Hi, I'm looking at apartments in Florence for net May. It appears tha 2 booking agencies have the same apartment listed. they are Easy reserve and Friendly rentals. Has anyone rented from either? How does one choose. It appears that the total price will be about the same either way. Also one lists a 1,5 euro per day local tax and the other a 1euro per day tax. Why different? I'd greatly appreciate any advice!
Posted by
San Mateo, Ca, USA
1 posts
We recently returned from Florence and rented a great-and quiet-apartment suitable for only one couple, within walking distance of everything. To top it off, it has a lovely garden to enjoy at the beginning and end of the day. It was located north of the Arno on via Della scala We found it through airbnb.com which I found a difficult website to navigate. I think you may have to go through the website to arrange rental, but it is worth the effort.
Posted by
Toronto, Canada
415 posts
Many apartments are listed on more than one rental website. You should consider the cancellation and deposit requirements from each site as well as damage deposits etc. Even though they are renting the same apartment, they may have different requirements and one might be better than the other. YOu could enquire at both and see how responsive they are. As for the taxes, it should be standard - I can't recall what it is for Florence right now. You may also be able to find the apartment listed directly by the owner on Homeaway or vrbo or homeholidays or airbnb which could give you a better price. I have used Friendly Rentals to rent an apartment in Milan. There were no issues. I would consider using them again but their head office is in Spain. The only local numbers I got were for the apartment greeters and I was a bit concerned that if they didn't come through it was going to be difficult to get help. However, things worked out.
Posted by
phoenix
52 posts
Wherever possible we try and book directly with the owner- I just prefer speaking with or emailing directly the person who will be handing me the key. I can't help you out on the 50 cents extra tax one agency seems to be charging per day: maybe the 1 euro is the 1 Euro is the actual tax and the 50 cents charged by the agency for collecting it?? The place we stayed in Florence - La Fiesolana- is perfect if you want to keep costs down yet stay in a central location. The owner Daniela was so helpful throughout the whole process- their website is: http://lafiesolana.com I can't remember how much we paid for the week but it was very reasonable compared to others we were looking at.
Posted by
OP
Pottstown, PA, USA
38 posts
Thanks everyone for your replies! Thank you Daniela for the info about the tax, very helpful. I should have included that I needed an apartment for 4 but I took the advice from the posts and found an arpartment on VRBO. It was nice to deal directly with the owners and there was no extra "tax"!