Centauro Hotel - Venice, Italy 

Fantastic location, great service, beautiful room
Posted: Tue, Jul 22 2008
After a small hiccup with the first front guy being abit rude, the second guy that came along was fantastic. He was a very friendly and caring guy which made our stay all the better. We got a quad room as we had our two young girls with us and it was real roomy. We got a canal view and it was beautiful at night to hear the Gondolas going past with honeymooners and lots of music!! That would have to be the highlight for me. The breakfast was beautiful...so much to choose from. Location was great and right near our hotel was a beautiful pizza place, best pizza in Italy!! Make sure you get a water taxi to your hotel and also get it back to the airport. The taxi ride to the airport was amazing!! This hotel was clean and would recommend it to anyone!! We will definitely be staying there again...

Rocky start but great stay
Posted: Sun, Jun 22 2008
This is a very nice, clean, and tastefully decorated hotel within a 5-minute walk of Piazza San Marco and easy walking distance of the Accademia and Rialto bridge, among other famous Venetian sites. It was the perfect place from which to enjoy all that lovely Venice has to offer. The rooms were small (this is, after all, Europe) but had high (at least 10 feet-high) ceilings with exposed wooden beams -- a very nice touch. The attendants speak good English and were very helpful, both before and during our stay, with directions and restaurant reservations. We had a very pleasant stay. Unfortunately, check-in was a disaster. Although we had corresponded by e-mail and telephone after we made our reservation, they'd managed to lose our reservation by the time we arrived. Thank God (and Rick Steves) that I brought a print-out of the confirmation e-mail; otherwise, we might've ended up sleeping in Piazza San Marco! Seeing that we did indeed have a reservation, the agent scrambled to accommodate us. He said the hotel was full but they had a suite of rooms in another building where we could stay. This was worrisome because we had had a nightmarish ordeal in Rome several years ago that began this same way. With the assistance of an incredibly nice bellman, I lugged our stuff the few blocks to the other building. As promised, the rooms in the other building, though isolated from the hotel, were in fact nicer than the rooms in the hotel. Our check-in ordeal, however, was not yet over. Right as we began to unpack and my wife prepared to take a shower, there was a knock on our door: apparently, we were to stay in the hotel after all, not this building. Stunned, we gathered our belongings and made the trek back to the hotel, where we were taken upstairs to the room we had booked in the first place. Needless to say, this ordeal was not welcome after the long transatlantic flight. That said, once we were (finally) checked in, we had a great stay. The room was excellent, and the staff very helpful. I'm guessing this comedy of errors was atypical of this hotel, and it wasn't reflective of the high level of service we received before our arrival and after we were finally checked into our room. Overall, I highly recommend this hotel -- but, as always on international travel, reconfirm your reservation before arrival and bring proof of your reservation.

Good Good Good
Posted: Mon, Jun 16 2008
This is a lovely little Hotel down a narrow alley in Venice so it was nice and quiet. The staff were really friendly and helpful. The terrace we had was overlooked by the next room so we didn't use it. The stairs to the top (4th) floor took about a minute to get up due to the high ceilings and tired us out! But the room was nicley decorated and clean. The breakfast was self service and good quality, but its worthwhile getting there early as once the daily quota of food has been taken, its not replaced! IMPORTANT NOTE: The main door to the building has a fake door handle and is a push door which is quite heavy. When we first arrived no one was on reception through the glass door so rang the bell and tried the handle and gave it a little push (so not to seem brash or heavy handed). No answer to the bell and assumed the door was locked so carried bags around for next two hours in Venice heat! PUSH THE DOOR

Venetian style
Posted: Fri, Apr 04 2008
I scoured practically all the hotels in Venice and visited the majority of their websites looking for something nice in a mid-price range. I tend to judge a hotel by the standard of it's website and found this one to be very clear and had lots of good photos and a very good online booking system. I booked well in advance (Nov 06) to attend the Carnival in Feb 07. We chose a Double Superior room. When we arrived we were told there had been a problem with the plumbing and that they'd had to put us in a hotel nearby - assured by reception that the alternative hotel had rooms of the same standard. Unfortunately this was not the case at all, plus it was tucked away in some dull backstreets. I did not accept the alternative hotel, grumbled a bit to the management, and they put us in one of their best rooms in the end. Centauro calls itself a 3 star but I feel it is far beyond the standard of many other 3 star hotels (according to personal experience) and the rooms were furnished to a high standard. After this slight hiccup we had a wonderful time. The hotel staff were as helpful as possible (e.g. they let us know immediately a fax arrived for us which we'd been waiting for). The breakfast room was lovely with good buffet selection and friendly waitresses. Our room was quiet, large, comfy bed, posh bathroom, quite romantic actually - which is what one needs during carnival time. We would definitely stay here again.