I stayed at Jeff Bezos's rumoured wedding venue, but the £86 hostel next door was almost as good

Telegraph

02-04-2025

A stay at the Belmond Hotel Cipriani in Venice was at the top of my experiential highs last year. It has a parasol-bedecked terrace for breakfast, white-jacketed bartenders whipping up seasonal bellinis, jasmine-studded paths and wisteria-clad pergolas that guide guests to Cip's Club to eat asparagus risotto and grilled sea bass on its platform jutting over the water.
From the moment you arrive at the five-star hotel's own landing stage on Venice's satellite island of Giudecca, the Cipriani feels enchanting. As was my room, a serenity-inducing blend of gentle gelato colours and an expansive marble bathroom, plus a terrace.
When Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez get married in Venice in late June, it's heavily rumoured that the Hotel Cipriani will be one of the venues, just as it was when George and Amal Clooney got married in 2014.
Just a three-minute walk from the Cipriani on the Fondamenta Zitelle, separated by a church, Elton John's Venice home and a huge price difference, is the two-star Generator hostel. At the Cipriani, rooms start at £1,806, while a double room with en suite bathroom at the Generator costs just £86 a night. When I arrived for a recent stay, the bed had been made up for me, there were towels, and I was greeted by the same utterly dreamy view across the water to St Mark's Square that the Cipriani's top suites have.
Admittedly, when I can drag myself away from the view, instead of the veritable mountain of pillows at the Cipriani, there are just two small ones. There isn't shampoo provided (although there's a vending machine in the corridor selling it and other essentials). A bedside table would be nice but the bed is exceptionally comfortable, the linen perfectly good.
And, when you've had to pull lamp plugs out of the wall in a hotel because you can't work out how to turn them off, it's actually quite relaxing to have just the one overhead light with a switch by the bed. There isn't a television either, but as I can't remember the last time I watched a hotel television, that's no hardship. It's extremely clean and tidy. Over the years, I have stayed in many hotels that were far worse, and far more expensive. And, because the Generator is also a hostel, there are other benefits.
I head downstairs again, where the ground floor has a zinc-covered bar and a series of sofas. There's also a quartet of vivid red wing armchairs around a fireplace and a big televsion showing sport with the sound off. Built in 1885, the building was a former grain warehouse and has the high-ceilinged proportions to match. Even at the end of March, it has the sort of buzzy atmosphere that most hotels would give their eye teeth for. (In the summer months, there's also a small terrace on the waterfront.)
There is a library of books and another of board games. Two people are playing Connect Four, but mostly you can see people connecting.
'It's hard not to start talking when you're sharing a dorm,' points out Nicolas Cattelan when we start chatting. Nicolas, a trainee pilot, is also a big fan of the Generator's position on Guidecca. 'You're a bit separate from the rest of Venice – you can go in and then retreat here,' he adds, which was also one of the things that made the Cipriani so magical for me last year.
Also staying are Paul Ramage and Diane Medcalf of New Mexico, both in their 60s, and friends for 35 years. They are in a double room like me. 'It's so nice talking to everyone,' says Diane. 'Most people here are [millennials] and Gen Z and they are so considerate and thoughtful.'
As I drink a glass of white wine made from garganega grapes in the Veneto, costing €6 a glass, I watch the front desk deal with late arrivals with charm and friendliness. Part of the magic of the Cipriani when I stayed last year was that it felt utterly assured, but so, it turns out, is the Generator.
At the Cipriani, I have fond memories of the 10 different honeys that were available at breakfast, which is served on specially designed Ginori china. The grounds have room for both a pint-sized vineyard and supersized swimming pool. Should you wish to work up an appetite for Oro, the two Michelin-starred restaurant run by Vania Ghedini, there's even a tennis court.
It's fair to say you aren't going to be coming to the Generator for the food. Breakfast is available; my croissant is fine and the cappuccino good. In the evening, the menu includes lasagne, fettuccine and chicken wings. Instead, I take up the recommendation of a friend to head around the corner to Ristorante Ai Tre Scaini and have a very good pizza. I feel vindicated when I later see some of the Generator's staff come in too.
At the Cipriani, the experience was so seductive that – apart from getting into the hotel's private launch for trips to St Mark's – I succumbed to the temptation to stay put and be cocooned by its extraordinary pleasures. On the day I left, I even paid £100 to move my flight back so I could lie on a mattress-thick sun lounger by the pool for just a few more hours.
At the Generator, though, I explore Giudecca – wandering along the Fondamenta next to the water to the Redentore church, the working shipyard and along to the Fortuny fabric factory. And there's a vaporetto stop that goes to St Mark's a minute's walk away.
Should Bezos and his guests want to save money, they could do far worse than bed down at the Generator.
Sarah Turner travelled as a guest of Generator Venice, which offers dorm beds from £26 and double rooms from £86, not including breakfast.