What doesn't this place have going for it? A stunning palazzo, a movie-quality view, a primo location and a staff that goes out of its way to insure you are happy. I can't imagine a better hotel experience in Venice than this. The hotel itself is stunning. We had a party of six people and took up three rooms. My wife and I had the suite on the Grand Canal with the balcony, and yes, it was worth the extra money for the view. But the other two rooms were very nice as well, one with a city view that looked like a green screen movie effect. I'm told the hotel actually appeared in the movie 'The Italian Job.' Breakfast on the terrace right on the Grand Canal was memorable you might have to fight off a few hungry pigeons but it only adds to the charm of the experience (they even provide some elegant bamboo pigeon shoo-ers). As for location, wow. Very centrally located and right next door to a vaporetto stop (Ca' Rezzonico), so it's easy to walk or boat anywhere and it's just far enough away from the craziness of San Marco Square ('a wonderful place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there.'). We walked and took all form of transportation vaporetto, water taxi, you can even get a boat shuttle to the airport (Alilaguna) from our vaporetto stop. Lastly, Ludovico and the staff are tremendous. They made us dinner reservations weeks in advance at two really nice places, gave us great advice about nearby locations (Campo Santa Margherita's a great hot spot for cool bars and restaurants) and were generally friendly and helpful with advice on getting around. And get this they remembered (without any prompting) that it was our daughter's birthday and provided her with a bottle of champagne in her room! Not to mention that when we asked about getting transportation to Murano to see the glass shops, they offered up a free private water taxi for what would otherwise have been an expensive boat ride.
