Fantastic location away from crowds and near train and bus stations.
Original rooms of good size and quiet and comfortable with decent view.
For the price it was excellent value

bad things;
*You can hear people from other rooms very clear, word by word.
*Noisy rooms
*No internet connection even if you want to pay
*Guy at the desk during the day was in pain whenever you want to ask something, not very helpful
*Extremely small rooms nothing like in the pictures,
*Everything in the room is very very old.
*dark rooms
*only 3 channels on tv(rai 1, rai2, rai 3)

good things;
* not far from the train station.

We were after a hotel near the station, but still wanted that "venice feel" This was an absolutely perfect choice, on a canal, with lovely restaurants a short walk away, and you are not lugging you luggage on boats etc to get to the centre of Venice where ever thing is over priced. You can get a boat into centre in 15 mins or so, and the boat ride is through the canals, so perfect. The room was basic but clean (which is very important to me) and had nice decor, and a lovely "european breakfast" (think dried toast, ham and cheese etc) but i honestly prefer this to a full on hot buffet! I recommend this hotel highly!

Hotel is located in an ideal position if you are coming in via road or rail from Treviso, it is easy to find and saves lugging cases etc for too long,as you do see many people wheeling them all over the city. We stayed in room 34 which was roomy and had double windows with views of the canal below with small gardens beyond, we also had a side view of the grand canal .
Ivan on the front desk in the evenings was a very friendly guy who gave us good tips for nearby restaurant's which were good quality with prices not too steep.He also seems very knowledgeable about most things Venice. Room was clean if basic, but had good shower and bathroom with a very firm bed and very clean sheets, all the essentials one needs when travelling.
Breakfasts were a little limited with no hot food but it was all was very fresh, and waiting staff were friendly. Hotel was usually quiet ay night but was some boat engine noise in the early mornings as small commercial barges and boats used the canal below.
We came at the end of festival time and the last day was very crowded everywhere but all good natured, after the festival ended it became much less crowded and easier to move about especially near St marks square. Restaurant's can be very pricey and it is best to avoid being upgraded by waiting staff with you menu choice as this usually is a very expensive option, we saw various couples throughout our stay that were very unhappy with their bill ,an example being two American/Canadian ladies who were charged 30 euros each for the special sea bass option running that night, so what with cover charges and service charges all added, not to mention separate prices for potatoes etc that came with the fish, and an expensive wine, must have paid in excess of 100euro, and this being a fairly ordinary Trattoria.
All things considered about the Gardena is that it is a very good 3 star Hotel that makes a good base to explore Venice and its surrounding areas and we would certainly recommend it if you are looking for a good clean basic Hotel in a good location and not too expensive, in fact, for what we paid(travel agent rates) was excellent value.