Excellent location, nice setting, comfortable rooms, decent breakfast.

From 30dec2011 - 02jan2012 @ 210€ per night = 840€. This was the worst hotel I have ever stayed in. How do I loathe thee. Let me count the ways. Where to start?. Bathroom: toilet lid cracked; shower leaked where head attached to hose making it impossible to keep water off floor; lid of waste bin broken. Bedroom: thermostat broken, had to be adjusted from desk; television broken, telephone to desk broken - both replaced next day, but after I wanted to view possible fireworks display New Years Eve. When the forced air heat worked, there was an odor of stale cooking that seemed to have mixed with air input which we cleared by opening window. Repeat. Confirmed by hotel management. Closet not deep enough for a normal hanger, clothes at an angle. What seemed to be a set of dresser drawers was actually a cover for a third bed, consequently no place to store clothing - used suitcases from floor. Breakfast: no fresh fruit; no fresh brioche nor eggs or any warm food; toast could be made from very plain white bread, the one time I used the toaster the bread was not fresh; coffee made from a powder; if you would want a cappuccino it would have costed one euro more. At a certain point it seemed not worth the trouble of complaining about an impossible situation. (Had a fantastic New Years concert at Fenice and a very nice New Years meal at Al Paradiso).

We stayed there 10/6/11 for 3 days it was Great !! we luv to stay where the action is with a view !!!! IT DOES NOT GET BETTER THAN THIS. The suite was canal front 2 windows on the 1st floor above the ground level restaurant with outdoor seatig, The Formal living room with a Veranda (tables and chairs) that is open to all Guests but we always had it to ourself just outside our door.The suite room was good size and bathroom spacious with Jacuzzi . Looking at the VIEWS LIKE A PICTURE at all different times of day you really notice how Beautifull Venice operates daily with only water transportation. UPS delivery boats, fresh foods and booze boats to all the restaurants, garbage boats, laundry boats, public bus boats etc. We loved it all.

Oh the Disappointment! We had understood from earlier reviews of this establishment that the Locanda really was something very special. In addition we were under the impression that we had booked a room overlooking the Grand Canal.
Instead we were given the key to a dark, gloomy room overlooking the side alley and, on asking if we had made a mistake, told that, for an extra 50 Euros per night on top of the 224 Euros per night we had already paid, that could be arranged..... We declined the offer and made do.
It looks as though an 'architect/designer' on drugs has been at work. One of our shower 'walls' was actually the bathroom window so how long before the window frame rots and falls into the alley below is debatable. Doorways had been boarded up and the lift smelt so bad we thought a corpse might be at the bottom of the lift shaft.
Wi-Fi was, of course charged extra and breakfast consisted entirely of pre-packaged items e.g. processed cheese, coffee from a thermos flask etc 'served' by a very glum waitress who barely acknowledged anyone's presence.
What really puzzled us was the 'TripAdvisor merit badge' at reception! How on earth had they been awarded this - TripAdvisor had better send someone 'ingognito' to take a look at this establishment!
The hotel had two things going for it - a kind of common room with balcony overlooking the Rialto Bridge and the Grand Canal - with the weather absolutely perfect it was very agreeable to bring a cold beer from the stall just around the corner and just watch the world go by. It was, too, very convenient for getting to see all the sights.
And a further gripe - beware of Hotels.com. We booked by Credit Card but when we received our C.Card statement it had an extra 66 Euros tacked on to cover an Italian Central Govt tax.
This was explained to us as we checked out - not the fault of the hotel, of course, but we were then told Hotels.com charge Hotel Locanda Ovidus 25% commission. So if you really MUST use this establishment, book direct, but don't say you haven't been warned!