American Hotel Venice

i found this Hotel to be very nice - even the single rooms which in any Hotel tend to be the smallest and worst in the building. My application form failed to inform them i walk with a stick and as there is no lift [very few in Venice!], it was a bit of a trek to the third floor. But as soon as the Concierge saw my stick, he clicked and tutted and the next night moved me down to the 1st Floor. He would have done it the first night but had no rooms available. There is free internet access and i was very comfortable in my week there. My only complaint was the Restaurant was only for breakfast, no dinners. [You could get limited room service for coffees and willingly done]. It made me go out each night to eat but there are small restaurants close by that are not too expensive. The one next door to the Hotel is a little on the pricey side. There is a pizzeria next to the Accadamia Bridge that is both cheap, cheerful and very good - with waiters to die for!! Venice should be experienced at least once and i was happy to get a water taxi from the front door of the Hotel out to the Airport when i left - it was worth every Euro!

We stayed at this hotel 6 years ago and unless it's undergone a major renovation, I am mystified by the rave reviews. Yes, there were large rooms with a view of the canal, but only 2 to a floor. Our room was small, dark, and dismal. You'd need a periscope to get a view of anything at all. All this for $300 and that was in 1997.If the hotel's been renovated, I retract my statements. If not, I don't get it!

We last stayed there 10 years ago, and we were concered we wouldn't like is as much now. We were right; we liked it better! It has a quiet, but convenient location. Quaint European rooms and up-to-date bathrooms. Along with a very helpful staff, it also provides free email access. One caveat...the rooms in the back tend to be quite dark.

What a delightful hotel! We had a room overlooking the canal with THREE double french-style windows AND balconies!!! The room decor was very venetian with a beautiful murano chandelier. Very professional and friendly staff. The best location if you want to relax and enjoy the phenomenal view.

I stayed at the Hotel American in February and fell in love with it. Pretty yellow exterior overlooking canal. Rooms are comfortable and modestly elegant with modern baths. Wonderful location, a very short walk from the Academia Bridge near the Peggy Guggenheim. It was easy to get to the standard tourist attractions (Piazza San Marco, etc.), but far enough away from the tourist buzz. Free Internet access in the lobby is very convenient. Staff was very pleasant and helpful. Good Cafe American at breakfast.

Wonderful place to stay in Venice. Clean rooms, free Internet access, good service, nourishing breakfast. Hotel placed in two minutes walk from Academia bridge and Peggi Gugenheim Collection Museum in quite and beautiful neighbourhood.

My husband and I just returned from our first trip to Venice. We stayed at the Hotel American and were very happy with it. I'd picked it based on availability, location and price--and I liked what I'd seen on its website.

It *was* higher in price than some other hotels I'd checked out--so that is something to keep in mind. Honestly, not having stayed at other hotels in Venice, I am unsure as to whether or not the higher price meant anything or not-like, was it way too high than it should've been, or just right? But I was happy with the hotel and my stay, so I did not feel gypped in any way.

Never having been to Venice before, I thought it would be good to stay in an area that was away from the more crowded areas like San Marco--and was I ever right! I am SO glad now that we were in Dorsoduro, and this hotel was in the perfect location.

It's on a sweet little canal in a nice neighborhood, and it's close to the Accademia bridge, which we got to know quite well as we climbed up and down over it several times a day coming to and from San Marco. The bridge has an amazing view of Santa Maria della Salute and of course, the Grand Canal.

A fantastic restaurant, Cantinone Storico, is right next door--we ate dinner there twice, once inside, once outside next to the canal, and were not disappointed either time. Our waiters were quite friendly and the food was delicious.

At night, the tourists drain out of Venice and the little neighborhood around the hotel becomes very quiet and empty--which is fantastic after the daytime crowds. Not that Dorsoduro is ever as crowded as San Marco. There are the attractions of the Accademia and Peggy Guggenheim galleries, and the Santa Maria della Salute, but not quite as many people come for them as for St. Mark's, so it's a good place to be if you don't want to be quite so crowded.

We had a double room--small but big enough--which was clean, very charmingly decorated, with a comfortable King size bed. The decor of our room had a gold theme--gold brocaded walls, gold bedspread, gold furniture.

Plenty of closet space and quite a few hangers provided. We took advantage of the nice in-room safe--only thing we didn't like about the safe was that it was on the floor of the closet, so if you have bad knees, it would be uncomfortable for you to kneel down on the floor to access it.

Looking out our window we saw the walls of the other connected hotel building--no view from our particular room--but if you leaned out and turned your head to the left, you could see the canal. And I know that some rooms do come with a canal view.

The bathroom was newly refitted, immaculately clean--and rather tiny, but I didn't mind, as the sink space actually was quite adequate and had a built in storage shelf underneath it. You could do your laundry in this sink--there is a sink stopper in it. Also, the shower has a built in laundry line.

Small as the bathroom was, there was even room for a bidet. You would not need to have a hanging toiletry bag in this bathroom--there's space to put your bathroom stuff there. The shower is the kind with the little half door, and there's a teeny bathtub, which I would never have been able to fit into. But I didn't mind that at all.

The hotel breakfast was quite delicious. It's cold, but that's pretty much the norm. You could choose from cold cuts, yogurt, breakfast cereals, fruit, juices, cheeses, hard boiled eggs--and when you sat down to eat, you were given a bread basket as well, with fresh hard rolls and croissants. The coffee was strong and good, and mine came with steamed milk.

I found the staff to be very friendly and helpful, and everyone we encountered spoke English well--certainly much better than my smattering of Italian, and we got along just fine. The lobby was welcoming and decorated nicely.

Although there was an internet site available free to guests, we never used it. Also never used the free ride to Murano--but we were glad to know that we could have taken advantage of these things had we chosen to.

We did take advantage of the hotel's private dock on the canal the day we left when we had them call for a water taxi--an extravagance to be sure, but it was very nice to ride in style to the train station that way!

We also took advantage of the hotel's 10 percent discount at the restaurant Le Bistrot Venise, which was in San Marco. It was an excellent restaurant with impeccable service--I'd recommend eating there if you've got the budget for it. It was fun walking to the restaurant as well, and we had the hotel call ahead to make a reservation for us.

I'd stay again at the Hotel American--I didn't want to leave!