Rosewood Hotel Bauer Trims Keys for an October Grand Canal Return

Rosewood is bringing one of Venice's most watched grand hotels back online. Rosewood Hotel Bauer, the 1880 San Marco palace between the Grand Canal and St Mark's Square, is targeting an October 2026 debut after years of closure and a preservation-led restoration led by Venetian architect Alberto Torsello with BAR Studio.

Rosewood's own project brief puts the finished hotel at just over 110 rooms, with more than half as signature suites plus a presidential suite with a private terrace. That reduced key count is the point: larger rooms and suites instead of packing every corridor. An eighth-floor outdoor pool with a bar and a wellness floor will sit above the city's roofs, a rare amenity in Venice's dense historic core.

What guests will find inside

Dining splits between a casual restaurant and wine bar on the ground floor and a refined Venetian restaurant with a rooftop bar and traditional altana above. A rooftop garden and spa round out the public spaces. Rosewood says many elements of the historic framework will stay visible in the new design, with sustainability woven into the restore rather than treated as a marketing add-on.

Ownership shifted in late 2024 when Mohari Hospitality and Omnam Investment Group took the property under Bauer SICAF. A €280 million financing package, including a large green loan from Italian lenders, underwrote the rebuild. Rosewood has remained the operator through the ownership change, which matters for guests who book brand standards rather than a one-off independent reopen.

Why Venice needed this reopen

Lagoon ultra-luxury inventory is scarce and slow to turn. A Rosewood-branded Bauer gives the group a Grand Canal flagship to sit beside Italian siblings such as Rosewood Castiglion del Bosco in Tuscany, while giving travellers a San Marco address that is neither a tiny boutique nor a cruise-adjacent grand dame frozen in time.

For guests, the so-what is practical: October timing, fewer keys, rooftop water and a Sense of Place restore that keeps Venetian fabric in view. Book early if you want canal proximity without trading away suite scale. Timing remains subject to final handover, but October 2026 is the date Rosewood trackers and trade coverage are now using for the return.