Venice is one of my favorite cities to visit and it’s draw is strengthened by the number of Starwood / Marriott properties available for redemption. In fact, there are five properties on the main island itself! I see a ton of questions about which property is the best use of Starpoints given the variety in costs and point rates. I decided to take a look…

Starwood-to-Marriott Multiplier

Don’t forget that since the merger of Starwood and Marriott, SPG members are able to transfer Starpoints to Marriott points at the rate of 1 to 3. This is especially advantageous when looking to redeem in Venice as there is a Marriott property on the main island.

Redemption Options

As you can see, there are five total properties on the island of Venice. When I say island, I mean the part that is impaled by the Grand Canal. I used an arbitrary date in March to get the price per night and then ran a calculation against the Starpoints value to get to a true value per point for each property. Obviously, nightly rates will vary so the formula for figuring out this calculation on your own is the price ($) / Starpoints. 

As you can see, the Westin Europa & Regina, Gritti Palace, and Boscolo are neck and neck at around 17 cents-per-point of value. If you ask me, I’m going with the Boscolo as I would only be laying out 15,000 Starpoints per night. You shouldn’t be spending much time in the room anyway and most of the hotels are the same in terms of style and comfort.

My personal favorite hotel in Venice is neither Marriott or SPG, it’s Hilton. The Hilton Molino Stuckey is amazing if you can score one of the canal view rooms. The redemption rate is high at 90,000-100,000 points Hilton Honors points in the high season, but the hotel is fantastic and only a five minute ferry ride across the canal to the main island. But this post is about Starpoints so I digress.

Suite Night Redemptions

If you’re a 50-night SPG member and you elected the 10 free suite nights benefit and are looking to redeem them in Venice, you’re in luck. Redeeming for Suite Nights at SPG properties in Venice is a smart move as most, if not all, of them afford you a view of the water which, when in Venice, is the one of the best parts!

• Gritti Palace: 21 suites
• Palazzina: 7 suites
• Westin Europe & Regina: 17 suites
• Hotel Danieli: 31 suites

As you may know, when redeeming Suite Night Awards, you aren’t able to just choose a type of suite and be done with it. Properties only make specific suites available for Suite Night Awards redemption so keep this in mind.

Bottom Line

Enjoy Venice. Seriously. It’s an amazing city that isn’t going to be around forever. Get lost in the city, spend as little time as possible in your hotel and wander. We can debate all day about the minute details of each of these hotels but the fact is they are largely the same. Sure, the operations of the Gritti may be ritzier than the Westin, but that depends on what you’re looking for.

Regarding credit cards, you can sign up and apply for the SPG American Express card which offers 25,000 Starpoints when you spend $3,000 in 90 days (good for one night at Westin Europa or Marriott Boscolo) and / or the Chase Marriott card with a bonus of 80,000 Marriott points after you spend $3,000 in 90 days (good for one night at Westin Europa or Marriott Boscolo).

What is your favorite Venetian Starwood property?

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