Would have been 5 stars if not for property issue and extremely difficult host. After traveling and hosting as former super host ourselves with AirBnB for 10 years, we were surprised the host did not make more of an effort to help us when a problem arose.
Good: location is near the sights but just outside of feeling like you are stuck with the intense tourist traffic. Apartment is well sized, clean, and two bathrooms, great for family. Check in was nice - someone who works for Mario met us at Vaporetto stop and guided us to apt. Mattresses were comfortable. Wi-Fi works in the living room, kitchen is well-appointed.
Challenges: the AC did not work, which booking in summer with grandma and two young kids, was a necessity. We notified Mario that the AC didn’t work soon after checkin. For two days, Mario questioned if we knew how to use the remote and told us to keep the windows closed (forget about views of the canal — we had to keep the shutters closed our entire stay to keep the sun/heat out). At nearly 9PM the second day, he sent someone to validate that it was indeed broken. He then searched for a technician to fix, but offered no fans or portable AC options. The AC was not fixed during our stay. We told them we were dying of the heat and if they could bring a fan, that would help — given all the windows had to stay shut, you can imagine the lack of air circulation at nearly 100F degrees. The two other AC units barely worked, so were completely insufficient to cool the apartment. Mario knew the AC wasn’t working properly, and didn’t send someone — just to validate, not even to fix — for two whole days during a heat wave. He could have at least sent his rep with one fan to help us. Obviously the heat wave isn’t his fault, but if you advertise AC, it has to actually work, and if something goes wrong, you should do something to help your guests.
AirBnB got involved, partially compensated us (~20% refund for full stay w/o functioning AC, host agreed was not working and could not fix). Unbelievably, 3 days after we checked out, and after Airbnb closed our case, he tried to say we broke a toilet seat hinge (which was broken on checkin, but we didn’t complain as it didn’t affect use of toilet).
If you read the other reviews and responses, it seems the host has a challenging attitude and is not sufficiently concerned for guests’ well-being. The worst part is that other than this issue, the place is great! If any consideration for the guest would have been offered, the stay would have been nice.