Two weeks ago Starwood Hotels closed on the sale of Gritti Palace Venice to Qatar-based Nozul Hotels & Resorts for $117 million. Starwood will continue to hold a long-term management contract for the hotel.
Gritti Palace Venice is one of the jewels in Starwood Hotels. The 82-room hotel is in a 15th century building was originally built in 1475 as a nobleman’s residence. The building was enlarged by Andrea Gritti from 1523 to 1538 when it became the residence of the 16th century Venice doge Andrea Gritti. In the 19th century the residence was converted to a hotel.
Sleeping in a luxury hotel in a building over 500 years old is the kind of experience that enlivens a stay in Venice. People come to Italy to see old architecture and a centuries old hotel surrounds you with history.
Architectural Digest – RENOVATING THE HISTORIC GRITTI PALACE IN VENICE – Adam Gopnik
The name Gritti Palace came in 1947 when the hotel was upgraded following the war to become the famed luxury hotel of Venice for nearly sixty years. The hotel was closed and redesigned during late 2011 and 2012. Gritti Palace reopened in early 2013 after the £36.5 million project, with a reduction in rooms from 91 to 82 and conversion of premier water view rooms to suites. Much of the expenditure was restoration of the hotel’s antiques by skilled craft workers in Italian arts. Each of the hotel rooms has unique pieces.
UK Telegraph – The Gritti Palace: Venice’s most celebrated hotel reopens – Tim Jepson (March 8, 2013)
Ten redesigned Patron Canal suites are named for local Venetians and famous authors. There is the Hemingway Suite, Somerset Maugham and John Ruskin Suite.
For most of us the ability to stay at Gritti Palace is a challenge, even with points for this SPG category 7 hotel, let alone pay the price for a suite.
Notice 7,300 EUR is rack rate. You should be able to knock 50% off that price.
