"Just back from four nights at the Bucintoro to celebrate my lovely wife's 70th birthday, so it had to be something special, which the Bucintoro is. I picked it partly for its 4.8/5 reviews, but mainly for its unique location, on the waterfront, just a 10-minute stroll from St.Mark’s Square, with all rooms having an unobstructed view of the lagoon, which even the larger hotels nearer to St.Mark’s don't have. Even better, you can get the Alilaguna waterbus (or a high speed water taxi) direct from the airport to drop you off at Arsenale waterbus stop, just a few yards from the hotel, saving you long walks and dragging heavy luggage up and down the steps of multifarious bridges if you stay elsewhere in Venice. Better still the massive crowds around St.Mark’s Square are generally either too lazy or too time constrained to walk as far as the Bucintoro, so you have no problem finding a table in one of the several restaurants and pizzerias just around the corner from the Bucintoro for your lunch or evening meal, plus there is little noise late at night, other than occasional noisy boats passing. All hotels in Venice are expensive and the Bucintoro seems to be one of the most expensive of them all, which we would never consider for a normal city break, but for an extra special occasion, the convenience of its location, and the views from the high quality furnished rooms, do somewhat outweigh the hefty room rates, for what was, otherwise, for us, just a typical hotel experience.
I freely admit that, although my wife and I always stay in 4-star hotels in Spanish resorts, and we were aware well before we travelled of what it would cost us to stay at the Bucintoro, we are not accustomed to paying anywhere near such high room rates (€374.88 for our final night, €314.16 for our cheapest night for our Superior room), so are we being naive in expecting the highest attention to detail in return? Unfortunately, that is not what we felt we got in some respects. On arrival, just a week after the hotel re-opened after refurbishments, the one small lift was out of action, meaning the poor uniformed porter accompanied us whilst dragging our luggage up four flights of stairs to show us to our 4th floor room. The new electronic door lock wouldn't let us into the room without multiple keycard swipes and a hefty push on the door. The toilet seat came off one of its (insufficiently secured) hinges the first time it was lifted. The air conditioning didn't work (apparently not activated till later in the month), so sleep was disturbed by noisy boats passing in the night due to the open windows for cooling. There was black mould all around the shower tray, and no soap dish, or similar in the compact corner shower cubicle, into which to place the supplied toiletries/soap (all reported to Reception on the first day, but no apparent action taken). And on our final morning, the shower lever-tap decided to not turn off the water properly!
In conclusion, the exceptional reviews from last year, prior to the refurbishment, raised our expectations to a very high level, which for us, unfortunately, didn't materialise. Don't let our experience put you off booking the Bucintoro, but judge the hotel on 2026 reviews, not the much older glowing reviews that tell you everything is absolutely fabulous!"
