Hotel Continental Venice - Worst Hotel Ever

Trafalgar has redeemed themselves as a great tour company

2005-08-25T18:20:00.000-04:00

I finally received another response to my last letter, actually there wasn't much of a response, but there was a check covering part of my extra expenses occurred due to the Hotel Continental Venice 'forcing' us to leave early.

I want to thank everyone at Trafalgar for investigating the issue and acting accordingly. I will definately tour with them again.

I heard back from the BBB (Better Business Bureau) today

2005-07-07T21:42:00.000-04:00

They simply sent me a link to their website which contained the same information as the letter which Trafalgar sent me. So I typed up a quick response, attached a copy of the second letter that I sent to Trafalgar, and faxed it to the BBB. We'll see what happens.

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2005-07-01T09:44:00.000-04:00

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Letter from Trafalgar

2005-06-26T20:15:00.000-04:00

I finally received a response from Trafalgar, the tour company which put us up in the worst hotel i've ever stayed in. While I give them credit for responding to all my points (in my 2-3 page letter), and sending a lengthy response, I do not at all agree with their answer. Trafalgar focused 90% of their response on the lack of air conditioning in the hotel. They pointed out over and over how air conditioning in Europe isn't always 'up to par' with a/c in the U.S., and that this is clearly stated in their brochures, etc... They pointed out how many hotels don't even have it, blah, blah, blah. Now, there are several problems with that answer. The first being that I made it quite clear to them that I understand that things break. But it was the attitude of the hotel staff in not caring that it was broken, not offering us water or fans, and moving my room from the 1st floor to the even hotter 3rd floor. The staff tried to lie to us about the length and cause of the broken a/c, but the truth finally came out and we learned it had been broken for several days, yet no repairman had shown up yet. The second problem I have with their answer is that other hotels in the area DID have air conditioning. They try to make it sound as if we were lucky that our hotel even had a/c, even if it wasn't working. That's just a crock of an answer. And the main problem I have with them focusing 90% of their response on the a/c, is that that was just a minor portion of my complaint. The main part of my complaint was about the dirtiness of the hotel and the rooms, and the fact that not all rooms were created equal. In fact, some of the rooms were a 7 out of 10, and some were a 1 out of 10, they weren't even close. It is not at all fair that I paid the same money as other people and they received a newer, cleaner, more modern room with a working bed. Whereas I received an ancient looking, dirty room with a broken bed and peeling wallpaper. In addition, Trafalgar wouldn't even reimburse $15 for a lost travel adapter which was misplaced b/c the hotel gave us 10 minutes one morning to switch rooms. They said had I spoken to the hotel about it the hotel would have found it for us. What an awful response.

Trafalgar said they would not reimburse us for anything. Not for the adapter, not the $500 we spent to change our plane tickets, nothing... Instead, they gave us a 5% coupon off of another tour. That made my laugh. Why on earth would I want to tour with them again after having just written a 3 page complaint? And to offer my 5% off. That's just a slap in the face.

So...I will be writing another letter this week and contacting my local Department of Consumer Affairs. I've already contacted the Better Business Bureau.

I'll keep you posted...

Picture of Hotel Continental Venice

2005-06-24T20:08:00.000-04:00

Here's just one of the pictures I took from one of my disgusting hotel rooms. It clear shows how dirty the wallpaper is, and you can see the large piece that was peeling off. The rooms were so disgusting I cannot imagine how more people haven't complained, and how people continue to stay at this hotel. Two of the three rooms we stayed in had broken beds. All the rooms had mosqitoes. The bedding looked like it was from 1970. The furniture looked even older. One of our friend's who stayed here as well had an incredible amount of dust in her room. It's as if the hotel staff hadn't dusted her room in months. it was really disgusting. I'm still waiting to hear back from Trafalgar, the tour company, regarding the letter I sent them. I requested reimbursements for the final night which we didn't use, and the money we spent to change our plan tickets. Hopefully they respond soon, it's been a couple of week's since I sent my letter.

New review posted at IgoUgo.com

2005-06-17T13:52:00.000-04:00

Please feel free to visit and add your experience as well.

New reviews on ZoomAndGo.com

2005-06-16T09:25:00.000-04:00

A couple of new reviews were just posted at www.zoomandgo.com

One mine, one from somebody else. Both are quite negative.

Response from Delta Vacations

2005-06-13T12:25:00.000-04:00

I recently emailed Delta vacations b/c I noticed that they had the hotel as one of their destinations and I wanted them to know how awful it was. Here's their reply:

Dear Josh,

We appreciate you taking the time to write to us about your recent experience with your hotel accommodations. Customer feedback is imperative to the success of our business. Your input is appreciated as it allows us the opportunity to see which of our suppliers are valuable to our vacation packages.

Rest assured your comments have been forwarded to our Product Development Department so we may keep track of future comments we may receive regarding the Hotel Continental in Venice. Thanks you for bringing this matter to our attention.

Muneeza
Customer Support

From: "Joshua Friedman"
Sent: 06/10/2005 04:16 PM
To: Delta Vacations
Subject: Hotel Continental in Venice

Hi. Regarding the following vacation destination in Venice: http://www.deltavacations.com/property.aspx?code=MIL0041&dest=VENICE

I wanted to pass along some information about a recent tour that I was on, that stayed in the Hotel Continental in Venice. It was the worst experience at a hotel I've ever had, and I highly recommend that you remove it from your offerings. Here are some links showing people's thoughts:

http://www.travel-library.com/hotels/europe/italy/venice/hotel_continental.html

As you can see, several people on my tour have already written reviews, and i'm sure that more will do the same. It was the worst hotel that most of us had ever been to and I want to warn you so hopefully you can prevent Delta travellers from going there.

Regards,

Josh Friedman

Write a review on Hotel Continental in Venice, Italy

2005-06-13T10:53:00.000-04:00

Hotel Continental Venice: Lista Di Spagna 166, Venice 30121, Italy

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Travelocity reviews on Hotel Continental Venice

2005-06-12T20:56:00.000-04:00

Read Reviews on Travelocity
Write a review on Travelocity

I just posted to Mytravelguide.com

2005-06-12T20:16:00.000-04:00

Hopefully our review will be online soon.

New review posted on Travel Library

2005-06-10T16:57:00.000-04:00

Another new Hotel Continental review was just posted on TravelLibrary.com

New Review on Epinions.com

2005-06-10T16:55:00.000-04:00

Here's another review about this awful hotel from Epinions.com

New Comment from HotelChatter.com

2005-06-10T16:27:00.000-04:00

Read the full story here

Photos & Pictures of Hotel Continental in Venice, Italy

2005-06-05T19:10:00.000-04:00

Here are a few of the pictures we took from the hotel

It clearly shows how dirty and dark the hotel was. The wallpaper was peeling and the walls and floors were dirty. Compared to a few of the hotels nearby it was also small and outdated. The lobby was recently redone and was fairly nice, but was tiny compared to a hotel just next door which had a full floor lobby with a very nice and large reception desk. The Continental Hotel on the other hand has a very, very small lobby.

Our review on Travel-Library.com

2005-06-05T19:05:00.000-04:00

Our review was just posted today at Travel Library.

Worst Hotel Ever - by Josh Friedman from United States

Rating: 1/10 - Type of traveller: Young Couple - Age Group: 26 - 30

I recently stayed in the Hotel Continental for a few days as part of a tour. I ended up leaving the tour a day early because the hotel was so bad. I paid approximately $500 extra (changing my plane ticket and paying for a water taxi) just so I could get out of there as fast as I could. So that should give you an idea of how bad it was. There was only 1 more day left in the tour but I literally could not spend one more night there. Everyone on my tour hated the hotel. It is not well maintained, the rooms are incredibly old fashioned and dirty, the staff was horrible, the lobby is tiny and not nearly as nice as the two nearby hotels which have full floor lobbies with mahagony counters...and cost the same...(yes, I tried to switch hotels but the others were booked). When we first arrived at the hotel we quickly found out that the air conditioning didn't work. We were told that it broke several days ago and a repairman should be here 'tomorrow'. Why wasn't he there several days ago when it first broke? Not only that, the entire staff refused to apologize and simply laughed when anyone asked when it would be fixed. They just didn't care. Any 'real' hotel would at a bare minimum offered its guests bottles of water so that they didn't pass out when in their 90 degree rooms. And nicer hotels would have provided fans (which my incredible tour director managed to borrow from a different hotel, since of course the Continental didn't have one). Like I said, the place is dirty, grimy, and just plain awful. I will admit that there are a FEW decent rooms in the hotel which must be where the other reviewers stayed, but those rooms are very hard to come by. Our first night there we had a room which was disgusting. The wall paper was peeling, there was dirt on pillows, and to top it off, the floor sloped. Yes, if you put a bottle on the bed it would roll to one corner. The whole room was on a slant. After about 3 hours of arguing and trying to convince us that they had no other rooms, our tour guide managed to convince the staff to give us another room. The room they gave us, I admit, was somewhat nice. It was obviously renovated somewhat recently, unlike the other room which I don't think has ever been renovated (in fact, there really was no comparison). However, at 8:45 the next morning I was informed that I had to quickly pack b/c they were taking that room back and giving me another. When we got back from the tour that evening we got our new room, which was now moved from the 1st floor (where it was already hot enough), to the 3rd floor where it was unbearable. Not to mention that the bed in this room was broken as it completely sloped inward from both sides. And again, the carpet was dirty and the wallpaper was peeling. That's when we called the airline and made our flight a day earlier... So, in summation, I would do everything in my power not to stay here. If for some reason you must, do your best to get it in writing that you will have one of the more modern rooms, and that the air conditioning will work. But I'm sure the staff will just laugh and not care one bit about what you want.

Our review on Epinions.com

2005-06-03T19:24:00.000-04:00

Our Review

All Reviews

Worst Hotel Everby josh1r, Jun 03 '05 (A Somewhat Helpful review)

Pros: There really are none.
Cons: Everything. Dirty, peeling wallpaper, mold, no air conditioning, rude staff, dark, dingy...

I recently stayed in the Hotel Continental for a few days as part of a tour. I ended up leaving the tour a day early because the hotel was so bad. I paid approximately $500 extra (changing my plane ticket and paying for a water taxi) just so I could ...Read the full review

Review at TripAdvisor.com

2005-05-29T19:07:00.000-04:00

Our review was just posted at TripAdvisor

Venice: Hotel Continental Venice: "Worst Hotel Experience Ever"May 29, 2005: A TripAdvisor Member, NY, NY

View larger photos

I stayed at this hotel in:May, 2005

I traveled to this hotel with: spouse/partner, a large group or tour

My visit was for: extended vacation

Would I stay at this location again: no way!

I recently stayed in the Hotel Continental for a few days as part of a tour. I ended up leaving the tour a day early because the hotel was so bad. I paid approximately $500 extra (changing my plane ticket and paying for a water taxi) just so I could get out of there as fast as I could. So that should give you an idea of how bad it was. There was only 1 more day left in the tour but I literally could not spend one more night there.Everyone on my tour hated the hotel. It is not well maintained, the rooms are incredibly old fashioned and dirty, the staff was horrible, the lobby is tiny and not nearly as nice as the two nearby hotels which have full floor lobbies with mahagony counters...and cost the same...(yes, I tried to switch hotels but the others were booked) When we first arrived at the hotel we quickly found out that the air conditioning didn't work. We were told that it broke several days ago and a repairman should be here 'tomorrow'. Why wasn't he there several days ago when it first broke? Not only that, the entire staff refused to apologize and simply laughed when anyone asked when it would be fixed. They just didn't care. Any 'real' hotel would at a bare minimum offered its guests bottles of water so that they didn't pass out when in their 90 degree rooms. And nicer hotels would have provided fans (which my incredible tour director managed to borrow from a different hotel, since of course the Continental didn't have one)Like I said, the place is dirty, grimy, and just plain awful. I will admit that there are a FEW decent rooms in the hotel which must be where the other reviewers stayed, but those rooms are very hard to come by. Our first night there we had a room which was disgusting. The wall paper was peeling, there was dirt on pillows, and to top it off, the floor sloped. Yes, if you put a bottle on the bed it would roll to one corner. The whole room was on a slant. After about 3 hours of arguing and trying to convince us that they had no other rooms, our tour guide managed to convince the staff to give us another room. The room they gave us, I admit, was somewhat nice. It was obviously renovated somewhat recently, unlike the other room which I don't think has ever been renovated (in fact, there really was no comparison). However, at 8:45 the next morning I was informed that I had to quickly pack b/c they were taking that room back and giving me another. When we got back from the tour that evening we got our new room, which was now moved from the 1st floor (where it was already hot enough), to the 3rd floor where it was unbearable. Not to mention that the bed in this room was broken as it completely sloped inward from both sides. And again, the carpet was dirty and the wallpaper was peeling. That's when we called the airline and made our flight a day earlier...So, in summation, I would do everything in my power not to stay here. If for some reason you must, do your best to get it in writing that you will have one of the more modern rooms, and that the air conditioning will work. But I'm sure the staff will just laugh and not care one bit about what you want...

Yahoo Travel Review on Hotel Continental

2005-05-29T15:50:00.000-04:00

Our review was just posted on Yahoo Travel:

Continental Hotel, Venice

Everything about this hotel was awful. Do not be fooled by online pictures and reviews. There are only a handful of decent, clean rooms and the rest are just disgusting. The staff is awful, the lobby is tiny, the hallways are dark and dirty, and there are only a few rooms with actual views of the canal. Most rooms are extremely outdated with poor furnishings and lighting. We were there recently on a tour and had to switch rooms 3 times, and even ended up leaving the tour a day early b/c everything was so bad. The first room we had was dark and dirty and literally sloped. The second room we had was one of the decent rooms the hotel offers, but they kicked us out of that room at 8:30 the next morning. Oh, almost forgot to mention that the air conditioning was broken and the hotel didn't care. In fact, the next room they moved us up to was on the 3rd floor and must have been 90 degrees. We couldn't stand it anymore so we left early. The staff was very rude and didn't care at all that the a/c was broken. They didn't even apologize or offer anyone water or any form of compensation. They simply laughed and said they were 'working on it'. So we would highly recommend that you avoid this hotel at all costs. Even if they offered to let us come back for free there is no way I would stay there.

Our Experience at Hotel Continental in Venice

2005-05-28T18:59:00.000-04:00

This was by far the worst hotel we have ever stayed in. I cannot urge you enough NOT to stay at this hotel. I've posted some pictures we took showing the dirtiness of the hotel, and I'll include some links to review sites. Do not be fooled by the postive reviews you may see. These people were clearly lucky enough to stay in one of the very few decent room available at this hotel. We had to switch rooms 3 times, and a friend of ours ended up with 4 different rooms, the majority of which were just awful.

We found the hotel to be so awful in fact, that we paid $500 extra just to leave our tour a day early. We couldn't get out of there fast enough... We switched our flights, hopped on a water taxi, and left the Hotel Continental as fast as we could.