Two friends and i arrived in Venice and after a short walk we found what we could not believe was the hostel we had made reservations for. First of all, no sign what so ever and the office looked more like an entryway to a old museum with it's postcards the first thing you saw. Had to ask if this really was the hostel. We got our room key and went upstairs where the first thing we saw was a cat walking around the building. The entire building was creepy. Like an abandoned museum without furniture. The room was discusting. Mosquitos all over due to the broken mosquito net i the window. We went downstairs, trying to get out of it by blaiming it on our terrible allergies. It was in possible but we manage to get out of the secound night. While sleeping you could hear everything going on in the other rooms. Super hot with mosquitos biting you, I only got a couple of hours of sleep. Got out of there at 7 in the morning to go to our super nice hotel we found for only five euros more per night.

1.We booked online. Got a confirmation. Yet, when we arrived, there was no records of our names on their computer system. We were given a room anyway, provided that the other person did not arrive.

2. The walls were not walls but very thin office partition. You can't tell if who's knocking on whose's door...the sound just resonates across. (it could be quite alarming when u hear someone knocking at your door in the middle of the night, though he/she is knocking at another's door-it was very inconsiderate of them to do)

3. The door handle bars were very filmsy and always came apart when pulled...so there;s very little security. Make sure u do not leave anything valuable in the room.

4. At night, after 11pm, there is still incessant chatting (in Italian or Austrian or some foreign language I couldn't decipher).
Despite my desperate pleas, they continued with their chatting...extremely inconsiderate!


5. we tried to the pay the fees in credit card but the machine is down (worker said that machine damaged bythe flood and he never made an attempt to get it repaired!) wE had to pay in cash! 118 euros is a lot of cash!

6. If one can't afford to stay in Venice, then don't. Make it a day trip there. You deserve a more decent place for the price u are paying!

we we traveling on a budget and tried to save money by staying here. The room was pretty standard. While staying there we got all kinds of bug bites. would not recommend.

My friend and I stayed here for 4 days when we ran in the Venice Marathon, I booked through venere.com mainly on price (total bill £71.70 for 4 nights accomodation only)
In the days leading up to going I was a bit worried as I,d read alot of negative reviews on Venere, however..

I enjoyed the college, it had character, it was old, it had a great old garden, it was on a canal, it was 5 minutes dander from plaza roma, there was an art exhition, found a local cafe round the corner (not with san marco prices), it was 5 mins to st basilo waterbus stop, there were locals and hardly any tourists to be seen!

The room , ok, it was like a prison cell, it had no curtains , but had a nice roof top view, was on the 3rd floor - 70 steps , try getting down them after 26 miles

Toilets and showers , there were seperate ones for males and ones for females, I had a great shower with plenty of hot after after the marathon

Noise , it was a bit noisy but I came prepared with ear plugs

To sum up, I would not take my wife here as she would kill me, but for people on a budget or perhaps going round Europe it would be an ideal base to stay, also I met some nice people and had a good overall experiance

I will be running the venice marathon again in 2009 and I will be staying in the college again

Bout ye... the seeker of truth and justice!