Has anybody had problems using this website to rent an apartment in Rome? Did you request references and if so, did you get them?
Posted by
Renton, WA, USA
240 posts
Lisa, I stayed at a lovely apartment for one week in October 2006. Their website is: www.lafornella.com
The owner is also from Arizona. Check it out! The prices are good, and when we arrived there was fresh bread on the table and all the fixings for an italian meal..plus wine from their vineyard!!
Posted by
SF Bay Area, CA
2030 posts
I too have had good results renting apartments through VRBO, in Paris and Tuscany. I always go there first when I want to rent an apartment. Since you usually deal with an individual owner, they may have different requirements, deposits, etc. -- but you just have to go with one who communicates well with you, and seems reasonable.
Posted by
Overland Park, KS
48 posts
Lisa - We have rented from VRBO twice but not in Rome(Paris and London). We had no problems. One time we contacted a prior renter via email and received a friendly, positive response.
Posted by
OP
Normal, IL
8 posts
Thanks! I think we are going to try them!
Posted by
Calgary
2297 posts
We booked our appartment in Rome through vrbo and had a very good experience. Friendly owners, affordable rental and very central location.
Posted by
Bel Air, MD, USA
261 posts
We also used VRBO in Florence and Rome (#32930). The apartments were great and cost less than a hotel. I didn't request references, I guess I'm trusting. I looked for apartments where I could send the deposit with Paypal. It was much easier than bank transfer.
Posted by
Calitri, Avellino, Italy (& US - where I live the majority of the time)
223 posts
I'm completely partial because I rent our vacation home through vrbo fairly often (not in Rome) and I really like dealing with owners directly when I'm on the other side travelling - but want to point out that it is a "by owner" site, similar to a paid classified ad...so...some owners are wonderful...and some are not - can't really generalize too much :-) just make sure you ask enough questions and feel comfortable and, I do always try to pay with a credit card of some sort "just in case."
Posted by
Seattle, WA, USA
7737 posts
It totally depends on the owner you're dealing with. Ours allowed us to mail her a check for the deposit that she hung onto until after we had paid and gone. When she confirmed that we hadn't trashed the place, she tore up the check. She was trusting us not to put a stop payment on the check (assuming she knew we had that ability) and we were trusting her not to deposit it. Send me a private message if you want to know who we dealt with and I'll share a couple of the idiosyncracies that we dealt with.
Posted by
Fort Worth, TX, USA
129 posts
we used vrbo.com for apartments in Venice and Florence and romanreference.com for Rome. Great success with all three. All three had references posted on their pages.
You can see pictures and reviews of the rome apartment at http://www.websiteauthor.com/photographs/italy/rome.asp
Posted by
XXX
1170 posts
I used VRBO for an apartment in Rome and everything was fine, except the listing says "Via Veneto" and it's not in that area. But otherwise they were nice to deal with.
I also used VRBO for France and did not have a good experience. The apartment had mold problems and even though we called the owner (he lives in Miami) and left a message about that and the fact that several appliances were not working, he never responded. We got back out deposit, but stay away from a listing in Carrieres-sur-Seine if you have allergy problems or just hate the scent of mold!