I liked some things about this hotel, and some things I found to be very disappointing.

My biggest disappointment was the housekeeping. I have posted a picture of what our shower looked like upon arrival in our one bedroom suite with canal view. I'm sorry, but soap scum in the shower is completely unacceptable for a hotel of this standard. I found that housekeeping did not really clean our room. Instead, they kind of just "arranged" things. Toilets, bath, and sinks were not cleaned, toilet paper was not replaced, and waste paper baskets were not emptied. LAZY!

I'm all for period furniture, but it should not be stained. There were stains on the carpeting, furniture, walls, ceiling, etc. Not good! The room was of a decent size, but I would say that it was a bit "tired" and in need of updating. We traveled with other family members, and their room was also a bit tired.

The lobby of the hotel is great; huge, modern, attractive. It seems to me that all the attention was put into the lobby at the expense of the "tired" rooms.

Service was inconsistent. I found the desk staff and concierge to be polite, moderately helpful, but not friendly. The service in the bar was FANTASTIC! Literally, a man stood by our party of four and was at our service if we so much as twitched. Breakfast, on the other hand, was another story. While the breakfast patio is really great, the service was seriously lacking. I just got the feeling that staff was confused and disorganized. Perhaps there were a lot of new people. By our last morning, the service had improved to an acceptable standard.

I didn't hate the hotel, and I didn't love it. Would I stay there again? No. It was just very, VERY average.

We booked the Bed and Breakfast package with a Superior Room on the Bauer Hotel website. The Superior rooms are described as "Rooms with courtyard or street view". When we arrived a woman at reception told us they had good news for us and that they had upgraded us to a junior suite. I was skeptical because I knew the hotel was fully booked. To see this junior suite we had to leave the main hotel building by a back door, cross an alleyway and enter a third building. The rooms were barely renovated, dismal and not connected to the main building, at least we were not shown a connection. I was in shock. I asked to see the original room we had booked. They were reluctant but took us to a small room in the main Hotel Bauer with a window on an airshaft that could not be construed to be a courtyard or a street. We could barely see the sky and did not know what the weather was like or what time of day it was. Yes, the location is great and the dining terrace is lovely but beware.

My husband and I just returned from a weekend at the Bauer Hotel. The location could not have been better and the staff was attentive and extremely pleasant. We had a deluxe room which was just off the Grand Canal. It was pleasantly decorated with 20 ft ceilings and met all of our needs. The only issue you might want to be aware of if requesting a room on/near the canal, is that it can get pretty noisy as the hotel’s water entrance is below as well as a gondola boarding station. As for dining, we had a lunch and a dinner at De Pisis and the views and food were exceptional. The hotel is very expensive, but location, exceptional food and courteous staff make it worth the £££££’s!

"My wife and I have just returned from four nights at the Bauer. We booked for a Deluxe Room and were discretly upgraded to a Junior Suite without realising !! What is good about The Bauer: superb location and position on the Grand Canal; huge palatial lobby areas; an army of professional and attentive staff; very high quality spacious accommodation. What is bad about the Bauer: nothing !! I price-researched all the 5 Star Hotels in Venice before booking and my feeling is that you will get the best $$$$$ value here if you are doing Venice in style and can afford to go 5 Star. Page down past a couple of frankly ridiculous recent negative reviews and you will see other savvy British travellers raving about the Bauer like we are !!!