Venice hotels on a budget

I would either go via Trip Advisor and use the map option to narrow down to just the island, then use the user rating/price filter to further squeeze it out. Pretty soon you should have found a real winner. I wouldn't worry too much about location, so long as it's on the island, in fact being in a less popular sestierre can be nice.

TripAdvisor is overwhelming if you pick places and then check for price and availability. Iinstead, use a site like Venere.com that lets you sort by budget. For a random 2-night stay the first week of May, Venere lists 63 hotels and B&B's with rooms available for under $150 per night. Some of these are on Lido but you can just skip over those. All have ratings and reviews by real customers. Start by looking at the ones with a rating of "8" or higher. I'm sure you'll find something suitable.

We're staying at the Al Piave for 117euro a night in April. It's in Rick's book
http://www.hotelalpiave.com/

Lindsay, Al Portico Guest House has very good reviews, we're paying 96euro in April. Walking distance from the train station.

Pat, thank you so much for the suggestion, but sadly Al Piave is 148 euro/night for the two nights we need!

Jo, loooks like Al Portico Guest House is also more $$$ (about $165 a night). For everyone else on this page do you advise to stay away from the Lido area? What's the best place to look for budget hotels in Venice then?

I used venere.com to find Hotel Tivoli a few years ago. I stayed there again last fall. Budget friendly, good breakfast, friendly and family-run. It is near the Frari Church. May 1 is a holiday in Italy. Lots of people are on vacation.

Try Hotel Ai do Mori it was one block from San Marco square. The room was small but nice. We stayed in July and I am sure it was less than $150 a night. Wendy

I've stayed at Pensione Guerrato - if you're willing to share a bathroom, it's very reasonable, less than 100 euros/night and it's located just a couple of minutes from the Rialto bridge. RS uses it for some of his tours.

thank you sandy and wendi, i have emailed both locations and hope to hear back soon on avail and pricing

I like the Hotel Santa Lucia - easily within your budget for rooms that share a bath on the hall. The rooms are bright, clean and air conditioned. It's near the train station.

Try Alloggi Alla Scala, they are cheap and nice and perfect location.

Thank you again to everyone on this list we ended up booking the Pensione Guerrato for 90 euro a night!