Recommendations for lodging for family of 5 adults (Venice, Florence, Cinque Terre, Rome)

Hi Sue,

We are a family of 5 and we most often stay in airbnb's because its hard to fid one hotel room that will hold 5 and because its almost always much cheaper. We stayed in airbnb's when we went to the CT, Florence and Rome last summer. In Rome, we stayed in the Trastevere neighborhood, a little on the edge. It was a beautiful old apartment with high ceilings owned by an older Italian woman who met us and spent a LOT of time showing us everything. The thing we liked about this location was that it turned out to be like the hub of a wheel, such that every site we wanted to see was within a 30 min walk. So we walked to the Vatican, walked to the Colisseum, walked to the Borghese, passing the Spanish steps, Trevi fountain, etc etc en route. We also stayed in an apartment in Florence that was very nice. When finding places, I look at a map of the area and read about the areas to figure out where I might like to stay and then enter my search parameters in airbnb (5 ppl, budget-per-night, etc) and then read a LOT of reviews of places to get a sense of them and look at the pictures. It does take time, but it has worked well for us to be able to stay in nice places at very reasonable cost

hope that helps,
Jessica

How many nights will you be in each location? That factors into my decision on hotel or B&B versus apartment from VRBO, Airbnb, etc. Are you 2 couples and a single so need 5 beds, 3 rooms?

Meant to say you might post this in the Italy Forum where it will be read by more people.

I agree you will get more input if you post this in Italy forum. Even though there are only two of us traveling together we do apartments almost exclusively. Also, you are pretty late in getting this booked for June 2018 so availability may determine your choices and decisions. Have a wonderful trip!

I agree you will get more input if you post this in Italy forum. Even though there are only two of us traveling together we do apartments almost exclusively. Also, you are pretty late in getting this booked for June 2018 so availability may determine your choices and decisions. Have a wonderful trip!

Thank you all. I will repost in Italy Forum and indicate # of nights in each city. Have not traveled out of country in years, but looks like airbnb has several apartment choices that will work for us. Have only used airbnb once before (for long NY stay, which was great). Other than location, #beds, A/C?, and good number of positive reviews, what should I keep in mind when searching airbnb for lodging?

I also look at pictures, lots and lots of pictures. There is trend these days where people rent places on airbnb/VRBO as a business rather than as their personal apartment. You can often tell the places that are a business because they look like a hotel room in the pictures. I avoid these because I want to deal with people renting their homes - its more personal that way, the people are more invested in you and you are more invested in them; this was the idea behind these services in the first place, and I have found that when I look for the personal places, they are really good, whereas when I have rented places that I can tell are businesses, they aren't as clean, personal, whatever - they just don't have the same feel. Of course, seekers can't always be choosers. I also look at the owners - is there a picture, what does the bio of them say, what do the reviews say (read 2 pages of reviews or more). Yeah, this is effort, but I have found some really wonderful experiences this way so I put in the effort.
Some people on this forum say that airbnb has too many fees and VRBO is better. I see the same listings on both, but fewer on VRBO, so I go with whichever has the place I want and for a better price.

good luck,
Jessica

Other than location, #beds, A/C?, and good number of positive reviews, what should I keep in mind when searching airbnb for lodging?

I also look closely at what floor the apartment is on and whether there is a lift. If it is above 1st floor European/2nd floor U.S., we like a lift just for when we are managing our luggage. No more 5 flight walk-ups for us! This is especially problematic in the Cinque Terre. I have gone so far as to email a host to ask about the number of stairs as elevators are rare.

Look closely at the bathroom pictures. Is there a good shower cabinet? Sometimes we have encountered a tub with a handheld shower and no curtain. Ugh! Read reviews for indications of hot water or WIFI/Internet problems. How did the host/owner respond to fix any problems? Is there a coffee maker? Often it will be a Moka Pot, which is fine, but is there something sufficient for 5 people to have coffee in the morning? Or a nice bar nearby.

We stayed at nice hotels in the beginning and end of our trip, and apartments in the middle. It was a nice way to start and end our trip. (15 days total for us.)