avee

Hi I have recently discovered the whole couchsurfing, room sharing and apartment renting bit. I have never stayed anywhere but in a hotel whenever I've travelled and I am not exactly sure how this works. My (very basic!) question is does renting an apartment, like from 9flats or airbnb, mean sharing the apartment with the owners? Do they have listings of apartments that are available for rent and does not involve sharing. I have been looking on airbnb, wimdu and 9flats for my upcoming trip to Spain and I would like to rent an apartment for brief periods of 4-5 days but I would like the rented apartment all to myself for that period.
My budget is a constraint and thats why I decided to not look at hotels and look at apartments instead. I would ideally not want to spend more than 50 Euros a day on accomodation. I will be staying in Madrid, Barcelona and Seville for 4-5 odd days.
Thanks a lot, any help will be greatly appreciated and any ideas and recommendations are welcome..

sparkchaser

Couchsurfing and renting an apartment are two very different things.

Couchsurfing: you stay in someone's place and crash on their couch or spare bedroom. They continue to dwell there.

Renting an apartment: you rent a more or less fully furnished apartment where you are the only one there. The owner lives somewhere else.


The norm is to rent an apartment by the week but finding a place that rents for less time shouldn't be too difficult.

avee

Thanks a ton sparkchaser. That really clears things up for me. So the apartments listed as 'entire apartment for rent' on 9flats, wimdu, airbnb etc. should ideally be available minus the owners?
Thanks.

sparkchaser

Correct.

Pay close attention to things like neighborhood, amenities, and photos of the apartment so you get the kind of place you want in the location you want. Personally, I love staying in apartments because I can do laundry at my leisure and eat in when I don't feel like going to a restaurant.

rialtogrl

Besides Airbnb you could also check homelidays.com. I have been very successful with that website. I found a place in Madrid for 50 euros a night there. I am renting a little apartment in Barcelona at the end of May that I got on Airbnb - reviews are mixed but it is cheap ($240 for 4 days.) As sparkchaser said make sure to pay attention to the neighborhood, you don't want to be off in the boonies. You might post the apartments you are considering here to get input on the locations.

samoca

I have rented through Airbnb in Berkeley, CA, where I had 2 private rooms (bedroom and separate sitting room/kitchen) with private bath and private entrance (and an abbreviated kitchen). This was pretty clear from the posting. As soon as I decided to take the place, the owner even dropped the price since I booked for 4 weeks in advance. The place was perfect for me(and the weather finally improved a lot) so I stayed an extra week. The owner and I became friendly and socialized a few times. It was terrific, and now I know where to stay when I go back to Berkeley.

This year, I have already reserved a 2 bed/2bath apartment through Airbnb in Barcelona for a date in October. What I like is that I could check out the reviewer (there was only one--usually there are more). They are members of Airbnb and usually have stayed with other owners. This is much more than you generally can get with an agency--you don't know if the reviews are real or not.

In any case, yes, you can rent whole private apartments through airbnb. You pay them in advance but they function as an escrow service--you have 24 hours after you arrive to get a refund minus the 10% airbnb service fee if you are not happy with your rental. I like this better than an agency because I think the reviews are largely legitimate. I found out that the reviewer of the apartment I am booking was a real person because he himself had so many reviews on the airbnb site. A lot of the airbnb reviewers appear to be quite young, but I am 60+. I am not even slightly a shill for the company, by the way. They are illegal in NYC, but otherwise, AFAIK are legal everywhere else in the world. If you WANT to share an apartment or even a room with the owner, that option exists too. I do not. In Barcelona I am renting a 2-bdrm/2-bath apt in a very good location for a very good price (because I found it at the right time basically--it will be more later in the year). Good luck!

Bedar

Better hurry up. There's a new law coming up in Spain outlawing the rental of apts. and villas for less than a month. The hotel lobby is pushing this thru.

CathyM

Bedar - do you have a source (article link, etc) for this information? This would be horrible if we didn't have the option to rent apartments for less than a month.

Bedar

This has been mentioned many places. Try www.theolivepress.es , an English language newspaper that has many articles that will interest you. One thing I noted in all these articles is that they don't mention when this law might go into effect. Not only will the tourist be inconvenienced but the owners of the properties and the agents will not have the income.

Bedar

Put "rentals" in the Search feature there and "Home Rentals Crackdown in Spain" will come up. Sorry I don't know how to put links to articles here. Also try. www.theentertaineronline.com . There's an article from April 22. and this site will also give you more info on Spain than you can easily digest !

CathyM

From what I read this is a proposed law - it hasn't been passed. There's not enough details to see exactly how restrictive the laws would be. For example would it also apply to apartment rental companies that pay taxes and organize rentals?

Bedar

Right, it's a proposed law. We'll see what happens and when it might go into effect. I should think that it would apply to apt. rental companies that pay taxes. In fact, everyone who owns property in Spain pays rental taxes even tho' they don't rent out their property. This is apart from property tax. Charming.

chapla

Renting apts to tourist has really increased over the last 5 years. Years ago, there were very few apts and I had to pay an agency to find one.Individual owners caught on to this idea and nowadays there's a huge number to choose from without using an agency.
The owners want to be paid in cash so that the income doesn't appear anywhere.Agencies use credit cards,paypal or bank tranfers and so they create a paper trail of the money.
Somehow the government got wind of this and now will try to pass a law.I can't see how they will be able to follow through with it at all unless nosey neighbors report it.
I have even rented from owners who work for the government(funcionarios) and yes, they always want cash only !
It will be intersting to see what happens as this is going on not only in Spain but the rest of Europe

avee

Thank you so much guys. You guys are wonderful and such a great help!
Honestly I haven't even zeroed in on one apartment so far, my head is already spinning with the sheer number of them to sift through. Maybe I am looking in too many places.
I do have a budget constraint though, I don't want to spend more than 60-70 Euros per day on accommodation and also having a decent view is VERY important to me (my husband thinks i'm crazy, when I say this). I think i should just start with airbnb to begin with and I'll also check out www.homelidays.com. Thanks rialtogrl.
Also if anyone has any recommendations on places to stay (those that fit my criteria), places that maybe some of you have stayed at or something, I would really really appreciate that.
Thanks a lot once again.
I am going to Spain next month and I don't see that law being passed within that time, so YAY!