We stayed at La Calcina Hotel in October 2024. The hotel itself is good. The building is older and has a nice courtyard and sitting area. Overall it looks nice, although the rooms themselves could use some updating. Our bedroom was small, but had so much (unusable) furniture in it that we had to turn sideways to walk around the bed. Yet, we had no bedside tables. The bathroom was updated and the shower worked great.
The hotel also helpfully arranged transportation for us, which can be daunting in a city with no cars. They offered a complimentary welcome Bellini and they had a porter for our bags.
They offer a small buffet breakfast that's included in the price, and the restaurant serves good food in the evenings if you want to stay in. The staff were nice, with the notable exception of the refund issue below.
Travelers should know two things:
1. NO ELEVATOR. Obviously it is an older building, but it's not retrofitted. They don't proactively tell travelers that there are 57 stairs to the 5th floor rooms. We booked a room on the 5th floor and then, after reading reviews, learned about the lack of an elevator. We had to move to a cheaper, 1st floor room because our group was unable to climb that number of stairs. The hotel would not refund the price difference. Had we known all of this at the time of booking, we would have made different plans. Suggestion: Be transparent on your website about the number of stairs / lack of elevator.
2. NO A/C when we visited. We arrived on a 74F day to be told they turn off the A/C and turn on the heat in September. Needless to say, our room was HOT. They suggested opening our room's only window, which led to dozens of mosquito bites overnight. Suggestion: Don't advertise A/C if it's only available at the hotel's discretion.
Overall, we enjoyed Venice and the hotel was adequate. If staff had been able to solve the two issues above, which are largely related to transparency and customer experience, we would have had an even better experience. read more