Roman apartments

Thanks for the website Sam! It's making for some interesting reading. Molto Grazie!!

Bob, We used RentalInRome.com for a flat in Venice in 2006. Our experience was great, both the logistics and the unit itself. We saved money and had a two bedroom/two bath unit for our family of four. For Rome that same year, I believe we used VRBO.com only because availability and location worked out better.

Thanks for the reply Jim! Just a follow-up or 2. Was the description of the apartment you rented accurate? Was a representative from the agency at the apartment when you arrived to give you the keys and go over the final details? Thanks, and sorry for the inquisition. ;=)

RentalinRome gets mixed reviews from SlowTrav.com: http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/vr/list.asp?r=Rome

Many apartments are listed by more than one agency. If there is a particular apartment you are interested in see if it is also listed by another agency.

We recently, may 2008, went through cross.pollinate...they were helpful, multilingual...and the apts shown on the website were accurately described...we were in rome for only a week, but had to stay in 2 apts because 1st choice was avaiable only at end...they even emailed back to check if cat hair was a problem because previous guest had brought a pet.
We chose the apt route this time because of the space and "at home" feeling, and really close to same price as hotel..you have to make your own coffee and bed, but it was perfect

Thank you very much for the response Regina. Is there any way you could possibly send me the link to the company that you used? I tried cross.pollinate.com but that didn't seem to work.

Bob

I looked at Rick Steves books, but I also looked at tripadvisor.com, which ranks lodging by best reviews. I think I came up with some pretty good deals (I'll be in Italy in September).

There's also vrbo.com. We found an apartment through them for Rome for a week this past May and were very pleased.

Thanks everyone for all the info you've given me so far. Really glad I stumbled into this place!

My wife is the one who is the main driving force behind our decision to stay in an apartment rather than a hotel, and since I'm more or less used to those type of accomodations while staying with family there, I'm in full agreement. In fact using an apartment is the only way I can even get her to consider going to Rome, but that's a subject for another thread...lol.

Thanks again all, and if anyone has any more suggestions/info. feel free........ :=)

Bob,
We used RentalinRome.com and were extremely pleased with the quick level of service and the type of apartment we found. While the apartment we chose was rather small, it was prefect for our budget and the area was fantastic-right in the middle of Campo di Fiori! What I really liked about this website was that is was really easy to navigate (way better then vrbo), you can quickly focus by budget and neighbourhood, and there's usually tons of pictures. The rep who met us at the apartment was very helpful and we never had any issues.

www.cross-pollinate.com

Thank you Regina! :=)

Bob....i checked thru my notes...the apt we stayed in was Casa Villa...you have to scroll quite far down on the list to find it

Thanks again Regina! I've bookmarked the site and will definitely look at what they have to offer, including the one that you were happy with. :=)

I also used Rental in Roma and it turned out fine.
I was apprehensive when I first communicated with them by email as it was clear to me that they were using computer translation (cut and paste into online translater and then paste back into an email reply). So I worried that we were missing something in the translation.
But they confirmed everything and gave us contact information for our arrival.
The company also gave us the name of a shuttle service to contact and hire to pick us up at the airport and we booked them. (Not sure if we got a deal on it, but considering a taxi costs 40-45 euro for up to 4 people and we paid 60 euro for 5 people in a van, I thought it was reasonable.)
Also, since I did not bring a cellphone, I didn['t know what I was going to do when I arrived at the apartment and needed to call the person to meet us at the apartment to let us in.
But the shuttle service driver had all the contact information for the contact people and the driver called on his cellphone as he was driving for the person to meet us at the apartment. Hope that bit of info helps.

Bob, I used an apartment through VRBO. They were very nice, but it was not in the historic centre and we had to catch a bus to Termini from our area and then move around. You might not like that, but if you'd like I could pass on the owner's info. We just got our security deposit back.

Yes it does Derek, quite a bit in fact.

And thanks again to everyone. Your feedback has been enormously helpful!

Bob.............try this website www.cross-pollinate.com It is a bed and breakfast and apartment booking agency owened and operated by an American family living in Rome. They are also recommended in Steves book on Italy

Thanks Mark, but Regina beat you to the punch on the cross-pollinate thing earlier in this thread....lol. She had a good experience going through this agency, and coupled with the fact that Rick Steves recommends them, I would feel pretty secure giving them a try.

Fact is, I've gotten so much feedback on various agencies and such that I'm almost overwhelmed. "Almost" being the operative word here. ;=) Never expected this much feedback, but I'm really glad you people decided to give me your $0.02 worth.

Anyway, I've got quite a bit of research to do, but it seems to me that a majority of people seem to have had positive experiences going with an apartment rather than a hotel. Can't wait to graduate from homework to actual field work. The sooner the better...lol.

Thanks again!