quality of 3 hotels
 

i am going to italy for the first time with my wife for our 35th wedding anniversery.our travel agent booked four star hotels, spiendid swisse in venice,fenice palace in florence, and delle nazione in rome could someone who has stayed in or knows of these hotels provide their opinion on these hotels.thank you in advance ,from a worrier.

Bob, If you are worried with these choices then why did you book with the agent. If you do not trust her/him then you should have searched here and done your own thing. Those are not bad choices, but not my first picks. The real question is how much. There must be 500 postings on hotels in these cities--take a look.

I haven't stayed at the Splendid Swisse, but I know the location, as do many Venice visitors. From what I've seen of <BR>the lobby only, it would not be my first choice--it looked a little worn around the edges. Pretty good location though. There are so many choices in 4 star hotels in Venice, I think you can do better. On the other hand, I'm sure it will be acceptable.<BR>Never have an agent book a hotel you know nothing about. Some agents' hotel suggestions are based on the level of commisssion, or simply on the hotels whose names appear on the brochures that their agency receives.<BR>If you're not committed to those hotels, search for some others on this message board. You can also search for your current choices by name. I have long files on <BR>Rome, Venice and Florence; if you'd like to see them, email me.

Bob:<BR>I will be in Florence in March and will be staying at the Hotel Fenice Palace. We have 2 double beds in our room. The rooms have soundproofing(hope it is), a safe, minibar, hair dryer and a private bath and our stay includes breakfast. It is a block from the Duomo.We did a lot of research and it was also recommended. It was recently renovated. When are you going to Italy? <BR> Patricia<BR>

I stayed at the Fenice Palace in 1996. Don't let the name fool you--the advertisement says it was a former "palace" but I can't imagine how--more of a townhouse, tall and narrow. However, the rooms were not as small as some others I've stayed in, the staff was very good, breakfast is included and quite substantial and they do have a nice little cocktail lounge (where you eat breakfast in the morning). The location is really great. If your room faces the street, you can open the wonderful wooden shutters, lean out and look to the left and there's the Duomo. The outdoor market is only a block away. I DO remember that the elevator was very tiny--only room for one with luggage, but that's no big deal.

Bob, I enjoy the search for hotels so always book my own. Go to www.venere.it and start looking at locations you want to be in, how much you want to pay etc and pretty soon you will start to narrow it down. if you can't decide do a search on the fodors site by typing in the name of the hotel you are considering and see if there have been posts on it in the past. Have fun doing your planning, it is as much fun as the trip!