Concierge.com's insider take:

The Bauer Hotel and adjacent Bauer Il Palazzo are the twin pet projects of Francesca Bortolotto Possati, whose family has owned the properties since 1930. The five-star Bauer Hotel doesn't look like much on the outside, but the blocky 1949 building's 91 rooms and 18 suites are all plush and pleasant, with lots of velvet furniture and brocade upholstery. The location in Campo San Moisè, among some of Venice's smartest shops and just a stone's throw from Piazza San Marco, is hard to beat. For more pampering, check into the Bauer Il Palazzo, a former annex that's now a 44-room, 38-suite boutique lodging. Here, the luxury is super-discreet; those wishing to stay incognito can slip in and out via private launch at the water entrance. For true over-the-topness, there's the Bauer Casa Nova, one of the city's most posh rental villas; it's right next to Piazza San Moisè. The latest entry to the Bauer fold is Il Palladio, a 50-room five-star in the former charitable institution that surrounds Andrea Palladio's church of Le Zitelle, on the Giudecca. For all their jazzy hues, the rooms strike us as a little dowdy; the property's best features are the ground-floor spa, with its extensive range of Daniela Steiner beauty treatments, and the pretty garden.