Ca' Pisani Hotel - Venice, Italy     

This hotel has a wonderful location down a quiet street but a short walk from Zatterre and Accademia vaporetto stops. The bedrooms and bathrooms look like they have been recently refurbished and the bed was one of the most comfortable I have ever slept in. We ate in the hotel's restaurant La Revista on our first night and had a very good meal. The only slight downside was the lack of hot water. We stayed in room 19 on the second floor for 3 nights and were without hot water on two occasions. Having said this, the staff were quick to sort out the problem each time, and our friends in a room on the floor below had no problems at all The staff were always keen to help, ringing the water taxi company several times on our behalf to sort out departure.

I was very excited to stay at this hotel after reading many reviews, and I agree with all of its strong points. The staff at the desk were excellent; they all seem to be willing to answer our questions, help us make dinner reservations, and find our way around. The location was perfect: both in regards to access from the water transportation and for walking to many excellent sights that were nearby. It was also blissfully quiet, a real asset on such a busy weekend. The breakfast was fine, and the bar a pleasant place for a before or after-dinner drink. Unfortunately, we didn't get the opportunity to eat dinner there. One thing that was very disappointing to me was that our room was overly warm, "stuffy" being the most apt description I can think of. The first night I called the desk to see how we could turn on the air conditioning, and I was told that it was something that was controlled centrally, not in our individual rooms. So we opened the windows wide, turned on the bathroom fan, and managed to be comfortable, except for battling a few mosquitos. On subsequent days we tried to keep the sun out during the afternoons so that we didn't return to such a warm room. The first day, the housekeeping staff opened them; the second, my husband didn't put the blinds down properly. Every day, trying to make the temperature in the room comfortable became our endeavor. In short, I didn't expect this to be an issue in a hotel of this standard. Coming home with mosquito bites is okay for a camping trip, not for a stay in a pricey hotel.