Stayed at hotel with my children on the 26th,27th and 28th September 2009. Booked directly with hotel using Visa credit card number as guarantee. Confirmation from hotel stated that "Cash or credit card payment will be made directly at the residence". Despite paying for my stay in full at reception and receiving a receipt for this, my credit card was debited again after I left the hotel. In other works I was charged twice. I have sent frequent emails to the hotel and despite assurances that they will refund me, they have failed to do so. It is now six weeks since these transactions took place. I've travelled extensively and have never had treatment like from any other hotel.

Pluses and minuses. The people that were supposed to meet us at the Vaparetto stop and take us to the residence did not show up. The TI called veniceapartments.com for us, and said they were unavailable to meet us. We found it on our own after being given directions by the TI at the bus station. Once we found it, the staff was friendly but failed to open any windows or curtains in the darkened apartment when we arrived at 2 in the afternoon. We had a unit on the third floor. They did not show us how to work the air conditioner/heater. We figured it out after three days. We left the windows open the first night and Venetian mosquitos feasted on us. After that, we closed the windows onto the canal every night. Once we settled in we enjoyed the views and the location. It is off the tourist path but close to everything.

This hotel was amazing. Three couples, each had an apartment-like room. Each of us stayed on a different floor and each had a view of the canal. There was internet, but for a fee. The hotel is staffed for a brief period during the day. We made full use of our time while in Venice, so this wasn't an issue for us. They also allowed us to store our luggage in their lobby upon checking out, so that again, we could take advantage of the time we had.

I wasn't too sure what we were getting ourselves into at this extremely reasonable price, but was very pleasantly surprised. The building seems ancient, but is very well maintained, and very clean. Our apartment on the second (first?) floor was not fancy, but well-appointed and quite comfortable.
The wonderful part of the experience of staying here is that it is a residential area with few tourists. Campo Santa Margarita, just around the corner, is alive all day long with the people who live there: old, young, mothers with little children, little boys playing soccer. There are flower stalls, two fish markets, several restaurants and bars (coffee bars), all of which have tables outside, and a host of other shops.
Ai Carmini church, a few doors down, proved to be a landmark that all Venetians know. It's how we told our water taxi driver and our gondolier where to go. And the young lady at the desk, Bianca, could not have been more helpful and pleasant. All in all, a wonderful experience.
FYI, we are 4 American social workers of a certain age.