I stayed at Hotel il Mercante De Venezia with three of my girlfriends from June 8-11, 2005. The hotel was recommended to us and booked through STA Travel Service as it had a buy three, get the fourth night free special going on. Despite the slightly cheesy, touristy name, (The Merchant of Venice???) we found the hotel to have quite a bit of charm and really enjoyed our relaxing stay.

Location
If you stay here, or any Venice hotel, do not do as we did and wait until you arrive to figure out how to get here. The side streets in Venice are small and narrow, and even locals may be unfamiliar with them unless they know precisely where your hotel is located. We went off on a bit of a wild goose chase around the city dragging our luggage, riding the ferry, etc. only to find ourselves eventually at the hotel only a short distance from where we started.

That said, the location of this hotel is very, very convenient. It is located about a one minute walk from the Ferrovia water bus stop on the Canal Grande. Ironically, it was also only about a five to ten minute walk from the Piazzale Roma area where our bus from the airport dropped us off. There are many restaurants and shops located immediately outside the hotel and we found the area to be very pleasant to walk around at night. There are many other hotels within close proximity so the area is fairly heavy in tourist traffic, although not as much so as the area immediately surrounding Piazza San Marco. We found some of the glass work and leather goods in stores near us were almost identical but less expensive near our hotel than at the Piazza.

Check In
We ended up having a bit of inconvenience with our reservation but not really through any fault of the hotel. The night we were scheduled to arrive was the evening of the London tube bombings, so not only could we not leave our dorm but we were unable to call out to let the hotel know. After we didn’t show up for our reservation the hotel did rebook one of our rooms for Saturday for someone else. However, they were accommodating in allowing the four of us to share one room on the second night of our stay while using two rooms on the first and third night. This was a little bit of a pain for the two of us who had to move but we were able to get a cot on the second night and the room was pretty big so it all turned out fine. We actually saved a little bit of money with this arrangement so I can’t complain too much.

The hotel has the policy of requiring passports at check-in for international visitors. I’m not sure if all hotels in this area do this or not, but it actually made me feel safer. There are only nine rooms in the hotel so each of the staff knew all of the people who were staying in the hotel and would recognize us when we came in. You leave the key at the desk when you leave the hotel, which is also an interesting policy, and then they give it back to you when you return. I suppose this could also be a security measure in that it prevents people from making copies of the keys or something, or maybe there were just too many people losing keys.

The Rooms
Both of the rooms I stayed in were beautifully decorated and very color coordinated. One had two twin beds pushed together and the other had the same and additionally another twin bed separate. Both had desks, televisions, chairs, and phones. One was decorated in dark greens and golds while the other one was a pale mint color scheme. I really found the rooms surprisingly tasteful and they looked like they were either meticulously maintained or recently renovated. The bathrooms are large with a roomy shower. Water pressure is quite good. There are towel warmers available but I really don’t think that a warm towel would have been very pleasant during my warm summer stay. There were not any toiletries provided, so don’t count on free shampoo or soap samples during your stay.

One complaint I have about the room is that although internet access is advertised, we were never able to get it hooked up. I dragged my computer to Venice with the hope of keeping up on the status of my dorm and to be able to return emails from friends and family questioning my safety. The lady at the front desk was very nice about letting me use her computer to tell my parents I got there safely, but everyone seemed generally clueless about how to hook up internet in the rooms. We asked three different people and got little response, except to tell us the hookup was right by the phone line, which it didn’t seem to be. This normally wouldn’t be a big issue because I doubt most people wish to spend much of their relaxing Venice vacation online, but since things were so crazy in the world at the time I was there I really would have liked to have internet.

Public Areas
The hotel is small and the public areas are intimate and inviting. The downstairs offers a lovely little area with six tables which are set up for continental breakfast in the mornings from 7:30 to 10:00 a.m. The breakfast was fabulous and very traditional. Offerings included sweet croissants, hard rolls to be spread with cheese, butter, and jelly as well as yogurt and dry cereal. Coffee and fruit punch are provided. After two of my friends overslept due to the time change, the staff was nice enough to hold one of the tables open an additional half hour for them to eat.

Upstairs there is a small sitting area with a bar and a table and chairs. The décor for both areas includes glass chandeliers and beautiful mosaic floors in a color scheme of gold, black, and white. There are no pools, spas, or anything like that at this hotel. It is a place to sleep and enjoy breakfast, and the entertainment is the beautiful city around you.

Service
On the whole, we found the service to be good with the possible exception of the frustrating internet situation. We were able to communicate with the staff very easily and the hotel’s small size made it more personal and flexible. It was nice when we arrived and the lady at the desk knew which party we were right away. The rooms were cleaned thoroughly and fresh towels provided each day of our stay and the hotel seemed pretty flexible about check-in and check-out times. There was also a bit of an issue with getting a refund for one room on the night we shared a room but this was something that in the end we had to do through STA Travel, not the hotel.

Overall…
I was very pleased with my stay at Hotel Il Mercante de Venezia and would stay here again on a return trip to Venice. The rooms were some of the most well-maintained I have ever encountered in a hotel and the whole facility was spotlessly clean. I enjoyed the small size and personal touch and felt very safe here during my stay. The location was great as well. On the whole, I highly recommend this hotel to anyone considering a trip to Venice.

*Check out my reviews on Venice and The Grand Canal!

*Chris (cr01), thanks so much for remembering to add this to the database after such a long SAP hiatus :).

Recommended: Yes