apartment rental in europe
 

I'm thinking about renting apartments in europe for our upcoming Europe trip (Amsterdam, Paris, London) when travelling with my wife and our toddler son. Since it's our first trip to Europe we're not very sure how smooth the apartment rental process might be when compared to staying at a hotel. Is there anything we need to watch out for when renting an apartment? Anyone have any bad experiences renting? We're thinking of spending about 3-4 days at each place and looking to spend approx $150/nt (or maybe a little more if we absolutely have to) at the most for accomodation. Is that enough to get a decent rental in a safe neighbourhood?

Really appreciate any feedback.

Thanks!

Your choice of apartments will be somewhat limited, since many rent only by the week. Four days will be much easier than three. Suggest you drop by slowtrav.com, a site dedicated to the kind of lodging you're thinking of. They have hundreds of reviews of rental apartments by people who've stayed.

I haven't personally any any bad experiences with renting apts in Paris, but I know French, dealt with French agencies, and know the city well. I wasn't staying only a few days, either, and I knew what to expect in French apartments.

I think you can find some bad stories on here, as anywhere, although my imporession is that is a minority. I think the major problems are the rental process itself, which is a lot more complicated than staying in an apartment, and more financially risky. Now I don't know the customs for London or Amsterdam rentals, but in Paris, it is customary to pay about 30-50 pct of the entire amount due upon booking, PLUS perhaps an extra several hundred euro (or more) for a refundable security deposit. YOu will need to get that amount to the owner or agency somehow in foreign currency, if you don't deal with someone who takes credit cards. Then, the balance-due is often upon arrival, before the stay, not after. Then, arrangements for getting return of the deposit may vary.

Of course, there are varations on those basics, as to what is included in the fee or what may be extra (eg, utilities, cleaning, linens changed which shouldn't be an issue for you, etc), or how you get access to the place. There are also variations on who (or if there is) anyone close by to call in case of any problems.

So, those are some of the reasons it is more complicated than just staying in a hotel, plus a lot of that money is completely nonrefundable unless you cancel way in advance (like prior to 30 days).

Main problems people have are some of those issues (ie, how to get the money to the person cheaply), but then you do have people who find the place isn't as nice as they expected from the photos, or as large, or they don't know the city so don't know what the neighborhood is like and find it is inconvenient or not that pleasant or attractive. So, you have to do a lot of research on these things, at least in large cities.

I've heard vacation rental apts. in London are pretty reasonable and can be a good deal for a family. In Paris, the vacation apt. rental market is overpriced in my opinion, and not such good bargains. You can get something in Paris for your price, but nothing very nice and you will have to be willing to accept a very small place.

Oh, another issue (at least in Paris) is that many places won't rent for only 3-4 days, and the best places book up way ahead of time, so you need to make arrangements a payments quite far in advance to get a good selection. It requires a lot of planning, unless you don't care that much about the place. It's a lot easier then.

I've had very good luck on vrbo.com -- there are lots of things in your price range if you're willing to do a studio or 1 br apt. You'll have more space than you would have in a hotel but your price range is the same as mine --so these aren't luxury apts, although I thought they were pretty cute. Try to find an owner willing to accept a PayPal payment which is the easiest and cheapest way for you to pay them in euros. Lots of them already do this, but I've had to suggest it to get one owner to finally open up a paypal account.

One plus about a hotel is the concierge and general service/instruction in English. You'll need to do research to figure things out for yourself if you rent the apt. Also, the daily maid service is nice in a hotel, esp. if you have a toddler and don't want to be making the bed, washing dishes in the morning, etc. For London, I'd suggest trying to get a 4* hotel on priceline for $100 (or less). I feel like you'll get the most for your money this way since the exchange rate will kill any chance of a decent apt. Look carefully at betterbidding.com for tips on how to do this and not get stuck in an area you don't want. Reading the info on betterbidding takes around 30 minutes. Don't try priceline in Paris.

After much referencing and numerous rentals, I've come to the conclusion that it is much harder to find really good value at a good rate for apartments for less than a week. Most owners have learned that if their place is fairly priced and if it's good, they can easily keep it rented by the week and they have eliminated nightly rentals (unless they happen to have a few odd nights left open between weekly or even monthly rentals. Those that do rent nightly, usually will give you a better price by the week (like at least one or two nights "free").

Normally, "checking in" to an apartment situation is a little more involved and time consuming than checking into a hotel, so I also question the value of it for a three night stay or so. It takes some time just to figure out how most things in the apartment "work".

Eurobound,

At least in Paris you can rent a short-stay (3 or 4 days) apartment from www.VacationInParis.com

It's an American company and very easy to deal with. You pay in advance and they mail you the key and instructions for getting there. They have apartments all over Paris. We rented the "Eiffel Hideaway" in the 7th, but the spiral staircase might be hard with your toddler. The same building has a studio apartment with patio on the ground floor, the "Garden Studio." Both rent for close to $150 a night, depending on season and length of stay.

Good luck!

Citadines .
Less hassle.
Maybe a bit more expensive, but if you have a kid, it's the way to go.
Otherwise, you risk having a bad experience compounded with a kid.

My wife and I prefer apartments because we usually get more room, privacy (from each other), and a washer/dryer (so we don't have to haul as many clothes. About all we give up are a concierge (we rarely use this service), and a small free breakfast (we prefer making our own, with lots of orange juice). Beyond breakfast, we rarely eat in the apartment, although sometimes in Paris we would visit the vendors and buy the makings of a meal and eat it in the apartment.

However, if you get an apartment for less than the traditional week, you usually pay a higher daily rate, and limit the number of available apartments. So my suggestion to you would be to limit your destinations to two (for what looks like a two week trip) and take advantage of the better rates. People have different ideas on how long to stay in one location, but my feeling is that in the destinations you have listed, 3 or 4 days is not enough time to see much and enjoy yourselves; you will spend most of your vacation packing, unpacking, and moving between destinations. To maximize your available time, look for open jaw tickets, where you fly into one destination, and fly back from another.

Enjoy your trip.

I will be renting an apt in the 7th arr. in June. It is right on the rue de grenelle. It is for myself,DH and our 2 kids. We are only renting it for 5 nights at 150euros a night. Check it out on "Paris perfect". Good luck!

okay. I've posted that our apt is with paris perfect, but it is really with private paris.duh!

Look at this thread for my bad experience and rental ideas that the great folks on this forum gave me:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...amp;dirtyBit=1

I might be one of the unlucky few who got into this situation.

trevi are you sure it is not this thread instead? :-)
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34767575
The link you gave is about a GTG in Paris.

You are right 'coco'. Thanks for correcting.