way) that we could check into - and it was New Year's Eve! When he went to return the key and explain why we were leaving, the woman at the front desk didn't care at all and simply took the key and said, "okay."
We were talked down to, and I was completely shocked and stunned at the treatment we received and the room they gave us - we felt unwelcome and that was my THIRD time in Venice! It was my husband's first time and he now has a horrible first impression of Venice.
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