ABOVE: An ACTV motoscafo water bus passes the Generator Hostel Venice, a.k.a. the Ostello Venezia, as it cruises down the Giudecca Canal. (The hostel is the light-brown brick building in the center of the photo.)

The Ostello Venezia, or Venice Youth Hostel, has a new name and a new interior. It's now the Generator Hostel Venice, joining the Generator group's roster of stylish design-themed hostels in Barcelona, Berlin, Copenhagen, Dublin, Hamburg, and London.

In preparation for the rebranding and relaunch, Generator hired Anwar Mekhayech of The Design Agency to overhaul the building. The company's PR agency writes:

"Under the supervision from the Fine Arts Committee, the handsome original timber beams, grand twin staircases, roof truss, and original stone columns have been restored, adding to the magical feeling of the space."

The renovated hostel, which opened in September, 2013, has 240 beds in mixed-gender dorms, female-only dorms, and private 2- to 4-bed rooms. Rates include bedding and Wi-Fi, a laundry room is available, and a bar and restaurant are on the premises.

For more information, visit the Generator Hostel Venice pages at Generatorhostels.com.

We also suggest reading our illustrated article about the hostel at Veniceforvisitors.com, which includes a custom satellite map of the Generator Hostel's location on the Giudecca waterfront and directions on how to reach the hostel by public transportation.

BELOW: Another view of the hostel, taken from the Fondamenta Croce on Giudecca.

ABOVE: Don't look down--instead, check the local floodwater level with the Venice tides app for iPhone.

Acqua alta, or tidal flooding, is an increasingly frequent annoyance in Venice from late October through early spring. (We cover the phenomenon--and how to prepare for it--in an illustrated article at Veniceforvisitors.com.)

Fortunately, the local government authorities offer plenty of advance warning via a Web site and alarm sirens most of the time, making it relatively easy to avoid low-lying areas that are likely to get covered with water when an unusually high tide pours into the Venetian Lagoon. But if you've got an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch, there's an even better way to keep your Ferragamo pumps from turning into sponges: Buy the "Venice tides" mobile app, which is available from Apple's iTunes.

Venice tides isn't the only acqua alta app on the market, but it has a big advantage over its competitors: Its interface is simple, uncluttered, and easy to understand even if you've never waded through tidal charts.

The main screen (photo on right) shows a building, a fondamenta (canalside sidewalk), and the water of a canal. As the acqua alta rises, so does the water on your iPhone's screen. The app also shows the current height of the tide in centimeters, compared to the street level. You can also see how high the anticipated peak tide will be and when it will occur, so you'll know if you have time to reach a local destination or get back to your hotel.

If you're curious to know what the next couple of days will bring, just turn your phone sideways. A new screen will appear, showing expected high and low tides (including times and levels in centimeters) over the next two days.

Venice tides has other features, too. You can customize the app street level to match your location within the city, and you can ask the app to send you a notification (a.k.a. a warning) before the next acqua alta occurs.

We've tried the Venice tides app, and we like it. If you plan to be in Venice for a couple of days or longer during the acqua alta season, or if you want to know whether the streets will be wet when you arrive, Venice tides is likely to be a useful tool. For more information, go to:

www.pugosoft.com/en/apps/venice-tides

(Note: The full Venice tides app is inexpensive, but there's also a free "Venice tides lite" version that includes all features except for push notifications.)

BELOW: Turn your iPhone, iPad, or iPod sideways to see a two-day tidal chart:

Photo and screen shots: Mattia Fort and Valentina Venza, Pugosoft.

PHOTO: The new Venezia Unica card is a rebranded version of the imob.venezia card shown here. (If you have a valid imob.venezia card, you can have it "enabled" as a Venezia Unica card free of charge.)

If you're a regular visitor to Venice, you probably know that the imob.venezia stored-value transit card has offered huge discounts on public transportation for the last several years. "Cartavenezia" fares, which have been available only to imob.venezia cardholders, are a fraction of the single-fare and Tourist Travel Card rates that most visitors pay.

The discounted fares are still available, but the stored-value card is now called the "Venezia Unica city pass," and it offers a few more features than the old imob.venezia version did. (Probably the most important feature for non-residents is the ability to recharge the card with fares online.)

For more information, see our Venezia Unica city pass article at Veniceforvisitors.com.