Hotel San Gallo - Venice, Italy 

a certain 'plus' element of the hotel is its central, perfect location, just less than 100mts from st.mark square, although in a quiet small place. the inside decoration and furnishing is tasteful of both common areas (breakfast room and reception) and rooms. hotel is thoroughly clean and well kept, breakfast (continental) is served buffet style in the small reception/sitting area room, on very small tables. the small-size of just everything in the hotel could be its 'minus' point. ceiling are low to very low (but this is common everywhere in venice), corridors very narrow, stairs steep and room on the very small size with no space at all for example to put a suitcase. other 'minus' elements for us were a too strong centralised heating we could not control, too many pidgeons outside of our window so to be afraid to leave our windows open to let cool air inside (among them one laid dead and not removed by hotel staff since several days i guess). an important negative element are definitely the steep stairs from the ground floor (no elevator at all) and inside the hotel itself which would let me positively not recommend the hotel for handicapped or elderly people, especially carrying heavy suitcases. for the rest my opinion is positive, otherwise, staff are kind and the general impression is charming.

As I'm planning my next trip to Venice, I couldn't resist writing a review for the San Gallo, which contributed to a miserable stay in Venice when I was there in 2004. Our room was not in the main part of the building...we had to walk into a tiny alley way on the side of the building and then ring a bell so that we could be buzzed in. After walking up a flight of steps, we walked through another doorway (which had to be unlocked with a key and then relocked) and finally to our room. The room was alright, the bathroom was fine. Unfortunately, if one of us wanted to leave the room, we had to go back for the other as you needed the big and bulky key not only to get in, but you needed it to get through the locked door in the hallway and the key was needed to get out of the door into the alley way!!! It was a pain in the butt!! Unfortunately, sometimes a bad hotel with fairly rude staff can set a negative tone for the entire visit to Venice! Oh yeah, as I've read on many other sights, this hotel will also send you to Morano to see the glass, but nobody tells you that if you don't buy something expensive, you have to find your own way back! We were waiting for the family that we came over with in the courtyard outside of the glass factory, and they kicked us out and told us we couldn't sit there to wait and that we'd have to take the vaparreto back!