We spent 1 night in this hotel during our trek through Italy. Typically when booking European hotels, I get a bit weary because they are usually in older, refurbished, dusty buildings and the bathroom and bed sizes can be questionalble. I usually don't make any issue since most of these hotels are what they are and. They can't renovate extensively, and have a few inherent cultural differences. It's all part of the experience. After all, if I wanted a Holiday inn, I would stay home.

That said, I was COMPLETELY SATISFIED with Alloggi al Mercante. We had booked online, and the site was easy to navigate and they responded t our email questions promtly - and in English. When we checked in, we were greeted in English by a friendly desk clerk. We got up to the room and it was exactly as pictured on the website. As a matter of fact, as we were settling in, the desk clerk came up to offer us an upgraded room.

Both rooms had the equivalent of a queen-sized (or larger) bed. Both bathrooms were extremely clean and well appointed. Many hotels in Eurpoe can have tiny waterclostes with phone booth sized showers. This hotel had a large shower - big enough for 2 - with a bench seat. Plenty of room inside and out to do what you needed to do without bruising a knee or an elbow. Shower and bed size is very important to us since my husband is over 6' 3".

Bothrooms were immaculate, rooms had working air conditioning and were decorated in old Venitian style with blown glass light fixtures. I have to be honest and say that given the age of the city and the building that the hotel is in, it was remarkably clean and there were no signs of dis-repair.

We slept in, so we did not sample the breakfast. Breakffast is served in the lobby. The lobby of the hotel is TINY, but seemed to be prepared to provide the usual coffe/tea/croissant type breakfast amenities.

The building itself is charming. But I don't think you find many of those in Venice anyway. You walk up to your room looking at the architecture and you can picture what the building would have been used for in it's day. The landing on each floor is spacious, plenty of room to get in and out of your room without bumping into anyone.

Value for the money was superb. We'd thought of spending more for a ritzy canal side hotel, but quickly realized that ALL of venice is canal side. And all of it is quiet since there is no vehicle traffic. The front door of the hotel is about 50 feet from the canal We were steps away from the Rialto Market, the Architectural Museam, the Water Taxi and the Vapereto. What more could you ask for?

STAY HERE!!