Venice Apartments - Venice, Italy 

AG
Posted: Tue, Nov 11 2008
Oll was good.

KB
Posted: Thu, Jul 17 2008
This was our first time in Venice. Prior to arrival, I took the explicit directions someone else had posted on Venere.com and highlighted our route to the Hotel Ariel Silva, where we checked in, and to the apartments. Without that detailed map, I am certain we would have gotten lost. Italy is not known for building in easy grid patterns or marking their streets well! We very much enjoyed our stay at these apartments. We were in the top floor attaic apartment, which was a very healthy climb as there is no lift, but it was quiet and had a nice breeze. It was on the small side, but workable. There was an annex room with a twin bed, but it had a very low ceiling - if your third person is a child, they will be thrilled with their fort-like space! There were plenty of electric outlets, a small kitchen (which we did not use), air conditioning (which we also did not use), and maid service daily. The only drawback is that there was no phone, other than the door buzzer system. The concierge at the Hotel Ariel Silva was very helpful with directions. Also, they were kind enough to let us check out the night before and leave the key on the table, as we needed to go in the other direction in the morning. When we did leave, it was a mere 10 minute walk to the Fond Nord water taxi port, with only a couple of bridges to cross, and from there it was a 25 minute boat ride to the airport. All in all, it was a very convenient location and a lovely stay. We would definitely stay there again.

Nice place, terrible company
Posted: Fri, Jul 04 2008
We booked our apartment (Piazza flat) with venicebooky in March for our trip in May. We arrived a couple of hours before our friends who we were sharing the apartment with. I called the office to say we were on our way to San Marco station as directed in our email, so someone could meet us and take us to the apartment. To cut a long story short, they tried to get us to stay at a different smaller apartment which was further away from san marco square, than the one we originally booked. The lady i spoke to in the office seemed really flustered to hear from me, and then kept cutting me off during HER mid sentence as she 'couldnt hear me??', then the phone was always engaged for a while. At first they said it wasn't a different flat, then they said it was different, but a much nicer flat and they tried to get me and my fiancee to accept the 'other' flat, before my friends had arrived. We were accused of wasting their time, as we insisted on waiting for our friends to arrive before deciding on accepting the flat. They said we had to decide there and then, or wait another 2 hours before they had time to take us there again. We had no choice but to wait, as my friends weren't going to get to venice for another half hour. Our original flat had one double bedroom, one twin bedroom, a living room with a double sofa bed, a kitchenette and one bathroom. The alternative flat had one double bedroom, a living room with a double sofabed and kitchenette, which meant our two (straight) guy friends had to share a bed in the living room. They wanted to charge us the same rate for something smaller and further away and insisted we were 'lucky' to have somewhere to stay and should just accept it. When we said it was unacceptable at the same rate, they proceeded to ask where we were from. The guy then insisted there was no negotiations possible and told us to hurry up as he was in a rush. We were insistent that it wasn't right, so the guy got onto the phone to the office, and told them we were 'chinese, and from London' (i don't see how that makes any difference?) They eventually agreed to cut the rate from 540 to 480 euros, i'll be checking my credit card to see no more is taken. It was a shame, because the place we eventually stayed at wasn't too bad, the holiday was relaxing after all that commotion, The people we had to deal with were really rude and we ended up having to wait around for bout 3 hours dragging suitcases around san marco square due to their ?admin errors. (I suspect they double booked, although they insist it was because there was no hot water at the original flat) The company blaming US for the hassle really put a bad start our holiday!! I definitely recommend confirming and reconfirming your booking before arriving, and also don't get bullied into taking an alternative. Venicebooky - you need to learn some manners.