Marconi Hotel is a 3* hotel located right in the middle of Venice and just by the Rialto Bridge on the Grand Canal.
It is also ideally located if you travel from and to the airport via the Alilaguna boat-taxi (which I recommend) as you alight just opposite the hotel and have a 5mn walk via the Rialto Bridge.
This is absolutely brilliant!
The outside of the hotel is not really attractive as it looks a bit run down, as do so many buildings in Venice because of the humidity linked to the water.
You realize that the inside is absolutely fine when you push the door to the reception hall that is decorated in a very dark, obsolete and baroque style.
It is in fact quite attractive as it fits perfectly with the city.
The hotel’s common areas and rooms have all this obsolete style that gives them a lot of charm and character.
The rooms are of excellent standard and the bathroom not brand new but fairly recent, with new style appliances and tiles.
The whole hotel is immaculately clean.
As I had booked a package and therefore got a special rate, we were placed in a room that was not too far from the kitchen.
This means that it was a bit noisy as we could hear the staff getting the breakfast room ready early in the morning (not their fault, just the location of the room!)
This was not too much of a disturbance though as we set off early but it might be for other customers.
It also seems as if none of the rooms have view over the Grand Canal but on the lanes running on both sides of the hotel.
You therefore don’t have any view but the positive aspect of it is that you don’t have the noise from the traffic on the canal.
The entire hotel though was a bit noisy because of the age of the building and therefore the lack of modern sound insulation.
But I guess we could consider this as an extra charm!
The buffet breakfast is ok and good value for money and proposes a wide selection of food ranging from bread, croissants, fruits, cooked eggs, bacon and sausages, juices, coffee various teas etc…
I didn’t see any restaurant in the hotel but the restaurant located next door might be part of it (no idea just guessing).
The serving staff (mostly of Asian origin) is friendly.
The reception staff members (Italians) are professional but are certainly not going out their way to assist you or smile!
Someone told me that it is a common issue in Italy and I have to say that I could easily believe it: they make very obvious that you are neither Italian nor Venetian!
They are a bit abrupt and short when talking.
In fact they don’t really make you feel welcome in their city.
The only smile we got was from the night receptionist - he must have been very tired! ;)
The fact that the hotel was perfectly located in town and easily reached made us overlook this lack of warmth as we spent so little time in the hotel!
As a conclusion I would recommend the hotel if you don’t mind having to deal with ‘unfriendly’ staff and old fashion style equipment essentially because of its fantastic location and good value for money.
Would I go back there when returning to Venice? On a 2-day trip as we just did yes, on a longer stay may be not!
