Opening a hotel in Venice is not easy. In a city where planning permission is nigh impossible to get, and whose streets and buildings are partially under water 250 days a year, it is no wonder that only a few major hotel chains have managed to succeed.
Starwood Hotels & Resorts is the main Venetian player with five hotels in the city, some of which are instantly recognisable as Starwood
properties, others less so. For instance the hotel chain manages the famous Danieli (pictured right) and owns Hotel Gritti Palace, although unless you book a room and see the branding on the complimentary toiletries, you may never be aware of Starwood”s presence.
A rather mysterious story surrounds an attempted opening by Accor, who currently has one hotel (the Sofitel Venezia) in the city. According to local rumour the hotel group were in the midst of building another Sofitel property on one of Venice”s smaller islands, but the project was abandoned and the site remains vacant. Two possibilities for the mystery have been suggested: Accor was never granted planning permission or there was a major fault with the hotel”s construction. The fact that no-one has stepped forward to carry on where Accor left off speaks volumes about the risks involved in Venetian property.
The latest addition from a large hotel chain is the Hilton Molino Stucky. The former flour mill once owned by Giovanni Stucky will re-open as Venice”s largest business hotel in June, having been left vacant for 50 years. Hilton did manage to secure planning permission for its conference centre, but only because it's hidden behind the main building and can”t be seen. Hilton is forbidden from knocking down the numerous pillars which are a quirky feature of the new hotel (see below).
When Hotel properties do manage to overcome the problems of either acquiring or building a new hotel, the next problem they face is water. If you”re a first-time visitor to Venice (as I was) who chooses to avoid the summer madness, you”ll be shocked to discover that the picturesque canals that surround and divide the city frequently creep through the streets.
Even more staggering is the attitude of the Venetians, who regard water in their streets and homes as the most natural thing in the world. Martina Boffelli, who works as a tour guide in the city, said all Venetians are capable of predicting and sensing the coming weather and have a detailed knowledge of the cycles of the moon. ”Venetians can sense a change in the weather before it happens ” you can smell that the water is rising before you see it in the street.”
The water enters the city via two routes: it can either flow over the top of the canals themselves, or it surges up through the foundations of the buildings and enters via any cracks it finds. Outside of the summer months ”catwalks” (raised wooden pathways) are stacked throughout the city, ready to be put up at a moments notice when the water levels rise.
Wellington boots are a fashion must-have for any Venetian, and hotel doormen and concierges are well-used to lugging the foyer”s carpets away when the floods arrive. Hilton has managed to avoid the problem by creating an enormous air pocket under the hotel, so that when the water rises only this underground chamber will flood and no carpet need move.
As we queued outside St Mark”s Church on a catwalk wide enough for just two people, I rather anxiously asked Boffelli about the damage such frequent flooding must cause to the city”s infrastructure. She shrugged and said: ”really it”s not a problem ” the floors in the church are all wavy because of the water, but the building is fine. Venetians don”t see a problem with the water, although we”d rather not live on the ground floor”.
No wonder the international hotel chains have tended to stay away ” after all, who could be as relaxed as the Venetians about investing in a building that is likely to be under water for three quarters of the year?
By Gina Cherry