Stay: July 2023

Paid: Two Category 1-4 free night awards for two rooms for one night each. (Points prices vary from 9,000 per night off-peak to 12,000 standard to 15,000 peak)

Status: Explorist (but we didn’t get any Explorist perks that I’m aware of)

Room: King bed, king bed

Would I stay again? Yes

Would I recommend to friends? Yes, but only if (1) you need an “airport hotel” night near Venice or (2) you really want to see Murano and don’t mind taking a vaporetto over to actual Venice when you want to go do Venice things. The location is something I’ll discuss in detail below.

Our stay at the Hyatt Centric Murano was short but enjoyable. It was basically our attempt at having a more-fun-than-an-airport-hotel stay and using up our two Hyatt free nights that were going to expire soon. So let me explain what I mean.

Logic/logistics behind why we stayed here: We arrived in Venice on a Wednesday afternoon, after an Air France flight from SEA to CDG and then a connection from CDG to VCE. And we needed to catch our shuttle van back at the Venice airport so we could head to Trieste, Italy, which is two hours away, on Thursday evening. (Our family cruise left on Friday morning from Trieste.) So we knew we’d have that Wednesday evening and Thursday morning we’d need to spend somewhere before we caught our shuttle van to Trieste on Thursday afternoon. And no offense, but the area around the Venice airport is just kind of boring and nondescript. So the idea of staying at an actual airport hotel felt like kind of a waste.

Getting from the Venice airport to actual Venice can either be quick and expensive or take an hour or more and be cheaper. But getting to Murano from the airport is pretty quick and cheaper because there’s a waterbus (Alilaguna) that goes directly from the airport to Murano.

Because we had these two free Hyatt nights to use up and the Hyatt Centric Murano was one of the hotels that we could use those for (and we couldn’t redeem our free nights at any properties in actual Venice), we decided that the quick, cheap vaporetto to Murano made the Hyatt Centric function kind of like an airport hotel. And because we already had a different stay booked in actual Venice after our cruise and we knew we’d get to show the kids Venice then, we thought this was a good excuse to see Murano.

If you’re considering staying at the Hyatt Centric Murano for a trip where you primarily want to see actual Venice, just factor the 25-minute vaporetto ride (and cost) into your plans. It could totally be worth it if you want to save some points, because other Hyatt properties in actual Venice cost more than the Centric.

Check-in/service: Check-in was efficient and friendly, and the service at the hotel was good.

Rooms: Our rooms were pretty spacious for a European hotel, and more modern than traditional, which I liked. Everything was clean and in great working order. The hotel rooms are air-conditioned, though there was a limit on how cool we could make it in our rooms. If you’re a person who keeps their house air-conditioning set below 75 in the summer and you’re there in the summer, you might find these rooms too hot. (Also, just as a side note, I would strongly advise against going to Venice in the summer in general! If you’re there in fall, winter, or spring, I wouldn’t be concerned with the air-conditioning at all.)

Hotel amenities: The hotel has a restaurant/bar as well as a large dining area where guests can have breakfast. We ended up eating dinner at the hotel’s restaurant because there were limited dinner options on Murano on a Wednesday night, which was when we were there. (That’s also something to think about if you’re thinking of booking this hotel.) We were also really jet-lagged and hadn’t slept at all on the long flight the night before, so picking something close and easy was just about all we could manage.

They have a gym, but it’s very small. There’s also a sauna.

The Hyatt Centric Murano also offered a free boat transfer to and from the airport, which you should reserve in advance.

Food/drink: The dinner was fine as I remember it, but I was seriously tired at that point, having been awake for about 36 hours, so my memory may not be super-reliable.

The breakfast in the morning was not included in our stay, but the breakfast options looked good and we decided it’d be nicer to eat there than at the airport, so we charged the breakfast to our room. And I do remember the breakfast; it was good. There were an impressive variety of options, and they were all pretty good, but it wasn’t the best hotel breakfast I’ve ever had.

Parking/transportation: The Museo vaporetto stop is literally right out in front of the hotel’s front door. Very convenient and reasonably priced. Alilaguna (the waterbus that can also take you around Venice and to the airport) also stops there. If that doesn’t work for you, you’re walking or taking a private water taxi (or, I guess, swimming?). And remember that the hotel has a free shuttle to the airport if you reserve in advance.

My take: It’s a very nice hotel in a slightly odd location. On the one hand, being on a quieter island than Venice could be just what you want. Or you could use this as an airport hotel situation like we did. In those situations, staying here instead of Venice would make sense. Or you might just not have enough points to splurge on a Venice hotel and don’t mind the vaporetto rides to and from Venice because you save your points that way; that might also make sense. But if none of these situations is your situation, you should probably stay in Venice instead. Murano is much quieter and has much, much less to see and do than Venice (unless you are a huge colored-glass aficionado and love touring glass factories). There are also very few dining options open after lunchtime.

How you can stay here: Award nights on standard rooms range from 9,000 points (off-peak) to 12,000 points (standard) to 15,000 points (peak). There is also a suite available that theoretically allows occupancy of up to four people, but this being a European hotel, and European hotels being notoriously strict on room-occupancy limits, I’d probably advise emailing the hotel to confirm that in advance before you book.

Options to earn Hyatt points or points that are transferrable to Hyatt:

Chase World of Hyatt card (personal card)

Chase World of Hyatt Business card (business card)

Chase Sapphire Preferred card (personal card)

Or any of the other Chase cards that earn Ultimate Rewards points or points that can be combined into your Sapphire or Ink Preferred accounts to become Ultimate Rewards points.