Orient Express Venezia at Palazzo Donà Giovannelli, former home of the Duke of Urbino, is a treasured palace built in 1400. Renovated in 1800 by Gian Battista Meduna then owned by the Donà and Giovannelli families, it will become a hotel for the first time thanks to the design of architect Aline Asmar d Amman. Inspired by the cultures and eras that are forever a part of its history, Orient Express Venezia will be home to 47 rooms and suites, overlooking the gardens or the canals of Venice.
"Orient Express Venezia opened on April 1st of this year. The hotel's aesthetic is exceptionally sophisticated, and I loved it. There are dance performances at the bar in the evening and someone playing the zither during breakfast, making for a fantastic overall experience.
We booked a total of five Superior Rooms, but surprisingly, the size of each room varied significantly??? Two were very large, one was medium, and another two were quite small. Paying the same price for the same room type yet receiving such different experiences made me very upset. When I was assigned the smallest room, I immediately went to the front desk to express my dissatisfaction and ask for the reason. Their explanation was that they arranged it this way so our rooms would be close to each other. However, I pointed out that we didn't necessarily need to stay right next to each other, and I requested to change the smallest room to a larger one—either a medium or a larger-sized room. The front desk promptly checked for room availability. What satisfied me was that they eventually managed to move me to a relatively larger room (still a Superior Room, not an upgrade), though it required some waiting and a later check-in.
Actually, there is one more thing worth mentioning: this is also the only hotel among all the ones I've ever stayed at that charges an additional service fee. In my past hotel experiences, the room rate always included everything except incidental personal expenses. However, Orient Express Venezia presents a bill with a service fee at check-out. Fortunately, this service fee is optional—you can choose to pay it, skip it, or adjust the amount yourself. The service fee on my bill came to over 700 euros, but I ultimately chose to pay half."