Mrs MJonTravel and I spent one night at this fine hotel on July 16, 2010.  Following our Celebrity Equinox cruise, we decided to take the train from Rome to Venice and do a little whirlwind touring of beautiful Venice.  I won’t write a typical full hotel review as I don’t feel like our one night stay was enough to fully grasp everything I need in order to do so.  That said, we really enjoyed our stay.

After arriving at Santa Lucia rail station, we hailed a private water taxi to take us to the hotel.  The cost was $60 Euros, and I don’t regret the investment.  It gave us an opportunity to kick back for several minutes and soak in the beautiful city that surrounded us.  The Hilton offers a relatively frequent shuttle boat service from the main city to the hotel located on Giudecca Island.  However, I’d not accomplished an appropriate amount of research to determine how to take a public transit boat to a spot where we could connect to the hotel’s shuttle boat.

Checking in at the hotel was easy, and only complicated by a guest who cut into the line to ask a question and then proceed to spend the next 10 minutes asking questions.  The desk person was very polite, and checked us into our second floor executive suite within minutes.

The room itself was extraordinary.  The executive suite included a living room, large bath, and separate bedroom.  The living room was equipped with a refrigerator, and even had a “double eye” stovetop, and wet bar.  The view wasn’t much, but we had no time to spend in the room anyhow!

The Executive Lounge was on the first floor in the lobby bar area.  It appeared to be a temporary setup, but the food and drink offered were impressive to a guy who spends most of his time in domestic hotels.  Red and white wine, champagne, and several beers as well as soft drinks and bottled water were all complimentary.  The evening food selection was quite good, and included numerous cheeses, salads, and vegetables in addition to various meats.  Unfortunately, we did not visit for dessert.  We were just exhausted from traveling and really just wanted to veg in our room.

We returned to the room to find complimentary bottles of water, and a gift box which contained “Bellini in a Bottle.”  🙂  We threw it in the small freezer, and enjoyed it later that evening.  You won’t find the big comfortable Hilton bed you might expect in a US Hilton, but our King bed was comfortable, if a bit firm.  English language television programming was limited to about 8 channels, and several pay per view movies were available at $14 Euros each.  Wired internet access was also available.  I did not even attempt to connect, so I can’t confirm the price.  The Hilton FCO Airport wanted $27 Euros for access, and I expect the Hilton Venice was probably close to that.

After a solid night’s sleep, we enjoyed a great breakfast in the hotel’s buffet restaurant.  We checked out of the hotel and left our luggage with the bell staff so we could enjoy a day of touring Venice without our bags.  The hotel’s shuttle boat schedule worked out very well for dropping us in the middle of everything, and providing an easy return to get our bags so we could make our train.

Overall, I thought the hotel was excellent.  The Hilton is a little out of the way being located on Giudecca island, but the shuttle boat makes it easily accessible from the main city.  Bottom line, I wish we could’ve stayed longer!  Not only to enjoy beautiful Venice, but also to provide you a more complete review of the hotel.  Brief stay or not, I found the staff to be uniformly polite and helpful, and I enjoyed the hotel very much.  It’s a great hotel, and I’d certainly consider it again when returning to Venice.