Despite a few early hiccups in communication - not of the host's fault - the stay at Iryna's apartment went very well. The owners interact via an intermediary (whose name on this occasion was Greccia) who comes to get you and gives you the keys and a rundown of the apartment.
Location was wonderful but really on this account there's nothing special because if your rental is *anywhere* on Venice proper then you have a great location by default and are, at most, 15 or 20 minutes's walking time from Rialto and San Marco which are the two main tourist sites.
As for this apartment in particular, the place was a bit smaller than expected but clean and tidy. We made comments to ourselves to the effect that it was obvious that the owners invested a significant amount of money into turning a 500 year old building into a cozy mini-lux. Really no complaints at all. The appliances are so modern that their use might be a bit unfamiliar to some. I would recommend that you have the intermediary personally show you in particular use of the shower which took a while to figure out. The fridge is tastefully camouflaged as cabinetry. The front door literally looks like and operates like a bank vault (anyone trying to break in would have an easier time sledgehammering down the walls than getting through the door!). The laundry machine is probably unintelligible to most Americans. Again, your host should be able to run through these to save you a bit of frustration later on.
Would gladly stay here again!