Around 200 guests attended the celebrations in Venice, with 95 private planes arriving
Hotels hosting guests included the Aman Venice, the Belmond Hotel Cipriani, the Gritti Palace, the Hotel Danieli and the St. Regis Venice
The hotels' spas were booked out for the duration
Protesters want Bezos to pay more tax to offset his environmental impact and to highlight overtourism
Wedding celebrations for multi-billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and former TV journalist
Lauren Sanchez have taken place in Venice, Italy.
Despite protests against overtourism and whether Bezos ought to pay more tax to offset his environmental impact, at least five of the city’s luxury hotels and spas were booked out to host wedding guests, with spa treatments part of the celebrations.
Hotels hosting included the Aman Venice, the Belmond Hotel Cipriani, the Gritti Palace, the Hotel Danieli and the St. Regis Venice.
Reutersreported that the celebrations, including the main wedding party on Saturday evening (28 June), were expected to cost US$46.5-55.6 million (€38-48 million, £34-41 million).
Bezos is also expected to make substantial charitable donations, including a €1 million (US$1.2 million, £850,000) towards Corila, an academic consortium that studies Venice’s lagoon ecosystem.
The couple already married legally in the US.
Aman VeniceBezos and Sanchez stayed at the Aman Venice, which is located on Venice’s Grand Canal in a Baroque-style palace in Palazzo Papadopoli – one of the city’s eight palazzos.
The 24-key hotel erected a VIP jetty for guests to use on arrival.
The hotel has an Aman Spa on the third-floor mezzanine with three treatment rooms and offers thermal bathing treatments using the healing waters, thermal salts and bentonite clays from the spa town of Salsomaggiore Terme in Italy’s northern Emilia-Romagna region.
There are also interior private gardens and a fitness studio at the property, with panoramic rooftop views.
Belmond Hotel CiprianiAround 30 guests stayed at the 67-key Belmond Hotel Cipriani, which is home to a 33-metre heated salt water outdoor swimming pool – the largest in Venice.
The hotel’s Casanova Spa is set in the property’s gardens. It has four treatment rooms (three single and one double) and a sauna and steambath. There's also a fitness centre with equipment by Technogym and a hair salon.
George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Bezos are regulars at this hotel.
The ceremony took place on San Giorgio Maggiore island, opposite the Cipriani.
Bezos hired hawks from Hotel Cipriani to keep seagulls and pigeons from interrupting the wedding ceremony.
The Gritti PalaceThe Gritti Palace, a Luxury Collection Hotel operated by Marriott since 2016, also hosted guests. Dating back to 1475, the Gothic building has 82 guest rooms.
The Gritti Spa is by Sisley Paris and has three treatment suites, a steamroom, foot bath facilities and services on its menu for facials, massages, manicures, pedicures and make-up.
The property also has a fitness centre with equipment by Technogym.
Hotel DanieliWedding guests also stayed at the 204-key Hotel Danieli, which faces the Venetian lagoon and is a short walk from Piazza San Marco.
The hotel doesn’t have a spa but offers in-room massages.
St Regis VeniceWith 124 guestrooms and 39 suites, the St Regis Venice has a Valmont Spa with two treatment rooms offering body scrubs, facials and massages among other services.
