Hotel San Giorgio

Reviews born from frustration seldom flatter, but I will endeavor to be fair—and honest. We booked our stay about a year from our arrival. At the time of our booking, the hotel advertised air conditioned rooms and included a complimentary breakfast. Our reservation indicated we had a breakfast included with our stay—something we paid extra for. However, upon arrival, our situation had shifted in the hotel’s favor. We arrived just after 2PM, which was the earliest we could check in. The desk clerk was clumsily attempting to check in the young lady who was ahead of us. It took him almost 25 minutes to get her room processed. In the mean time, the lobby began to fill with travelers. The clerk didn’t speak English and the young lady spoke broken English. After 15 minutes, she turned to the crowd and asked if anyone spoke Italian. She knew there was an issue with her room, but didn’t know what it was. The clerk was trying to get her to pay a city tax, and it took a long time to resolve that issue. She insisted she had already paid it, but finally surrendered and offered to pay it again so she could go to her room. When we finally checked in, we found our room on the second floor (actually third, as they don’t count the ground as a level), and entered our room. The first thing we noticed was the room temperature. It was warm and stuffy. A quick inspection revealed the air conditioner was completely disconnected from electric power, as the wires were openly dangling from the ceiling. One of the staff members was helping guests carry their luggage to their room, as the hotel did not have an elevator. We asked about the air conditioner and she said it was unavailable throughout the entire hotel as they were upgrading the system. She brought us a fan. We asked to be moved to another room, but she insisted that none of the rooms had air conditioning. We asked to be moved to a room with more windows so we could get air flow, but she said it was impossible. We asked if they would allow us to check out so we could find better accommodations, but she said there were no refunds. We were stuck with our prepaid room. To make matters worse, our sister and her husband checked in at the same time and their room had air conditioning. To be fair—the hotel did offer to exchange our room after some other guests checked out the next day. But, we declined, not wanting the hassle of having to pack our stuff again to move down one floor. But, sleeping with an open window drew mosquitos, so we should have accepted the room change hassle. The room was clean, but it was tiny. There was no room to walk around the bed, as it was pushed against two walls. Our “dresser” space was taken by the fan. The bathroom was clean and had a decent stand-up shower. It was super small. Only one person could be in the bathroom at a time. And only one person could stand beside the bed at a time. There was little room for changing clothes. We had to place our second bag in front of the door

I want to preface this review with the fact the low rating only came after much deliberation from me. The hotel has definite potential and may have earned an extra point or two if some glaring issues were not present, unfortunately, even a 3 out of 5 seemed high to rate this hotel. The Positives: This location can't be beat. You are a 10 -15 minute walk from anything you can need. The hotel is only about 6 minutes from San Angelo water bus station, which makes it easy to get to from the train station or the Marco Polo airport. We arrived via train and hopped on a water taxi, which cost 60 euros to take us to the same point. It was well worth the expense to us. The room itself is very intimate and decorated in the traditional Venetian style. While small, it was perfect for a romantic stay. The bathroom was decent and the shower was the largest that we encountered during our stay in Italy. The front door is secure 24 hours a day and requires a fob to enter. The staff were all friendly and helpful. We forgot our corkscrew to open wine at home, and they provided one to borrow. They all spoke English very well and provided information about transport and directions The wifi was very fast, and the TV reception was very good. The room was cleaned daily. The Negatives: Check in was not smooth at all. The process took quite some time as they kept trying to close out the pre authorization amount on the room. It was after the 5th failure that they realized we booked many months ago and that the pre-authorization was no longer valid. We paid as a new transaction with no issue. While not necessarily a negative, something of note is that the hotel requires full payment at check in. It caught me off guard slightly as this is normally something we take care of at check out. It worked out well for us as we had an early flight on check out day. The door to the room opens with a traditional key, but in order to close, you also need the key to lock the door from the inside. There is not turn knob like a dead bolt. The key must be inserted in the room to close the door. This was strange and I had concerns with it. 1) in the event of a fire, we would need to find the key and fumble it in the dark to unlock to door to escape. This could be disastrous. 2) because the door to the building is secure with a fob, If one of us left without the other we had 2 options: either lock our loved one in the room with no way to escape in an emergency, or leave them in an unsecured room that anyone can walk into, so we had the key to re enter the building. The biggest issue we had however was in relation to the window/ventilation system. The hotel was obviously being renovated during our stay as the ceilings had all been opened with exposed pipes and wires. What we realized when we checked in was that the AC in our room was also open and disconnected. This left us with only one option for air flow ... opening the window. This wasn't terrible at first

The hotel can only be described as decaying grandeur. Clean and served the purpose for a brief 2 night stay. Bed was comfy but be prepared for an outdated decor and broken air con, although it was winter when we stay so not a problem. Quirky and we enjoyed our time in Venice but wouldn’t choose to stay in this hotel again. In its day, sure it was very grand and it still has a huge amount of charm but needs updating.

Half of the lights were burnt out and most the outlets didn’t work except for one. The bed was very stiff and heavily leaning to one side, it felt more like a hammock and I had to keep myself from falling off the bed multiple times throughout the night. No heat or AC makes it either extremely cold or very hot. We were there in January and were forced to hide under the covers of the stiffest bed I’ve ever felt. Even the staff was wearing winter coats in the lobby. Shower was broken, couldnt raise the height but it was still usable, the water temperature wasn’t really hot and got cold rather quickly. There is a very weird smell in the bathroom and it didn’t help that the shower gets water all over the bathroom floor. There’s no elevator but that’s not a huge deal. The breakfast….. maybe we got there late but unless you wanted dry cereal or an old croissant it most certainly was worth any extra money if you have the option. We went out to look for breakfast both times. The staff seemed very lovely and friendly but I personally wouldn’t ever stay here again.