We just completed a two-week trip to Italy. The first week we stayed in a villa in Tuscany, so no problem. Then we drove south to Rome, then to Naples, Sorrento and Amalfi and learned, when hotels are an option, we will never do AirBnB's in Italy or other older European towns again, I say this as someone who has had many great experiences with AirBnB's. All four rentals had the same issues that added absurd time, effort and complexity to the rental process. Things that wouldn't have been a problem with hotels. First, in every case, simply getting the keys involed a meetup with the host, resulting in the hosts texting us throughout the day asking us when we expect to arrive so they can plan for the meetup. When you are traveling by car and experiencing new places, you want to enjoy where you are, take your time and have a nimble schedule so you can adjust when opportunities present themselves. Imagine a hotel calling you repeatedly throughout the day, bugging you about when you expect to arrive. They were generally nice people, but it was an annoying distraction that made us feel continually rushed. The second issue was parking - and it was a major problem. All of the four locations required parking away from the rental sites. In the Italian towns, Rome, Sorrento and Amalfi, this was due to the locations being in historic districts where non-resident cars weren't allowed. I understand it is possible for a hotel to present this same issue, but it was just ridiculous where we stayed. You have to schlep your baggage an absurd distance coming and going, usually over cobblestones that challange the best of luggage wheels. Once we were in these locations, we saw that many of the hotels included parking. What a miss. Compare both of these issues between the two types of rentals and hotels win, hands down. Less stress and more time to experience the beautiful destinations you have spent so much time and money to explore. Finally, we had two locations that had major issues. One was eye-burning mildew odor and the other was extremely loud street noise throughout the night. After reparsing the reviews it became apparent that many AirBnB reviews often focus on the host more than the property. To put it bluntly, I'd rather rent a great place from a rude person than a dump from someone friendly. Again, we've had wonderful experiences with AirBnB's, but in places that included parking and where hosts didn't feel the need to be present upon arrival or departure. While a couple of the rentals were comfortable and had their charm, we regret the added inconveniences of the AirBnB rentals we had in Italy and will never do that again. Hotels, all the way.
Posted by
Bend, Oregon
2571 posts
You bring up some good points. When renting apartments, you have to do more research than when staying in hotels. We’ve stayed in many apartments in Europe in the center of cities. Parking is always on my list to prepare for in advance. With google maps and google earth, it’s pretty easy to identify nearby parking and even “walk” from the parking garage to the hotel to identify the best routes.
As for the timing of meeting the host, we have stayed in places where the host meets you and also where the key is in a lock box. I prefer to meet with the host personally and ask how the coffee maker and washer work. We always factor in some extra drive time between locations in case we want to stop along the way. If we see that we will arrive earlier than expected, we text the host and let them know. Usually they’re happy to meet. If they’re not available, we stop at a cafe, run to the grocery store, etc. In the olden days, these places were managed by their owners, who may have regular jobs. We’ve run into a few of these, and try to be respectful of their time as well.
I agree with you on the reviews. I expect any apartment (or hotel) that’s centrally located to have some street noise. I always mention issues (slow drains, lack of kitchenware, bad pillows, etc.) But always make the host aware during the stay and give them a chance to make it right. Too many people are non-confrontational and then just complain later.
Posted by
Idaho, USA
7883 posts
Thank you for taking the time to share your experiences!
When I’m traveling solo I never rent an apartment, but if my husband is traveling with me, we like to rent one midway through our trip to wash our clothes in the washing machine and make some of our own meals. We’ve never had any issues, but these factors may be the difference:
- I only rent through Booking.com and only for an apartment that has at least 75 reviews. There’s more unbiased info in review content when the person is giving a review on Booking without the AirBnB route.
- We only travel by train, so I let them know which train we’re taking to know arrival time to meet & receive the key, plus the amount of time to walk to the place to meet. Usually we’re all there within 5 minutes of each other.
I do like the fact that I can leave off my suitcase early at the next hotel and go enjoy the city. I take the morning trains and leave off my suitcase before noon. For an apartment, that time wouldn’t be handy for them.
Posted by
11609 posts
You make very helpful points about the differences between AirBnBs and hotels. We have had some good and some bad experiences with AirBnBs. The problems we had would not have happened in hotels.
Luxury Apt in Rome, beautiful, great location, then neither TV worked, and the oven didn’t work. We called and called. No response. Then the refrigerator stopped working. Jinxed! They blamed it all on the prior guests! That is not acceptable! Then they said the TV problem was the building’s fault. But we could hear TVs working in other apts when we walked by. I doubt if we will ever rent another AirBnB again.
It ruined our one week in Rome. Prior to that week, we had stayed in a wonderful house in London, all was wonderful, everything worked! But we had rented through London Perfect as we had before. No surprises!
Posted by
Tucson
4183 posts
As I've said in other posts, my first Airbnb was in Athens. It was also my last due to having many of the same problems you mention. I will never deal with that organization again.
However, I do frequently rent apartments on my trips. There are other resources to look for them, but my favorite is Booking.com because the reviews are done by people who have actually stayed in the places I'm considering. Those reviews appear to be more honest and cover both the hosts and the apartments. I always pay closest attention to the most recent reviews, going back no more than a year or two.
I like Booking.com because of its great ways of filtering results and I also use it to look for hotels and B&Bs. No matter what kind of lodging, I may make reservations directly rather than through Booking.com.
The last time I was in Italy, I rented an apartment in Rome near the Vatican for 6 nights and one on the Venice Lagoon with a view of Cemetery Island for 5 nights. Parking was not an issue because I didn’t have a car. I did Google Map both apartments to get a good idea of where they were for walking and public transportation purposes.
As I mentioned on another response today, I have "rules" for this topic. For 3 nights or less, I choose a hotel or B&B. For 5 nights or more, I choose an apartment. For 4 nights I can go either way. That's been my pattern for years and in many European countries. Preferring to use Booking.com has been a pattern since the Airbnb Athens disappointment in 2014 and a VRBO one in Belgium in 2012.