Hilton Garden Inn Venice Mestre San Giuliano — Hotel in Venice

This hotel was booked through an agency for us and it was fine, but I thought I'd provide some notes: The room we had was not completely sound proof, but you didn't hear much. We heard some stomping above us and a few door closings, but nothing crazy. The room temperature was too high for us (22°C/70°F-ish) and the thermostat could be changed temporarily, but not set. We had to call the desk to ask them to set it to a lower temperature, but it could be done without them coming to the room, at least. The windows/glass doors could not be opened, a normal practice in the US. No top sheet provided, just a duvet. Perhaps you could ask, but we only stayed 2 nights so we didn't. Only 2 bottled waters were provided for the whole stay, this was not the case with other Italian hotels that provided bottles daily. The bath/shower was nice, the heated towel rack too. The front desk staff were all nice and always available when needed. The bus station really is right outside the hotel (past a small parking lot) and is VERY simple and easy to use. We bought a 2-day city pass at the train station when we arrived and used it on the bus and water buses easily (Google Maps helps to navigate, but the buses to this hotel are 5 and 19 at the time of this review). The hotel is close enough that we could go back and forth to change, etc. And not feel like we were wasting that much time. The overall experience was 4 stars, but the reason I'm rating it 3 stars is genuinely for one thing, and it is not included in the room price: the breakfast. Breakfast costs 15 euro per person per day While they do offer a decent selection (eggs, baconham, fruit, croissants, juice) it is NOT buffet style. They have the food out in a buffet style, but it's behind a counter and you have to "order" it. They point to the menu (that does not list everything they have), and then you say what you want, and they get a plate and slop it on there. The last thing I want to do at 730a is hear the attendant list off what kind of fruit and cereal they have (because it's not on the menu sign) and hear every other guest's order. It's also annoying that I can't pick my own stuff out. In a true buffet, I can select the crispier bacon if I so choose, but not here. Most of the food was not close enough for you to see, so we ordered eggs and bacon but the scrambled eggs were incredibly wet and the bacon was barely cooked. I imagine this setup is due to Covid precautions. However, we stayed at DoubleTree Rome Monti (a Hilton property) a few days prior and it was a much better experience. They had a similar selection and set up, but we didn't have to talk to anyone and could select our own products at our leisure. We were required to wear masks to go up to the buffet and espresso machines and that was it!

The hotel is nice, the room price is reasonable, the location is close to the main island, and it was clean, but I don't suggest buying the breakfast unless you want anxiety in the morning!

TL;DR: Overall hotel is 4 stars; breakfast experience took...

Is this bed really hilton quality??? The noise on the busy street is very hard to ignore.

Shame on you. The bed has all different lengths. I'm not sure you'd even care if I came and told you. But I'll try and say something to the staff and then update this post if they do anything about it. I have scarce hope they will care even a bit.

The breakfast is fantastic. There is air con that's good. The pool is wonderful although very cold even in the summer most people use it for decoration.

Next!!... Starting to think we were cheated. They demanded with my small children we needed an extra room. 1 adult and 3 young small children under 10. I requested a bigger room to fit 3 kids aged 5 7 and 10 years which they were not happy about but thankfully made an exemption for the double room suite. They are small too but i understand hotels have security and safety measures just sometimes lack some human rationality.... so they gave us a suite which we all were very excited for many months ahead of time.

Dont be excited! Unless your a hilton diamond member there are No wine bottles not even a welcome drink like there would be around the world and definetly no fruit for a suite. Which is crazy. Even if they had one orange and one kiwi fruit that would have been a kind gesture that would go along way.

And this bed! This is terrible.. why doesn't the manager try this bed and ill pay them to try it. Sorry that's a bit passively rude. It's just for the price they demanded for this room. It is significantly disappointing.

I wish they granted us permission for the twin room it would have been plenty and comfortable.

Warning misleading information regarding their airport shuttle service... are u ready Also the shuttle to the airport!!! Well that's misleading too. It ends at 7pm. Our flight was sadly delayed by 5 houra and arrived 745pm.

Unfortunately I was very excited for this suite and it was not good.... enough

The one star is for the pool and the kitchen staff service. No stars for checkin staff sadly. Actually pretty terrible.

Marco from the kitchen was great and the welcoming kitchen staff for dinner were okay. Also they respond to emails eventually but much much faster on the hilton app where i imagine it's probably monitored.

Overall it's a great hotel for one or two people

Not recommended for a solo adult with young kids. Definitely not!

I really try to make most reviews very positive and that's why I'm helping to say it's great for a single person. Probably perfect for one or two people. But not kid or family friendly if your one mum with 3 small children. Sadly a poor reputation for hilton.

Ill update this post if they care about the bed.... if not ill leave this...

We stayed in this hotel because we wanted to visit Venice but didn't want the hassle for taking our luggage to Venice island. This was very conveniently located as only 20 minutes from the airport on the mainland, with a bus stop out the front you can catch the bus to Venice island in about 15 minutes. The hotel accommodation was of a good standard and the in-room dining was great and good value. However, unfortunately the service and administration was a big let down. We booked airport transfers. No one was there to meet us, even though we gave them flight details and they said they would be there 20-30 minutes after our flight landed. It was 30 minutes after the flight landed and I rang them, and they said they would be another 30 minutes. So didn't turn up to an hour after we landed. Also while they took a deposit hold on check in which is normal, and that was released immediately on check out. What was not normally is that they automatically apply a hold on my credit card in the early hours of the morning of check out - which they never said they would this. As they said it was a hold, they would not use it to cover the bill and made me pay it again, and then said I will need to wait 2 weeks for the hold to be released - blaming my bank - although my bank says it's them not releasing it. While it's a hold, it takes money away from your credit card (in this case a pre-paid card so actually taking money away you can't use), and as they would not use that as payment effectively I had to pay double until whenever they decide to release and return that money - which they said 2 weeks later but hasn't happened yet. Where I have stayed at hotels where they charge you automatically on check out they use that as the payment, they don't make you pay a second time and the wait 2 week for their hold to be released. I had seen a few other people get upset at them also at the reception, likely due to the same issue. They need to be clear and upfront about what they are planned to charge to your credit card (which they were not as they never advised they were going do this), and if they want to do it this way, just convert that hold into a payment and don't make pay twice and wait for the other one to be realised. So despite the good location and otherwise decent hotel - this poor service is a let down and I would not stay there again or recommend it...