On Friday, Marriott announced that it would take over the former Four Seasons in Sao Paulo and reopen it as a JW (read more here). There has been news coming out of Italy that the exact opposite is taking place in Venice.
The oldest continuously operating hotel in the city, The Hoel Danieli, will soon exit the Marriott system, part of the Luxury Collection-brand, and become Four Seasons in 2024 after extensive 30 million euro renovations.
You can access Marriott’s page for Hotel Danieli here.
READ MORE: Marriott Bonvoy Rate & Bonus Points Offers
Hotel Danieli has been in business for more than 200 years and has expanded over the years to three adjacent buildings.
The Four Seasons, a Canadian hotel company, is owned by the Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Saudi Prince Al-Walid bin Talal through its Kingdom Holding Company. A French interior designer, Mr. Pierre-Yves Rochon, has been chosen for the 30 million euro renovation and redesign project.
The hotel stays under Marriott’s Luxury Collection brand until their contract runs out.
Brief History Of The Hotel From Corriere Del Veneto (access here – Google translate):
The Danieli is housed in Palazzo Dandolo, built by Doge Enrico Dandolo on the Riva degli Schiavoni, a few steps from Piazza San Marco at the end of the 14th century ; the story tells that the entrepreneur Giuseppe Dal Niel bought the second floor from the noble Elena Michiel Bernardo in 1822, converting it into a hotel. Today, the hotel has “tripled” with the adjoining palaces: Palazzo Casanova, (19th century) and Palazzo Danieli Excelsior, known as «Danielino» (20th century)
Availability on Marriott’s website:
Both paid and award rates are available at this hotel through the end of the year. I guess that possible exit will occur in 2023, but there could be disruption if the renovations begin when the hotel is still open.
Video of the Dandolo Suite 78:
Conclusion
There are still three luxury Marriott hotels in Venice (Gritti Palace, JW Marriott & St Regis) and one select-service hotel (AC Venice).
I stayed at this hotel in the fall of 2020, and the service was somewhat mixed, as they tried to recover from being closed for an extensive period. I am not sure how they can claim to be the longest continuously operating hotel in the city if they were closed for several months in 2020?
The Gritti Palace is the crown jewel of Marriott-affiliated hotels in the city, and it would be unfortunate to see it leave the chain (let’s hope that it won’t happen). The St. Regis is the previous Westin that was refurbished before the flag change (I stayed there once when it was Westin). The JW Marriott has an inconvenient location, and AC Venice is close to the train station.