We are planning a trip to Rome, Venice and Florence in July 2006. I am considering the Splendid Royal Hotel and the Parco dei Principi Hotel in Rome. Also, Westin Europa, Bauer Il Palazzo and Danieli in Venice. I will be traveling with my husband and my 16 year old son. The Parco de Principi sounds lovely, but I am afraid it is a little removed from the heart of Rome. Any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I would recommend staying on the Lido at the Hotel Des Bain or Hotel Westin Excelsior as both these hotels have swimming pools. You can get the hotel's motor bus across the canal into Venice. It is very hot and crowded in July and we went sightseeing early morning and got back to our hotel early afternoon for a well needed swim before going into Venice in the evening. The hotels in Venice have no grounds which is a major disadvantage.

We stayed at the Westin Excelsior in Rome on our first trip with our two children - then in their early teens. If you have starwood status, they will usually upgrade you to a fantastic room. We thought the location was just fine. We will be taking them to Venice and Florence in early August of this year and will be staying a Des Bains specifically for the pool and beach.

Check out www.cadeidogi.it in Venice. We're staying there in May and have heard good things about it. Tripadvisor has a couple of reviews too. I haven't stayed there...soooo we'll see.

Rome:
I'm sure others will know better than me, but the Parco dei Principi looks really out of the center of things. I would not want to have to walk through the park to get to the center of the city. That park is pretty big! It has good reviews on Tripadvisor, but it sounded like some of those people were on organized tours, so maybe they took buses all over?

Finally another 5 star travellor God Bless You, Luxury should be part of every trip.

Venice Top Hotel is now the San Clemente Palace, its amazing, some will say that being on an island is a pain but its 5 min from San Marco and the hotel is rated top 5 in Italy. The rooms are immense its a renovated Monastery with sumtuous grounds and Spa and Pool, without question among the top three hotels I have seen in my career of travel.

For Rome I would recommend the Hilton Cavalieri Executive Floor Only, This is the premier hotel for the whole hilton chain, and the views of rome are amazing, some will say its a bit out of the city but both shuttle service and taxi were nothing.

I have spent my adult life travelling six months a year and these two hotels are unbeatable.

See my trip review at www.tripadvisor.com

If you check out the Cavalieri pictures from my review you will see my Son and Shaquile O'Neill together at Rome Hard Rock cafe

God Bless the luxury travellors there are so few at fodors, backpacks were cute when I was sixteen, now give me luxury honey!!!!

I've stayed in the Parco dei Principi which is located in a park area near the zoo, the Borghese Gallery, etc. "That park" can easily be traversed on foot in about 15 minutes to the area at the top of the Via Veneto. The Parco has a very nice pool but it does get its share of higher end tour groups if that is an issue.

If you want luxury AND want to be within walking distance of city sights (as opposed to relying on a shuttle bus) there are many luxury level hotels closer than the Hilton mentioned above.