I will be studying at the University for Foreigners for the month of October. I found a nice place for about $1000 on Airbnb but noticed on Facebook groups similarly described apartments are half this amount. I asked the owner of the airbnb why she thought that was so (on WhatsApp) and she replied that airbnb takes about 50% for taxes and commission and she sent me the airbnb statement. She offered me the same apartment for $500 and I'm tempted to take her up on it. Comments?
Posted by
Chicago, IL, USA
496 posts
Be careful. Not that you shouldn't rent directly from the owner. But if you google vacation rental scams a common way is that someone else not the owner hijacks the communication on a platform, takes it offline, takes the money and runs.
Posted by
Bay Area, California
1638 posts
Airbnb's are not without risks. The host may be renting out a legit place and still be scamming you. Read through my horrible experience:
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/tourist-scams/sos-airbnb-host-accused-me-of-damage
Posted by
North Italy
395 posts
Tax is about 23%, then Airbnb charges commission both from the guests and hosts so yes, it's about that. As to how you proceed: do you need a receipt or a contract? Do you want to do everything above board and pay tax?
If it's no to both questions, is your host a Super host with a very high rating on at least 20 reviews? Do any reviews mention any sort of problem? Does she want you to pay in advance or cash on arrival?
Posted by
Boston
1804 posts
Look for apartments through Booking.com as well. We have sometimes found the same Air BnB apartment available there for distinctly less money and/or with better terms.
Posted by
San Diego, California, USA
1144 posts
I can't speak about Perguia specifically but looking for longer rentals in the more northern areas it seems that AirBnB and Booking.com has completely cornered this market. There used to be real estate agents who catered almost entirely to this market and arranged with locals to rent places for longer periods but this seems to have completely dried up. When I contacted one of these real estate agents who came recommended she just sent me AirBnB links as suggestions. All the websites I found for renting from locals seemed to be out dated, non-responsive, scammy (like a few might have been real and the rest were taken from other places) or real estate places that admitted they don't do that anymore.
As to whether to rent directly or through a service I think prospect of arriving someplace for a month and finding out you don't have a place or it won't work as advertised is what drives people to third parties for some assurance. When searching I did find the same property listed on different sites so you can choose which one to contact them through and some are more direct than others.
Also Italy has many archaic rules around renting properties and different lengths required different things. Rents below 30 days come with fewer regulations - but tax must be paid and the visitor registered with the police - but longer rentals come with contract and price controls. If your landlord doesn't collect the tax or local tourist taxes will they register you with the police as needed? I've never heard of anyone getting in trouble for this but it would be a bad experience to have to tangle with local police over laws you don't understand.
A real estate agent talks about different length rentals in part of this article: https://luccanews.org/2022/03/31/unlocking-the-puzzle-of-renting-in-lucca/
I don't know if that helps, but it was what I saw trying to do a similar thing in the north.
Have a great trip,
=Tod