Hilton Molino Stucky Venice
Giudecca, 810, 30133 Venezia, Italy
Hilton Molino Stucky Venice is a Category 8 (3rd highest category) Hilton property located on the island of Giudecca, a short boat ride away from the main tourist attractions of Venice. The hotel provides a complimentary shuttle to St. Mark’s Square (Piazza San Marco) as well as another water-bus stop, Zattere.
The hotel used to be a flour mill that was renovated and converted to this wonderful property. It sits right on the water (Giudecca Canal). You can sit on the bench in front of the hotel by the canal and literally spend hours just watching the boats, taxis, and water-buses go by.
As I mentioned above, the hotel provides courtesy shuttle to the St. Mark’s Square and Zattere stop. This is the single best hotel amenity I have experienced in all of our Europe trip. This allowed us to stay off of the main island but be flexible enough in our plans to enjoy Venice at our leisure. The complimentary shuttle runs fairly frequently and is fairly spacious although I have read online that some guests had trouble because it filled up fast and had to wait for the next one.
Check-in was quick. We had two rooms and since both me and Karen are Hilton HHonors Gold members, the front desk agent let us know that we could access the Executive Lounge which is located just past the front desk to the right. Since I had read in multiple online reviews that the breakfast spread is much better at the restaurant than the Lounge, and many Gold members had complimentary breakfast in it, I inquired if we would be able to have breakfast in the restaurant instead. The agent concurred that indeed we could !!
The room was well furnished but one of the rooms had a funky smell in it. Karen said it could be because of moisture and wood all around the hotel structure, but I think maybe it was the carpet !! That was one of the two issues I had with the hotel. The other being the breakfast issue which I will detail below. Otherwise, this is a fantastic hotel.
The bed was very comfortable and the comforters were heavenly.
The bathroom was very elegant. Also, the only hotel in our Europe trip that had a bidet in the bathroom.
One of the big highlights of the hotel is the rooftop bar and swimming pool. There are some amazing views of Venice available from this spot. We did not go to the top of the Campanile Tower by St. Mark’s Square but I can’t imagine the view to be much better than this.
This hotel does offer a fantastic breakfast spread at the restaurant. We had the opportunity to sample it for 2 consecutive days and we loved it. There was a variety of breads, cheese, yogurt, cold meat, and fruits. Also not included in the picture, there were 2 varieties of sausages, hash browns, bacon, eggs and many other items.
Now comes the story that is my second complaint against the hotel. When we checked in, the front desk agent agreed that we could as Gold members have our complimentary breakfast at the restaurant instead of the Executive Lounge. When Karen and I showed up at the restaurant and gave our room number, the maître d’hôtel informed us that we were not eligible to have our complimentary breakfast at the restaurant. After I asked her to check the front-desk, she let us in. My parents on the other hand had no such issue at the restaurant. The very next day, when we arrive at the restaurant, the same maître d’hôtel again starts giving us a hard time. I know that a hotel has many guests every day but I don’t think that she would be so forgetful as to remember the episode the day before. Again, I request her to check with the front desk and this time she calls the front desk to confirm… and then reluctantly lets us in. However, that incident did not affect my overall impression of the hotel much. I still love this hotel and if we are ever back in Venice, this is the hotel I would stay at.
Thumbs up:
- Excellent location right on a big canal.
- Complimentary shuttle that runs frequently to St. Mark’s Square and Zattere. A fantastic amenity for the guests.
- Excellent breakfast at the restaurant.
- Great views from the rooftop bar and pool.
Thumbs down:
- One of our rooms had a damp smell in the room. It could have been that its just Venice :).