Tripadvisor apartments- has anyone used?

I haven't used TripAdvisor, but I've stayed in a few apartments found on Booking.com when they were cheaper and/or better located than hotels at the time I made my reservation. I've found the reviews on Booking.com to be very helpful.

I did reserve one a couple of years ago. I actually found the place on VRBO but the leasing person advised me to book through TA because the price would be lower.

We rented one on TA in Bologna. The owner immediately tried to circumvent TA by contacting me directly. Bad start. Most owners list everywhere they possibly can, so you'll see the same apartments both sites. Getting protection if something goes wrong is very difficult with any of these sites.

Read the reviews carefully, as ours was full of glowing fake reviews. A few of us wrote true reviews on the TA site that told the real story. I've had more problems with apartments than hotels generally in my years of traveling. I found Bologna difficult to find one in my price range centrally located, but hopefully it will be easier for you.

Becky, www.booking.com offers apartments as well has hotels so take a look at that one? We booked an apartment in a B&B in Bruges through that one as it's a site I use a lot.

Although Bologna isn't a big-time tourist destination--at least for travelers from the US, it seems to be a very important business city, and of course it's in northern Italy where things tend to cost more. Hotels may seem rather expensive in Bologna if compare it to other fairly non-touristy cities. I would expect apartment rentals also to be not dirt cheap.

We used tripadvisor for an apartment in England ( Cotswolds). It was an easy experience, and great apartment. There were lots of positive reviews though and i always try to look for that

We have rented two different London apartments from the TripAdvisor listings, both with lots of reviews, and both were great. Then one for a week in Rome, and it too was outstanding. Now we have one booked for six nights in Mürren next summer. I like the system, especially the communication system, and the scheduled payment—

I've completely lost faith in Trip Advisor. I only use it to see more pictures of the lodging I'm considering.

I turn to Booking.com first to find apartments. Sometimes I then check to see if the owner has a website or look for the same apartment on VRBO.

It only took one Airbnb apartment rental for me to never consider going through them again. But, I was surprised to learn that their prices were higher for the same place. I'll advise friends who think that Airbnb hung the moon to compare prices next time they're seeking an apartment.

I would rather remove my own eyes with a spoon that book anything through trip advisor.
Be very careful of using Trip Advisor for booking, they act purely as an agent for other 3rd party site and there own letting companies,the problem is that they are not very good at letting you know who you are actually booking with,even some owners have doubts who they are actually dealing with. There is little or no support when things go wrong or need to be changed but trip advisor seem to be quite happy with unpaid volunteers on their support forum to deal with problems and try and help people get things sorted.
I have been a member of Trip Advisor for nearly 14 years, was a great website for info on travelling and the forum are in the main an excellent place for getting such information ,BUT their change to a booking site and a very poor one at that has me really worried for the problems that they are causesing both clients and Agents.
Please be very very careful about booking anything through trip Advisor.

I made my shed the top rated restaurant on tripadvisor - "The Shed at Dulwich"

https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/434gqw/i-made-my-shed-the-top-rated-restaurant-on-tripadvisor

And then, one day, sitting in the shed I live in, I had a revelation: within the current climate of misinformation, and society's willingness to believe absolute b**t, maybe a fake restaurant is possible? Maybe it's exactly the kind of place that could be a hit? In that moment, it became my mission. With the help of fake reviews, mystique and nonsense, I was going to do it: turn my shed into London's top-rated restaurant on TripAdvisor.

That was hysterical, Going234. Thank you for posting the link.

Thank you all for your insights. We've looked at booking.com but most apartments are studios for our dates. We're hoping for a 1 bedroom. We'll keep looking with caution.

One other caveat about TA. They now have some relationship with Viator (same company?). They promote tours through Viator, and it’s hard to find out who is actually the provider.

I don't use hotels, so my 5 or 6 European holidays a year are all through VRBO and Trip Advisor rentals. I have never had any issues with either and find that both of these are far cheaper than Airbnb. TA allows direct communication with the property owner before you book, which Airbnb doesn't and is useful to clarify location etc.

Agoda and Kayak are part of the same group as booking.com.

Just read Going234's link.
Off to find dry knickers...

I just rented an apartment in Bologna for week and can recommend Bologna Residences.

PETRONIO RESIDENCE Via Rizzoli 38 - 40125 Bologna

OPERA RESIDENCE Strada Maggiore 52 - 40125 Bologna
[email protected]
www.petronioresidence.it

They actually have 5 locations within the walls of the old city. They are very easy to deal with and we enjoyed staying at the Petronio Residence for 8 nights. The location is overlooking the main street and is has a lot of bus noise, but as it was November, we had the windows closed. On the weekend, the street is closed so no bus noise, but the young locals take over with dancing and music. We are seniors but loved the close-up action views of it all. We had been to Bologna before, so we knew the street was busy, but we really enjoyed being in the heart of the city and able to walk everywhere.

They upgraded us to a two bedroom, which allowed us to sleep in the back bedroom, without hearing any noise at night. There are only 5 apartments in the building; you have your own floor and the elevator is very near your door. There is a washer and dryer in the building. Plenty of storage, a safe, adequate rooms and efficient kitchen with a microwave and stovetop. Would rent it again during the colder months but would look at one of their other buildings during the warmer months so I could keep the windows open.

What I really liked about the company, was we could check in when we wanted to as they gave us the code to the door. We met a representative in the morning to pay our local residence tax and go over any questions we had. The process for booking was through booking.com. Great communication and they have upgraded their website with better photos and information. Highly recommend them!

It says mountains about how easy it is to manipulate Trip Advisor, going 234, and that is worth a well-publicized article.

But when you accept paying customers into your scheme, you made fools of them, wasted their time and money, and then broadcast what you did to these few people.

TripAdvisor is going through a very serious problem patch. The are a number of resorts in Mexico in which tourists have been given "bad alcohol" which appears to be equivalent to the "date rape" drug - they have one drink and become unconscious - a number of women have been raped. These women tried to file a report on TripAdvisor, and the reports were suppressed as being a violation of the "family friendly" nature of the site. In addition, after the site agreed to post the actual reports, they were buried in the back pages under 20,000 other reviews. It's very clear that TripAdvisor has been compromised by commercial interests, and that their sites cannot be trusted.

We rented one on TA in Bologna. The owner immediately tried to circumvent TA by contacting me directly.

Having rented an Airbnb recently for the first time (I was very satisfied), I discovered how vigilant Airbnb is at keeping the owner and renter from contacting each other directly. I asked the owner of a place a couple of questions, including whether she had any more phots other than the 2 on the site. She sdai she had a bunch, and asked for my email address, which I sent to her. But she replied that the address was blocked. I assume that Airbnb has software that can do that; I can't imagine that they have staff reviewing every correspondence for those kinds of things.

Thank you again for all your thoughts. We found an apartment we liked on Airbnb that got excellent reviews, but were then able to get the same apartment through Booking.com. Much easier to book and cancel, if needed. But more importantly, definitely cheaper.

Air BnB does indeed block email addresses. All communication must go through their messaging system, where they can review it if needed. It is for the protection of both parties. However, on one booking I. Outdoor see the owner’s phone number after I made the booking, so Inwas able to call or text her when I needed an immediate response.

With regard to TripAdvisor, I will say in their defense that the forums are a valuable resource for travel planning. Most are filled with helpful and knowledgeable volunteers, just like this forum. And after the recent issue about safety warnings about certain Mexican resorts which were removed as not “family friendly” they have revised their guidelines and pledged not to do that.

As for fake reviews, that is indeed a problem, but many of us have learned how to screen out and disregard those. I will not consider any place, whether restaurant or hotel, that has a flurry of “one post wonder” reviews. Similar discretion would have prevented the Dulwich fake restaurant from ever getting an actual booking.

People who rent apartments list their properties on Airbnb, Booking.com, vrbo, homeaway and Trip Advisor. I’m sure that the OP will find the apartment she likes on all of these websites with proper searching. It’s not like Trip Advisor actually owns and rents these apartments. Airbnb is always the most expensive as their fees are the highest. When we rent an apartment I always contact the owner directly and we deal with each other which saves me $$$ and doesn’t cost them a thing.

I just came back two days ago from Copenhagen, where I had rented an apartment through TripAdvisor.
I dealt directly with the owner, paid him on arrival, no damage deposit or pre paying.
I was thrilled with the apartment and everything to do with it.