San Marco Gallery

Spadaria guest house is in a great spot near saint Marcos square, and the room was recently renovated and nicely decorated. But we had a very poor experience with the strict check-in rules and several other issues. We booked for 14-17 April 2023 on 9 March after seeing the strong 9.2/10 reviews on booking. We then came across a Google review from a couple who said their booking was cancelled after arriving after 19:00, so they couldn’t leave a negative review on booking and weren’t refunded. I emailed Spadaria right away: our flight was due into Venice at 18:20, and we might not arrive in time. They replied that, as a small family business, they couldn’t wait for us. We explained that my husband and I had planned the trip for a long time, and that we’d never encountered such a poor policy before. We asked them to find a solution and please their customers. They said we should have read the policy before booking, and that not understanding or accepting it was our problem, even though we’d contacted them more than a month ahead. They also said they were free to apply whichever company policies they considered appropriate and didn’t accept the tone I used. Instead of suggesting we stay somewhere else the first night and come for the remaining prepaid nights, they messaged the next day to say we could cancel within 24 hours without a penalty, but of course there would be no refund. To avoid losing the 576€ we’d paid for the non-refundable room, we changed our flight to arrive on 13 April and booked another hotel for about 400€. Airlines can delay flights or change connections without warning. The check-in window is strictly 12:00-19:00, yet our room wasn’t ready until after 14:00, even though we’d arrived at 11:50. The passage to the bed was very narrow, the bathroom was right next to it with no privacy, and we found hair on the bathroom floor on our first day. We were given just one set of bath towels for our three-day stay. We also couldn’t find the exact location on Google Maps.

Dirty.

Even though it’s in a quiet, peaceful area, the place is surrounded by restaurants, bars, and all kinds of shops. St. Mark’s Square is just a minute away. The property kindly provides a coffee maker and other things, which made for a nice wake-up and a good start to the day. Note: there’s one flight of stairs to the room.

It’s a great location, only a three-minute walk from Piazza San Marco. The room seems quite new. Because of Venice’s restrictions, they can only install indoor air conditioning, and it’s a bit loud.