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Santa Chiara Review

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Santa Chiara

$$, Santa Croce

User Rating: * 1.2

Fodor's Review:

You can drive your car to the entrance of the Santa Chiara and yet still find yourself staying in a room overlooking the Grand Canal. The hotel was built where the convent and church of Santa Croce once stood; a surviving wall is incorporated into the present-day structure. Wood-beam ceilings and red-and-white-checked floors give character to the common areas. Rooms are bright and well appointed and generally larger than average within this price category. The most coveted room is the attic, with a private terrace and panoramic view. Twelve rooms in the nearby annex are wheelchair accessible.

Member Reviews & Ratings:

Don't settle for the bait and switch!

Posted by STARFLEET from Connecticut on 7/22/08

When we arrived, we were told that the only room left in the hotel had no air-conditioning ("broken") and so we would be taken to someplace called the "Residence Parisi" which was "nearby." I did not really understand what this meant until our luggage was dragged by a porter to a nasty-looking office building literally adjacent to the crowded vaporetto stop, and only accessible thru a locked iron gate and a locked front door down a deserted alleyway. There was a small signboard at the end of the alley with a sign indicating the name of the building. Other than that it looked like the offices next door. (It turns out the room key fob had separate keys for all of these much-needed security measures!) I booked a room at the 3-star Santa Chiara Hotel, based on the pictures, descriptions and location advertised by the hotel. We were given completely different, lesser and unacceptable accommodations and held "hostage" by the management who treated our every request with seemingly delighted scorn. If I had know what our room was to be like prior to booking it, I would definitely have stayed elsewhere. This was unequivocally the worst hotel experience I have ever had.

ROOM: 1.0

ATMOSPHERE: 1.0

SERVICE: 1.0

VALUE: 2.0

RATING: 1.2