Venice Hotels, huh??

Which canal? Venice is full of them.

You're probably asking about the Grand Canal. While a view overlooking it would be beautiful, you'll pay a lot and be in the noisiest location in Venice.

Peggy--I would for sure stay in Venice but not necessarily right on the Grand Canal. In 2002 my family of 4 stayed at Hotel Rialto which is located almost at the base of the Rialto Bridge on the San Marco side. It was overpriced and would not pay that much money again. As another poster stated, it was quite loud as their was a vaporetti stop right below our window. In 2005 we stayed at Pensione Guerrato located near the Rialto Market. Very good location and easy to find. Tried to stay here again in 2007 but it was already booked. Instead we stayed at one of Hotel Campiello's apartments, apt. Bucintoro, which was just a few steps off the Riva and very close to San Marco. Beautiful apt., awesome bathroom and great location. Have booked a larger apt. with 2 bathrooms for 5 people through Hotel Campiello for July of this year. Hotel Campiello is in R.S. book too. Good luck and have a great trip!

If you stay on any canal, it will be noisy. In 2003, we stayed at a small hotel and our room overlooked one of the smaller canal. It was wonderful in the evening to watch the gondolas go by. However, it was quite noisy in the morning. This is when all the small boats with loud engines are making their way around. We didn't mind because we thought it was worth it to have the gondolas in the afternoon and evening and be on the canal. When we returned to the hotel last year, my we gave that room to my sister and her husband and they loved it as well. My husband and I took the room without the canal view and while we missed it, we did sleep better in the morning.I would probably avoid the Grand Canal (we, at least, did not have vaparettos and larger boats)

We stayed at Ca' Angeli, which is on the Grand Canal (just a few minutes walk to Rialto). Our room was not on the Grand Canal (we had a suite on the top floor), but one window overlooked a side canal.

We loved Ca' Angeli!

Peggy,
After MUCH research online, we decided to stay at A Tribute to Music Hotel http://www.tributetomusic.it/
which is practically next to the Arsenale vaporetto stop.We paid a bit more for a lagoon view and are excited that we will be looking out on the St. Mark's Basin. We are taking earplugs for sleeping as was recommended by several folks.
Our trip is this month so I will post how we liked the hotel when we return.

We rented an apartment through Hotel d'Art. It was well located, perfectly functional and well priced (in October) but no view.

Ive stayed in Venice both on a canel and off the canels.I didnt spend much time in my room anyway so it really didnt matter.

Given that the canals are the 'highways of Venice' you'd be getting the same pros and cons of staying near any busy road in another city--though I suppose the canals offer a nicer view than a highway!

If you don't want to deal with the noise of boat traffic, stay away from the canals or pack earplugs.

We stayed on a back canal at Albergo Doni and were told we would see and hear the gondoliers from our room. Romantic right? Not when the gondoliers are serenading at midnight :-) We liked this hotel very much though. Its off the beaten San Marco-Rialto path so we saw much of Venice I hadn't before on my previous 2 stays.