Could you hazard a guess as to which star has attracted more fans than any other to the movie-worthy streets of Venice? My guide Valentina made me play the same guessing game when I was given a secret tour of Hotel Excelsior this summer, following its multi-million euro glow-up – just in time for the A-list’s arrival. Home to the city’s Film Festival since it began in 1932, the hotel draws myriad famous faces. And fans had been seen camping overnight outside the iconic hotel hoping for a glimpse, she told me.
Who is Venice’s biggest star?
Could it have been Harry Styles? I guessed. He visited in 2022, when his then-romance with Olivia Wilde was exposed, despite them intentionally standing apart for paparazzi snaps. Perhaps it was long-time favourite George Clooney, who rocked up last summer to the hotel’s inimitable stripey canal pier in a classic water taxi along with his Jay Kelly co-stars Laura Dern and Adam Sandler? What about Timothee Chalamet, Lady Gaga – oh, or Clark Gable, back in 1934?
I was wrong each time. Valentina revealed the answer: Jacob Elordi. “When he came here to show Frankenstein at the Venice Film Festival – I’ve never seen anything like it!” she gushed. “It was even crazier than when we had to protect Jude Law from the press by hiding him in the Laundry Room. It’s amazing how close you can get to movie stars at the Venice Film Festival; there’s nowhere else like it.”
Where is Hotel Excelsior?
And she’s right, nothing compares to the Venice Film Festival; it’s the oldest in the world. Cannes is perhaps more notorious, though its stars are less accessible, and the modern conference venues lack the glamour and romance of Hotel Excelsior, which opened in 1908. Back then, it was the first purpose-built hotel on Venice Lido, a long sandy spit that has the historic lagoon on one side and gorgeous Adriatic Sea on the other. Italians love to holiday on this coastline, which combines high culture with beach clubs; after all, Venice Lido is only a 15-minute vaporetto hop to St Mark’s Square.
A hotel with star-quality
When the Venice Film Festival launched in 1932, Hotel Excelsior became the official venue; cast and crew would watch movies in its jasmine-filled gardens on an outdoor screen. Later, they headed to the Red Carpet screening room (still a renowned party venue), with its wow-factor domed ceiling and scarlet colour scheme.
Today, in 2026, stars watch movies next door at the Art Deco Palazzo del Cinema, but they still arrive at Hotel Excelsior for photo opps and a good-luck “Cin cin” glass of prosecco in the Blue Bar.
© Getty ImagesValentina recalled when Lady Gaga’s headpiece – a sculptural, vintage Philip Treacy hat – went viral when the star was in town for The Joker. “The only room big enough and private enough for her fashion entourage to position the hat was our hotel gym,” she told me.
Who can we expect to see this year?
This September, the Venice Film Festival will be showing the new OASIS movie, Don’t Look Back in Anger, for the first time, so we hope to catch glimpses of Noel and Liam Gallagher at Hotel Excelsior. Watch out too for Robert Pattinson (in Primetime) and Jack O’Connell, Guy Pearce and Claire Foy for Ink. Other A-listers with films in competition include Al Pacino, Susan Sarandon, Orlando Bloom, Rooney Mara, Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz.
What makes Hotel Excelsior so special?
What I found particularly magical about Hotel Excelsior was the fact that these starry spaces are open to us mere mortals. Rooms at this fabulous five-star start from around £350, which is not nearly as eye-watering as rates at other luxury Venetian hotels.
Still too pricey? Drink at the Blue Bar, which serves signature cocktails named after winners of the Leone d’Oro film award, including The Shape of Water 2017 (with white rum and pineapple juice) and Hamlet 1948 (elderflower liqueur, rose syrup and rosemary foam).
Not that Hotel Excelsior is fit to be resigned as a museum piece; far from it. Just as the stars have tweakments and glow-ups, so this grand dame has just had a facelift. Revamped bedrooms come in an on-trend palette of pastels – peppermint green, blush pink – with theatrical ceilings draped in stripey fabric that echo the pattern of the renowned canal poles. In Palm Court, I couldn’t stop taking photos of the retro brass fittings, Murano glass chandeliers and restored Moorish-style turrets.
Hotel Excelsior is cool in the extreme, with just the right dash of kitsch: a superstar in her own right.
How to book it: Double rooms at Hotel Excelsior start at £354, including breakfast and private motorboat transfers to St Mark’s Square.
Katie was a guest of Hotel Excelsior. All hotels and experiences have been independently reviewed by our expert writers, who are usually hosted on a complimentary basis, but this never affects our review process.
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