Among them is the just opened Airelles Palladio, owned by French billionaire Stéphane Courbit. Alongside the hotel’s historic buildings, including one designed by the Renaissance architect Palladio, you will find three swimming pools, a 1700-metre spa including a hammam, a Finnish sauna, a gym and yoga studio, and almost a hectare of gardens.

And that’s before we get to the food outlets, helmed by some of the biggest culinary stars around including Nobu Matsushita (Matuhisa by Nobu), Jean-Georges Vongerichten (ABC Kitchens Palladio), three-Michelin-starred Italian chef Norbert Niederkofler (Villa Frollo) and an outlet from acclaimed French pâtissier Cedric Grolet.

Then there is the Palladio Club, which will host live music several nights a week, from jazz and pop to classical. Clearly, when it came to opening its first property outside France, the exclusive French hotel group decided to go for broke.

“The DNA of Airelles is that we treat the stay as an experience in it itself. Here we can offer a resort experience inside the city,” says the hotel’s general manager, Etienne Petitpez.

It’s a rare offering in a city where space is at a premium, made possible by the hotel’s location on the island of Giudecca directly opposite St Mark’s Square, with the hotel’s 24-hour boat service offering seamless connections.

It gives the hotel a critical point of difference in a year when Venice is seeing a series of high-profile (re)openings, including a new Orient Express Hotel, the reopening of a restored and modern Hotel Danieli and, at the end of the year, the opening of a new Rosewood Hotel on the site of the much-missed Bauer Hotel.

Petitpez for one is delighted by the flurry of new openings that promises to bring a new level of luxe to the city. [Venice’s luxury sector] has developed to a rhythm that was different than the rest of the [global] trend,” he says. Beyond offering atmospheric interiors enriched with Murano glass, Fortuny chandeliers and Rubelli fabrics, that means helping guests connect with the city itself.

“Our guests might spend a day enjoying the property, but the next day they will be out on one of our experiences,” Petitpez says, referring to the range of private excursions included in the room rate.

If you want to admire La Serenissima’s wonders without having to brave the crowds, there are after-hours visits to the Doge’s Palace and St Mark’s Basilica. Longing to see what lies behind the enigmatic facades of the city’s privately-held palazzos? Airelles guests can step through the doors of one and meet the art-collecting owners. If you prefer to get creative yourself, perhaps a painting lesson with a local artist will hit the spot.

It is a style of exploration that is about more than ticking off the sights, and it is one that is an increasingly essential part of any five-star offering. “Modern luxury travellers want to be emotionally connected to the place they visit,” agrees Bartolomeo Fusco, the general manager of the just-opened Orient-Express Venezia.

For the second hotel in the reborn Orient Express brand (the first, Orient Express La Minerva, opened in Rome last year), Fusco is keeping things strictly local. Housed in the Palazzo Dona Giovanelli, a 15^th century building given a voluptuous refit by architect Aline Asmar d’Amman, the hotel’s sits in the northern district of Cannaregio, often described as the least touristy of the city’s sestiere.

This has inspired the hotel to focus on experiences beyond the reach of most visitors – anything from a tasting session at a winery on the island of Mazzorbo, to a visit to the atelier of fashion Antonia Sautter, who also hosts exclusive masked ball during Carnevale.

Above all, Fusco wants to situate Cannaregio as a ‘destination within a destination’. “The experiences I value most are precisely those that reveal the soul of our neighbourhood,” Fusco says, nominating the codega tour as a favourite.

“As night falls, Cannaregio reveals its most authentic face. In the company of a codega – the historic lantern-bearer who once guided Venetians through the city’s darkened maze -wander through quiet alleyways and secluded squares illuminated by a soft, flickering glow.”

Over at the just-reopened Hotel Danieli, they are facing a slightly different challenge. The hotel has been part of the Venetian scene for 200 years, with celebrated visitors including writers such as George Sand and Lord Byron, as well as opera singer Maria Callas and tycoon Aristotle Onassis, who began their ill-fated love affair here.

Currently closed for renovations, it will reopen as Danieli, a Four Seasons Hotel. General manager Christian Zandonella says the Danieli’s heritage and its Venetian identity will influence every aspect of the reborn hotel, “from design, to gastronomy, mixology, spa treatments and experiences.”

Designer Pierre-Yves Rochon is introducing sumptuous new interiors, while other innovations include Venice’s only indoor pool at canal level. Like its competitors, the Danieli is also offering its guests a different way to experience ethe city.

For families, that might include an educational excursion to learn about the MOSE flood protection system which helps the city survive high tides. For adults, instead of (or in addition to) the cliché gondola ride, guests at the Danieli will be able to take part in a rowing lesson to learn the Voga Veneta, the art of rowing while standing, or head out on a vintage bragozzo fishing vessel to discover lesser-known parts of the lagoon.

As Zandonella says, “To understand Venice, you must comprehend the significance of water and the fact that it is an island, a city that ebbs and flows with time.”

For luxury visitors at least, the tide is flowing in the right direction.