We added Venice to our trip at the last minute and scrambled to find a place to stay. Someone told us about the city of Mestre, a short bus ride outside of Venice and we found Hotel San Carlo online. We based our decision to stay on the few comments on TripAdvisor and I promised I would add my own comment upon our return to reassure other travellers that this 2-star hotel is a decent pied-a-terre and a wonderful economical alternative to staying is very pricy Venice.

This two-star hotel is simple in appearance but offers all you need for a convenient and pleasant stay. The hotel is quiet, the room, bathroom and dining room were very clean and the staff was wonderful at recommanding the best ways to enjoy Venice (transportation, tours, sights) and can even produce the tickets on site. The local transit system, a 5-minute walk away, takes you to Piazza Roma in Venice. No hassle, no traffic, no parking to worry about! The buses run frequently and late at night; the trip, including the walk and wait time, never took more than 20 minutes.

Free internet access is available in the hotel lobby. It's not the fastest connexion/computer which made using Skype difficult but it's enough for e-mail.

Breakfast is included and consists of cold cuts, cheese, hard boiled eggs, cereal, breads, pastries, milk, juice, coffee and tea. It was perfect!

The staff is friendly and eager to make your stay as enjoyable as possible. I heard them greet and assist guests in Italian, English, French, Spanish and they told me they are learning Chinese to accommodate the growing demand.

Overall, we were happily surprised with our last-minute find and enjoyed our two-night stay. The hotel was completely booked while we were there.

We stayed for three nights, two single rooms. Rooms very clean, somewhat cramped but OK. Services were average, breakfast was sufficient. Location is great for taking the bus into Venice, desk was very helpful. Overall, we would readily return if we come for another visit.

Very nice hotel for two stars. Simple furniture, but big room, condition. Big and very good big light bathroom with bidet, clean shower cubicle.
Staff is very friendly and suggest some interesting excurtion, gave detailed description about how to go to Venice.
Place is not very comfortable if you use train - hotel placed far from train station and it is need to take a bus (approximately 15 minutes from station, but it is not evident direction and name of station - it is better to ask bus-driver). But in 5 minute trip from hotel there is bus station, where every 10-15 minutes there is a bus exactly to Venice.
Breakfest is nor really various but delicious.

This hotel can be recommended for those who have a car or don't want to pay a lot to live in Venice exactly but every day going to Venice.

We booked this hotel through Venere for 80 Euros a night. The room was fairly quiet and comfortable though the bathroom a little small and narrow. The directions to the hotel say that from the Mestre train station to take the number 9 bus. Just FYI it runs every half-hour and stops running after 9:30pm. We got in late so ended up paying 15 Euros for a taxi. If you call the hotel they have alternate buses they can recommend that may be a little faster. On their recommendation we took a bus directly to Venice and only a 15 minute ride.

Another FYI, they recommended a 4-hour tour to Murano, Burano and Torcello. This tour is run by either Bucintoro Viaggi or Alilaguna company. It only cost 20 Euros for the tour but we thought it was a waste of time. They claim to give you a glass blowing demonstration but the demo lasted less than 10 minutes and we were ushered to a store to purchase glass. The demo on Burano wasn't much better, their so-called lace making demonstration lasted only a minute! If the hotel recommends this tour to you just decline otherwise you waste half your day.