Booking an apartment in Florence

Booking.com often lists apartments. I haven't used it for lodging in Florence, however.

I thought I replied but maybe the response was removed if not appropriate (I'm new to this site). My daughter, who lives in Italy, has a friend with 5 apartments in Florence. You can email me at terri.wignall at gmail if you want me to provide you with his website and contact information.

I just booked a flat in Florence on HomeAway. Watch out for unpublished costs--I learned after the booking about the cleaning fee and (refundable) cash deposit. Sometimes they are already included in the rate.

We like to use VRBO.com or Booking.com everywhere we go.

Check out Windows on Italy. We are using them for an apt in March 2018 for a month. Our friends go to Florence every year and rent from this organization. Highly recommended.

I used VRBO. Our place was across the street from Santa Croce. That church is one of my favorites in Italy. Booking.com is also a great source, as is HomeAway.

You might find the same apartment on many sources. I haven't compared, but I have read that Airbnb tends to be more expensive for the same place. So it could be worthwhile to run anything you like through other online sources to compare.

I have rented many apartments over the years. Some of the time I found them using an online source, Googled them directly and rented directly. Sometimes I've rented through the online source.

I've been disappointed 3 times when the apartments weren't up to their hype. All were rentals through the online source, one each for Homeaway, VRBO and Airbnb. I've not yet had a disappointment when going through Booking.com, or when booking directly.

The point is that you must pay close attention to the physical details of the place, the rental details and the email correspondence with the owner.

Thank you all! We booked a place with Windows on Italy. I truly appreciate all of your advice. I know that I will have more questions!