Londra Palace Venezia

Over the past 25 years, my husband and I have stayed in a variety of hotels. Some of higher quality than The Londra Palace and some of lesser, but never, ever, have we been treated as poorly as we were at The Londra. I am shocked that this property allows such behavior and that Relais and Chateaux accepts these standards. When we arrived at TLP on September 30th, we were accompanied by a friend of my family’s. I have known this woman since I was three and she is like a second mother to me. My friend spends every September in Venice and we were excited to see each other. She met us at the train to greet us and ensure we found our way to our hotel safely. As we were checking-in, my family friend told Ilaria, the concierge she wanted to join us upstairs “just to see” our room. She knew I had purposely chosen a room with a terrace overlooking the lagoon and she wanted to take in the view. She had no luggage and no outward signs she was planning to stay but instead of being gracious and hospitable, Ilaria replied, “I must see an ID. We need to know who is in our hotel.” I was taken aback, but unaware of local laws, did not say anything. My friend handed over her ID and Ilaria told her in a cold tone, “You may have this back when you leave.” Ilaria escorted us to our room, showed us the amenities and made her way towards the door. Before she left, she looked at my friend and said, “I will see you downstairs.” I was flabbergasted by her rudeness. Unfortunately for us, Ilaria was so preoccupied with removing our guest, she failed to mention anything about breakfast. We only found out the night before we left that The Londra serves a complimentary breakfast in a beautiful dining room. That would have been nice to have known! Normally, that is something a guest would be informed of at check-in. Perhaps, even taken to the room to be shown where to go in the morning. Not us. Not Ilaria. After saying goodbye to my family friend, we sat on the terrace for a few minutes. I couldn’t help but notice an old wad of chewing gum stuck to the marble. By the looks of it, it had been there a while and it made me really consider how well the rooms are cleaned at TLP. We chose not to drink out of any glasses or touch anything unnecessary the rest our time. When we set out for the evening, I stopped at the concierge desk. I wanted to ask that someone scrape the gum and if Ilaria could email the restaurant, Venissa for me. I wanted to confirm our upcoming reservation and the travel plans with the owner of the restaurant. My Italian is terrible and I had expected Ilaria to offer to call or email on our behalf. Instead, she replied, “It is easy, [email protected].” She did not even bother to write the information on a piece of paper for me. I was so surprised at her curt behavior, I forgot to ask about the gum. About an hour later, my husband received a text from a colleague recommending, a local restaurant for dinner. My husband looked at their website and saw that they are closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays, leaving us only that night to try to book a table. We knew they likely held a table or two for “walk-ins” but being that our Italian is poor and hotel concierges normally have a relationship with local restaurants, we called The Londra and asked Ilaria if she could see if they had space for two any time that night. It was approximately 6:00 pm. Again, we expected Ilaria to call the restaurant to see if they had space but instead, she looked at their website and said they were full. That was it. No effort to try. No offer to help with another reservation. Nothing. The next afternoon we met Ilaria back behind the desk. As she gave us our key, she told us in an overly sweet voice that the general manager of the hotel would like to “meet” us. Being polite and not foreign to such gestures, we stood, waiting a good few minutes before a man came and introduced himself. He didn’t want to “meet” us. He told us he wanted to discuss a problem he was made aware of. He told us we had a device in our room that was a “security threat” to the hotel. We didn’t understand what he referring to and the whole conversation was very confusing. We had a steamer and a Chilipad in our room. The Chilipad is exactly as the name suggests. It is a pad that circulates cool water to keep a bed from getting hot. Both devices worked without issue in multiple European hotels and this was the first time we had been asked about either in the 5 years we have traveled with both. I asked him if his concern was that his electrical panel couldn’t handle the converter. He assured me no, that electric power was not his issue. I was still confused and he repeated that the device was security threat but he couldn’t stop us from using it. He couldn’t stop us from using it but he just had to stop us, completely embarrass us and let us know there is no privacy at the Londra? While we were out that night, it occurred to me that maybe the issue the management had was they thought my Chilipad was heater. When we came back that night, I saw another woman at the desk and Ilaria on the phone. I approached the other woman and asked her if the staff thought the Chilipad was a heater. I explained to her it isn’t one and actually circulates cool water through the pad. Without being asked, addressed or even putting down the phone, Ilaria interrupted my conversation to yell, “NO! It is a heater and it is under the bed!”. Without looking in her direction, I continued my conversation with the nice woman, repeating it is not a heater and it worked in many European hotels without an issue. The nice woman thanked me for my clarification and told me she would let the manager know. We never heard another thing about it, including an apology. We avoided Ilaria as much as possible and only saw her at check-out where she was far more pleasant. Perhaps that was a result of a new gentleman we had never seen being present or perhaps it was because she had the nerve to ask my husband if he wanted to leave a tip! We will never know. We left tips but only for staff who had been kind. This hotel lacks many refinements: a working elevator; sound-resistant windows; clean and inviting rooms; a bathroom two people can stand in; a shower you can turn/bend down in, toilets that do not smell of the sewer. The location is not great either. Yes, it is in the middle of San Marco but the lagoon is something akin to a subway station. It is so loud and ugly; filled with one motor boat after another. There is no beautiful view and the terrace at the Londra does not have the appropriate furniture to allow guests to sit out and look at the lagoon. They should get high-top tables for people to sit on so they can see over the railing. And management, please spare us all your rebuttal. Take the criticism and improve your customer experience.

We had a fantastic family dinner at the occasion of my Uncle Albin's 90th Birthday. Paolo Trevisson and his Bar and Restaurant team wowed us all the way through a fantastic Venetian old recipe 4 course tailor made menu for this occasion. Paolo has worked 8 years at at the Hotel Danieli and his chefs and sommelier team are outstanding. Plus the newly renovated restaurant with its terrazzo floor and stunning deco and lighting are simply stunning as a setting. Restaurant Londra Palace, is part of Relais et Chateaux, the organisation which curates accommodation with the best Food and Beverage experiences in the world, and we were in no way disappointed of our choice.

We arrived post cruise (Trieste) and were so pleased we selected this hotel for its location, charm and superb staff. We felt inspired to travel again after so many years of haphazard travel experiences brought to us by Covid. The staff was superb, and the Concierge staff( an almost lost art) was well practiced at helping us arrive, arrangements during our stay and departure. A simple" you are on vacation, so do not worry" is so unusual to hear and so difficult to execute. Thank you for a most excellent experience, we would be pleased to return soon!