I have just got back from a lovely weekend city break to Venice. I booked the holiday a week ago as a last minute deal as the flights to venice were only 99p on ryanair. We decided to book this hotel as we just came across it searching on the web. After we booked it we found a few pictures of the hotel and it looked like a lovely venetian style hotel with lots of character. However i looked at a few reviews on other website and they were not so good. People were saying the breakfast was cold, the rooms were scruffy and the staff were rude etc. So i had low expectations when i arrived there, but i was pleasantly surprised.
First the location is brilliant. We got a bus from Treviso airport to venice itself and its like a 3-5 minute walk from there so we didn't look that daft going over a load of canal bridges with lots of suitcases. It is about a 15 minute walk away from St Marks Square, 5-10 minutes away from the place you can get gondolas from etc. Surrounding the hotel there are plenty of bars, cafes and restaurants. I especially recommend the Cafe Blue, which is a nice lively bar at night with modern music and a great atmosphere.
The room itself was nicely decorated. It had high ceilings, marble floor, clean bathroom and beds however it was a bit small. My feet were hanging out of the bed and i'm only 5 foot 11. The view from our window was the courtyard where you obviously can eat your breakfast outside in the summer. The rooms are nice and warm as they have heating. In the room there is a small TV with cable, ranging from Italian, US, Spanish channels etc. There is a tiny mini bar with not a lot of choice but reasonable prices such as 3 euro for a nastro azzuro. The room was cleaned and made up on each of our 3 days that we stayed there.
When it came to breakfast, i wasn't that impressed. All there was for pastries were these croissants. I was expecting lovely little pastries and cakes that you find in the streets of venice, but no just luke warm, sometimes soggy croissants. There was a choice of 2 cereals, 1 a chewy fibre breakfast and the other a no sugar version of cornflakes. There were 2 juices available, orange and grapefruit which were obviously not fresh. You could then have a boiled egg, a piece of cheese or some ham and then that was it. There wasn't a toaster to make some toast. The lady who works in the breakfast part doesn't even welcome you or ask you for anything. I usually jus ate a croissant or 2 and had a glass of water then got something to eat walking round.
The staff at the reception were very helpful indeed. On the first day they get to know you and they always ask you if you want advice on where to eat, go out, visit tourist attractions at best times etc.
Overall the hotel was very clean indeed. I never saw dirt anywhere. It was a quiet hotel and served a purpose as a base to all the lovely venetian attractions. The price was rather cheap compared to other rip off hotels. It worked out at about 400 pounds for 3 nights for 4 people, bed and breakfast. I would definitely go again to this hotel as i looked the interior and exterior compared to other hotels in venice. However i think i would buy breakfast out and bout whilst taking a gondola down the main canal, passing St Marks Square.