Hotel Commercio & Pellegrino — Hotel in Venice

My mother and I stayed here in early October 2022.

The hotel is an absolutely fantastic location. It's about a minute's walk from the San Marco ferry stop, and just a few minutes walk to Piazza San Marco. It's close enough to everything that you can pop back in there to go to the toilet during the day (which is a huge bonus with the scarcity and cost of public toilets in Europe).

The gentleman on reception when we checked in was very nice and helpful. Our room was small (completely expected for Venice, no problems there) and clean and tidy. Beware of the various trip hazards around the room and building though. Breakfast was simple but adequate.

bookingdotcom never passed through the request for two single beds (which is what I'd chosen during the booking process). The hotel was fully booked so we had no option to change, so we had to sleep in the same bed which was somewhat uncomfortable for us. I should be clear - this is not this hotel's fault, this is bookingdotcom's fault, and it was the second time this happened to us on our trip. If you're booking via bookingdotcom make sure to request separate beds in the additional notes.

In the bathroom, housekeeping had somehow dislodged the shower screen door, so you couldn't open or close it. We needed help to get that fixed. We couldn't manage to close the bathroom window either, but that didn't end up being an issue.

The problem with this hotel was the air conditioning, or rather the lack thereof. We found it uncomfortably warm in the room. The air conditioner didn't work at all to begin with, so we had to ask about it, and it turns out they turn it off centrally at the end of summer. So they enabled it for us. But it didn't actually work - it made a lot of noise but no cold air came out. So we turned it off. A short time later it turned itself back on. It did this twice! So the first night I actually turned it to heating mode so the thermostat would at least shut it off. We opened the window that night but every little sound from the alley reverberated around and it was really quite noisy and we couldn't sleep. And the bell tower (which is line of sight outside the window) went off at midnight for nearly a hundred rings. And then the mosquitoes came in. It was a thoroughly miserable night. We asked management about it, but they said there's laws in Venice about not being able to run the air conditioning if the outside air is below a certain temperature, so it automatically will not work if it's too cool outside. The second night we closed the window to keep the noise and mosquitoes out, which did work, but then the room got uncomfortably hot again. Even my elderly mother who hates the cold found it too hot for her. Another miserable night. The third night we relented and opened the window after the midnight bells so at least it was cooler, even with the mosquitoes.

Due to the heat in the room and the lack of sleep because of it, it was a pretty miserable stay for us, and I would not...

I booked a stay for 4 people at Hotel Commercio & Pellegrino. Upon arrival, the receptionist took us to another building about 50-60 meters away, and after opening the door, simply told us to go up to the third floor. No problem so far.

The staircase was filthy, a real dumping ground, and the whole building had a terrible odor, which didn’t change for the entire three days of our stay. Once we entered the apartment, the space itself was comfortable. Now, let’s get to the serious issues.

The room is in desperate need of maintenance and a thorough repaint. The walls were filthy and stained, possibly from dead mosquitoes left since summer – we stayed at the end of November. As for cleanliness, you simply can't walk barefoot; it's that dirty. The sofa in the living area was broken, covered with stains that seem impossible to remove, as I also read in reviews from past months. We even found a sock, likely left behind by a previous guest, maybe from quite a while ago.

The main issue for a traveler, aside from cleanliness, is sleep quality, and here it's a big zero. The beds should be thrown away, along with the mattresses, which are around 9-10 cm thick. It was impossible to get any rest, and every morning we woke up feeling stiff and sore – no exaggeration. The blankets provided were shocking. I haven't seen such blankets in many years, and they had a terrible smell. I honestly suggest burning them instead of offering them to guests.

I didn’t go to the reception to complain because the issues with the room were so extensive that they obviously couldn’t be fixed immediately. The only reason I would have gone was to ask for a refund and stay elsewhere, but that’s not the point when you go on vacation. You go on vacation to have a good time.

If the owner wishes, they could easily upgrade the place in about ten days by getting rid of the furniture and linens, maintaining the staircase, and renovating the apartment. The location is fantastic, but it was far from enough to leave us with a good impression of our stay, which was the worst I've...

My wife and I stayed 3 nights in the Marco Polo apartment which is separate to the main hotel in September. The apartment itself was fine except for the missing balcony and city view we were assured we would get. In viewing photos of the apartments a balcony is shown (photo attached) and I specifically said in messages exchanged with staff we wanted an apartment with one and was assured we would be provided such. After checking in and finding no balcony I checked with the service desk and was informed none of the apartments had balconies only windows which in our apartment looked out on an ugly building (photo attached) which was our "city view". It was disappointing after paying over $1200 AUD for 3 nights and being misled by their staff. We felt deceived and told management so. It appears being specific when making a booking doesn't guarantee anything. Our review score reflects our overall disappointment.

I see the manager has responded to my review with a number of blatant inconsistencies. We reserved a room with a balcony which was confirmed, not the Marco Polo apartment which was allocated to us. Nor were we shown the difference between the apartments. We were never offered breakfast or the bottle of Prosecco we supposedly drank. My record of messages in the booking.com app between myself and the hotel confirms my statement. Quote "Good morning, sure it has the balconies, have a good day- Filippo". A little truth please rather than trying to hide...