I stayed at Neil's flat with my girlfriend and her sister during the beginning leg of our Italy trip. Neil was very great at communicating back and for with me about the details of our trip and how to get to his place, he sent a detailed emails with all the information we needed. When we arrived a woman named Caterina met us at our stop and walked us to the apartment.
The apartment is 4 water taxi stops away from the main area of San Marco, which was nice because you could get away from the busy tourists after a long day in the main area. The apartment overlooks a boat docking area and is walking distance from a market so i was able to buy groceries for breakfast and eat it while admiring the great view. There's a handful of restaurants along the water just a few minutes from the apartment and you can walk across to the neighboring 2 other islands on the way to San Marco but have to take a water taxi from the last one (I believe it was Zitelle) to get to San Marco. Everything shuts down around Venice by 11-12 but if you're young and want a late night drink go to the Hostel off Zitelle, you can walk there as well but it's about a miles walk.
Everything at the apartment was great. It was clean, had anything you needed to cook and make tea or coffee. There was 1 bed and a couple blow up air mattresses so we fit 3 people relatively comfortably but 4 would have been too tight. All and all it was a great experience and I would stay here again.