Aman Venice — Hotel in Venice

We capped off 10 days in Italy at the Aman Venice, and we had high hopes. Most of our expectations were met, but there are a few items that were sorely disappointing, so it's tough to say that, overall, we found the experience worth the money. ||Let me start by saying this: The level of service in the hotel generally is top-notch. We were greeted by the general manager on arrival and there was always someone there to open a door or offer assistance. Kudos for this. ||The hang-up is this: Our room (the basic level bedroom--number 3) was not really in the Palazzo. It was, in a literal sense, but it was down an outdoor corridor on the first (lobby) floor and, unfortunately, one door down from the public bathroom. (Room 3 is also accessible by walking through a lobby gift shop, not really what I consider a prime location.)||The room was spacious and well appointed, but wholly devoid of any Venice-specific detail. (There were what appeared to be historic brick columns, but we could have been in an New York City loft, or anywhere really.) What had been advertised has having a view of the private garden "below" (alongside a picture of a bed next to a large sunny window) was not what we encountered. The windows in our room were small and situated at the top of the wall, giving the impression that we were not looking down at a garden, but instead that we were in a subterranean bunker. Our wifi signal likewise suggested we were in a bunker--it was spotty even within the confines of our room. This, along with all of the lack of privacy that comes from being on the lobby floor, next to the only public bathroom on the floor, and the noise of people coming and going. ||I get it. You get what you pay for, and we did not spring for a suite, so maybe we shouldn't complain. But shouldn't the room at least fit the description advertised by the hotel? At very least, the hotel should clarify that these rooms are on the lobby level and, as a result, are not private and secure from non-guests coming and going. ||Back to not being "in" the Palazzo -- because of the strange location of our room, we literally entered the hotel three or four times. And the hotel is where all of the beautiful and historic details and (I assume, privacy) are. Instead we came and went thru the back entrance to the property which was directly next to the door to the public bathroom next to our room. ||We would have been more understanding had we not booked a room that included a guaranteed category upgrade if available. I presume the hotel will respond and say that the upgrade offer was only one level, and the level directly above us was full. But the hotel had availability the entirety of our stay, so why not allow us to stay in a nicer, empty room? Or upgrade someone else and let us have their room? I don't expect or feel entitled to upgrades ever, but I do a bit more when they are offered as part of the rate package and, in this case, we were on our honeymoon. Seems like an exception to normal policy could be made. (Speaking of rate packages, ours came with a free 30-minute spa treatment for each guest. But the kicker is that the spa is open odd hours during the day (basically between prime lunchtime and until early evening), so it was never open when we woke up or returned to the hotel after exploring for the day. We tried to take advantage of this perk but could never find time when the spa was open to tell us our treatment options. And no one offered to coordinate this for us.)||The other issue: When I stay at a high-end hotel with a nice bar, I expect to be given some preference for space in the bar. Not like kicking anyone out of their seats, but I expect the hotel to make some accommodation so I can have a drink. When we arrived at Aman, our room was not ready and we were invited to wait in the bar. But 20-30 minutes passed and no one waited on us (we were seated but no one came to take our order and there did not appear to be a bartender on duty). By the time someone came over to take our order, another person came to find us and told us our room was ready -- no drink. Twice during our stay we returned to the bar to have a drink, and twice we were turned away. The bar wasn't full, but we were told spaces had been reserved by people who were not staying in the hotel. For a bar that simply didn't seem to be all that in demand during our stay, we certainly felt unwelcome and unimportant. No one ever asked to find a space for us, to have us come back at a later time, or to do anything to address the situation. ||We were in Venice during low season, and our rate reflected it. Perhaps that somewhat explains our experience. But I certainly wouldn't pay high season rates at the Aman for the experience I had, which I would describe overall as uneven. Terrific service is awesome, but most of the hotel experience is room, and I just don't feel that our room (aside from being large and well appointed) was what was advertised. As for the hotel, it's certainly nice, but given the location of our room, it didn't matter--we were never in it. ||A bit of a let-down to cap off a honeymoon, but Venice is wonderful and hotel gripes aside, it was wonderful to...

So here is the much anticipated review of my stay at the Aman Venice!

To start I would like you to know that I am very transparent and completely honest with my reviews and I never let my emotions be the judge. I take my time to think and reflect on what to state, so here's my take on my much anticipated first stay at Aman Venice or infact any Aman hotel.

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Let me start with the hotel itself and how it is designed. I personally really appreciated the historical building they have chosen to accommodate the hotel. I believe it fits it nicely, I especially like the modern fitout in contrast to the historical interior design as you have probably have seen in the previous stories. It truly feels like home. The parket flooring with the stunning painted ceilings. The rooms are well equipped and very spacious with huge bathrooms, always a plus.

It's a small touch but this is probably my favorite, It is the basket they have at the corner of the bathroom where you practically just deposit your clothes for laundry and it will be taken by the room service for either washing or dry cleaning depending on your preferences. Just like home.

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A few restaurants are found in the hotel including a three Michelin star chef 🌟 🌟 🌟 present for your appetite, we had the chance to dine at the outdoor terrace and at the Arva restaurant. Mind you all restaurants are beautiful and really well designed. The food at the terrace is casual with few options available, nothing over complicated. A nice large outdoor terrace but I personally felt it was missing something. A pool perhaps or something more than just a plane garden with grass. The downside to the terrace that I have to point out is the service. It is very slow and undoubtedly under staffed for the garden area, but better at the Arva restaurant. The food is great at Arva.

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The concierge is the key to any hotel to make your stay a memorable stay. I did manage to have communication with the concierge before our arrival just to arrange all the Tours, Restaurants and Spa treatments. Abit slow to reply but all was booked and carefully chosen including the restaurants which were all excellent except for the casual lunch at La Porta D'aqua! That was a disappointing venue. However very friendly staff.

Going back to the concierge. Again I feel the concierge is also slow and lacking behind in need of assistance. On one of the evening we decided to go to the Casino, we naturally walked to the concierge to ask for information such as how to arrive there and which Casino to visit. So we're guided to head to the only Casino in Venice. On arrival we are directed to leave as it was closed and only open on weekends. A small example of knowing the town or its timing does really help clients with basically having to go for no reason.

But again not a big deal. They were very nice and kind and mostly great choices of restaurants.

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Finally we come to the Spa. This is probably the worst experience I have ever had in any Spa facility. Nothing against the ladies who works there. They were truly nice and kind. However unprofessional and untrained. I had a massage which was not acceptable. The facility itself was tiny and had two rooms for all the treatments that they offered. On my final day I booked a Manicure and Pedicure treatment to have a very unpleasant experience. An hour and a half for Pedicure with no tools whatsoever and the lady managed to cut me during the process. They had only one foot scrubber that was running back and forth between the two rooms from client to client without being sanitized. I had to stop her during the process because I would want to spend another hour and a half for a Manicure with no experience and no tools. Very shameful for a brand like Aman to have a Spa with no...

I have desperately wanted to love this place for so long and we were even planning to do our wedding here. I had a last-minute trip to Venice and decided that of course, out of any of the options in the city, Aman would have the best spa. |Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, out of the 58 luxury hotels I’ve stayed at in the last few years. This was the single worst spa massage experience I’ve ever had.|Not only did the therapist finish almost 30 minutes earlier than what I pre-paid for , but he also had cuts on his hand that he showed me and insisted on wearing plastic gloves during the treatment. I suppose it depends on where you fall in terms of healthcare and micro plastics, but rubbing oil and latex rubber gloves all over your body for 90 minutes is not only disgusting, but also toxic. |I think the most surprising part of this entire experience was when I brought it up with the spa manager Elisa Sartoret, she told me I was “ lucky to have never experienced a Massage with rubber gloves before” because that is quite normal thing to do when she does it regularly as well. Perhaps this is a Venetian thing, I’m not so sure… but either way at a minimum I would’ve liked to have prior notice before pre-paying for a massage that I was gonna have micro plastics seeping through my pores for 90 minutes. Perhaps even more disturbing is when I expressed my dismay about this she shrugged off the experience and didn’t seem to care very much. Now that is not something I expect from Aman. The restaurant staff for dinner are phenomenal and some other people are exceptional so I don’t want to write off the hotel altogether.|But the caliber of guests that I am used to hosting would never be OK with the things that went on yesterday. Such a shame because this is the one property that I desperately wanted to like. |If you do plan on coming here, just make sure you have zero expectations so that at least you’ll...