Hotel Indigo VENICE - SANT'ELENA by IHG in Venice

This property is rated as a four-star hotel, and unfortunately, the service, quality, and overall experience fell well below that standard.

From the first night, we experienced multiple serious issues. Our glass door on the ground floor window would not close and could not be repaired by maintenance. That same night, the power went out in only our room for the entire evening, shutting off all electricity, including the refrigerator, which resulted in spoiled food.

The following day, we encountered repeated problems accessing our room due to a malfunctioning door. We were locked out on more than one occasion, including being left waiting outside in cold conditions for approximately 45 minutes while maintenance worked to open the door. This caused delays and disruption to our plans.

As a result, we were required to change rooms multiple times. The second room had a strong mold smell and was noticeably smaller. While the final room was an improvement over that one, it was still a downgrade from our original accommodation, with a smaller bed and without the garden view and patio we had. This room also had mold in the bathroom shower.

Staff were polite, but the response to these issues did not reflect four-star service. The problems were never fully resolved, and the handling of the situation felt inadequate given the number and severity of disruptions. We were eventually offered points to be given to us on our IHG account that don't even add up to 1/3 of one of the 4 nights of our stay only after asking for compensation for the issues. I don't feel this was enough to cover everything that happened here.

Unfortunately, due to repeated operational failures, lack of service response, loss of time, and overall inconvenience, this stay did not meet four-star expectations. We would not choose to stay here again and cannot recommend it based on our experience. This hotel is close to being a 4 star property but needs to be properly maintained and have service to match those stars.

I booked a "Boutique Room" at the Hotel Indigo Venice through Ctrip, hoping for twin beds upon check-in, but the front desk assigned me a double room. The receptionist, an Italian man with glasses, was the worst receptionist I've encountered in recent years in terms of service attitude and professionalism.

I went downstairs to speak with him again, and he initially said there were no twin rooms available, then changed his tune a few minutes later, saying "there is one," in room 13 on the lowest floor (the reason this room is unoccupied is obvious), and called it an "upgrade." This arrangement made me feel extremely uncomfortable, almost humiliated.

Even more outrageous, Ctrip customer service tried multiple times to contact the hotel to coordinate, but the front desk simply said, "I have no time," refusing to communicate.

After multiple attempts by customer service, we had to make do in room 013 for one night. The next day, my husband wasn't there, and a young receptionist moved us to a much better twin room on the second floor. I'm grateful to this young man for saving our Venice experience.

This room type couldn't be selected on the Ctrip app, yet the hotel blamed me for not specifying it beforehand. As a consumer, do I still need to proactively email the hotel to confirm?

Throughout the entire experience, I felt treated differently, making me wonder if it was because I have an Asian appearance that I encountered such a cold and perfunctory approach.

Although Ctrip customer service (thank you Ctrip customer service representative Song Song!) eventually managed to contact the hotel manager and actively followed up, the entire check-in process left me extremely disappointed, and I have completely lost trust in the Indigo brand.