Bait & Switch - Not What You’re Expecting. Avoid at All Costs (full details of our horror story below)
I have never written a terrible review before & hope to never feel compelled to write one again. I love the places we’ve stayed & the hosts we’ve met through this platform. That said, this place is basically a hostel that you’re overpaying for.
The pictures make it seem in much better condition than it is. The furniture is not the same as in the pictures & it should not be boasting canal views. The views are only out of the living room & one bedroom window. They are too high up to see any canal unless you stand right up against them. Otherwise your view is of a sidewalk across the canal & the people on it & people at a bar there. There were dead bugs & who knows what else smeared all over the walls. I’m not sure what the steep cleaning fee is going into it but it isn’t that. When we checked in we were initially given 1 roll of toilet paper for 4 adults for 4 nights (it claims they include essentials like toilet paper .. which technically they did but come on).
This was not the only bathroom related issue. All of the plumbing in this listing has one issue or another. The kitchen sink leaks from its base, the shower isn’t flush with the floor so the room slowly floods from the side of it & worst of all for us was the toilet. A couple of nights in, the toilet just started running nonstop. We contacted our host almost immediately out of courtesy (thinking of their water bill) & to see if she could trouble shoot. The house manual covered many things but not this. She asked for a video & then sent back “looks like it’s broken & you’re stuck”. I replied that didn’t seem like a realistic solution & asked if she could send someone out so that we’d have a functioning toilet again (at this point we could only use half of the function if you know what I mean). She went silent. Our host actually attempted to ghost us. We lost a whole day of (paid for) activities trying to troubleshoot this with Airbnb support. Finally someone got her to send a plumber over & he did resolve the issue. Trying to move forward I messaged the host & said “thank you. It appears to be fixed”. She sent back a very aggressive message saying the toilet was never broken in the first place. She has since sent other aggressive messages, tried to collect additional money from us (Airbnb actually credited us some money back for being inconvenienced) & made claims like we should have used a bucket & water for the duration of our stay (2 more nights). At this point we feel harassed. I thought we’d put this behind us when she sent another message & somehow requested even more money for the same thing.
This place is not worth it. It’s dirty, not like the pictures & the host is rude if not harassing. We’ve stayed in Venice before (with a host who unfortunately moved) & had a fantastic experience. Please save yourself & your trip some mental peace & book anywhere else.