Apartment Rental in Rome?
 

My husband and I are going to Rome for the week of Thanksgiving this year. I have a reservation at a hotel, but I was thinking an apartment might be the way to go.

Does anyone have any comments or feedback about specific apartment rental companies? I'd really love a recommendation! What about comments on staying in an apartment vs a hotel?

Thanks!

BLN, we're off to Rome next month and we've rented an apartment through sleepinitaly.com. Our dealings with this company thus far have been excellent! Guilia Amatto in the booking department has been very quick in answering all my questions. They have a beautiful selection of apartments at reasonable prices. We're staying in an apartment because we like all the extra living space. I couldn't stand being cooped up in a hotel room, even if it were a 5*. Also, I am very spoiled. My husband rises earlier than me and gives me a cup of coffee in bed. I don't see why he should break such a lovely tradition just because we're on vacation (yes, I know the man is an angel)!!!

DIN....thanks for the web-site advice...looks good!!!
PS...I have the same kind of "kind" husband!!

dln - thanks for that info.
PLEASE post back here and let us know how it is!

BLN, have no fear about me writing a trip report--it will probably read like a mini novella. I tend to get carried away writing when it's something that interests me!

Hi,

I just read a trip report and they rented an apartment in Rome from www.palazzo-olivia.it/ I went into the web site and the apartments look great.

Have fun.

Thanks again for the feedback.
Does anyone else have any experience with rental agencies? Other comments on Sleepinitaly.com or what about RomanHomes.com?

BLN--RomanHomes has a lot of controversy attached to it. A Dr. Mauro Abate runs it and to some he's heaven, to others, hell! Type in Romanhomes in the text search box and start reading all the threads. I contacted them because their apartments looked great, and despite several e-mails I never got a response. I crossed them off the list because they evidently weren't concerned about getting my business. You might want to take a look at the reviews of apartments at www.slowtrav.com. Good luck!

Hi there, I have used Roman Homes and it was a bit odd. I have also used sleepinitaly.com and they were wonderful! Another good site that I almost used is guestinitaly.com

Have fun, Eileen

Thanks ecat, great to know. dln, look forward to hearing about your experience with sleepinitaly!

dln,
are you sure that we dont have the same Husband? Mine does the same thing.. coffee in the bed every morning.. he make excellent coffee, but the irony is that he is not a coffee drinker..

LOL, Kismet! My husband has wisely figured out that it is in his best interests to serve me a cup of coffee in the morning. I am hardly human without it. This is an important feature of a successful European trip.

We also booked with sleepinitaly.com and were very pleased with the apartment and the response times (Guilia is very helpful and pleasant). I would recommend it.

As dln writes about Roman Homes, I think we looked into them and I got a pleasant, helpful response for a VERY high end propery while one of the other people we were travelling with got a response saying they had nothing that would interest him! We laughed, although my friend felt a bit miffed. I am not 100% sure it was Roman Homes but sounds like it may have been. The properties did look amazing but expensive.

We travelled with children and found the space as well as kitchen facilities in an apartment really suited our needs.

Good luck and have fun!

Tory

Hi,
We booked an apartment through Rome Accommodation (www.romeaccom.com). Leon Krammer has been tremendous to deal with. Tried hard to find what we wanted, quick replies to our emails, etc. By a stroke of bad luck the apartment we selected has a plumbing problem, and rather than wait and see, he warned us about us well in advance, and we changed to another apartment. He's really been great.

Our rental isn't until Sept 10... so we'll see how the apartment works out, but so far, so good!

Darcie

Are the apartments listed at www.palazzo-olivia.it air conditioned?

DLN - are you back from your trip? Have you posted a trip report yet? I would love to hear how your experience went with sleepinitaly!

We have 6 days reserved for the end of this month from RealRome.com. in Trastevere. We dealt with a very nice person, Tim Pearson. Immediate response to emails. Held the unit by my credit card number, (delivered in 2 speratate emails)He sent lots of information, explicite details,help with transportation, and contact numbers. They have a website RealRome.com. So far, I'm impressed. I'll post a follow up after we return.

First of all, read the reviews of apartments in Rome on www.slowtrav.com, to find out what people really think about the places they've rented. We've been delighted with www.italian-itineraries.com. Barbara is a joy to deal with, and her selection of apartments is terrfic. Have fun!

To answer Carroll's question above, no, the apartments at Palazzo Olivia are not air-conditioned. Or at least nothing in the website or my contract mentions it, so I can't imagine they are.

This was my original post/question, and just wanted to follow up and say that we had a great experience with sleepinitaly.com. We loved our apartment, fair price, good owners and everything worked out exactly as planned..... We LOVED having the extra space over a single hotel room. It made our week there feel so much more "home" like. Thanks for the comments, everyone.

BLN, thanks for reporting back. There have been many discussions about Sleepinitaly. Could you tell us which apartment you stayed in and what you liked about it, or what the drawbacks (if any) there were? That way in the future when someone does a search, there will be even more specific information on that specific apartment.

Good point, Patrick. The very selfish part of me wants to keep the apartment a secret, so I'm sure it's available next time I go (ha ha!) but.... For the good of others, here goes! :)

We stayed in the "Pastini" apartment. (www.sleepinitaly.com/files/apt_pastini.html) We found it on several other rental agencies' sites, but sleepinitaly offered the best price.

Pluses:
-great location (maybe 10 doors down from the Pantheon)
-2 streets with many bus options each 5 minutes walk away (Via del Corso to the east and Rinascimento to the west), VERY useful, we used the bus almost daily
-lots of space for 2 of us
-clean and nicely furnished/equipped
-the bedroom is NOT in the front room as it says in the description - it's in the center of the apt, so away from the street noise
- big windows over the street in the front room, great for listening to the street music and activity/voices below
-on the "1st" floor (one flight of stairs)
-always felt very safe because it's a well-travelled area and the apartment itself was behind 3 locked doors (main door to the building, an interior iron gate, then the door to the apartment)
-pedestrian only street
-comfortable bed, couch, plus table and chairs for more formal sitting!
-good kitchen - working gas range, oven, fridge, sink, drying rack, plates, coffee maker, pots, pans, some staples like olive oil, salt, pepper, and tea
-price was very fair

Minuses:
-the heat was unpredictable. Even when we had it off, it occasionally got very hot in the middle of the night. (there were ample blankets had it been too cold, by the way)
-no A/C (not a problem for us obviously, but in the summer... if you had to keep the windows open the street noise probably WOULD be an issue)
-morning noise was notable, street cleaners, garbage collectors, people opening up their businesses in the street below, other people who live in the apartment getting up and out, etc. (We got up early every morning, so this was no issue for us.)
-the bathroom was TINY (but you'll find that most places!) and the shower head had a leak that sprayed water out the side, over the toilet area. Once we figured it out, we just had to have the shower head turned a certain way so the whole bathroom wouldn't get showered too!
-the woman who greeted us when we arrived was very nice, but didn't speak English. no big deal, but if we'd had questions or problems (we didn't) I'm not sure what we would have done. (this is OUR fault, of course, not knowing Italian, but worth a mention, perhaps)
-there was no maid service. (some rentals come with this every couple days or so, this one did not and we knew it.)
-the apartment had 2 rolls of toilet paper when we arrived. I don't want to get too personal, but for 8 nights that is NOT enough!! Similarly, the kitchen had no paper towels. We went to the supermarket around the corner and got some.
-they only gave us 2 body towels and 2 hand towels. I would have been nice to have a few extras, but... whatever.
-we only got 2 pillowcases for 4 pillows.

Also worth mentioning because it's come up in other apartment rental discussions is the payment circumstances. We did have to pay a non-refundable deposit of about E120 to hold the reservation. I didn't like that idea, but did it anyway - obviously worked out fine for us. Also, we had to pay the balance upon arrival, in "cash." I asked if traveler's checks were okay and the woman at sleepinitaly.com said yes. I reconfirmed that before we left and she still said yes. I was worried because I've read other accounts of the owner refusing them upon arrival. Well, the woman who gave us the keys and showed us the apartment was a little surprised by it (she said, "ah!" or something non-horrified, but notable), but she took them with no comments, questions, or glares. (That was a relief.) I just didn't feel comfortable carrying all that cash.

So, bottom line, we were happy with our sleepinitaly experience and would definitely use them again (and stay in the same apartment).

ttt for Cindy.

hi,

We rented a flat in Rome for 4 nights last year in April and had the time of our lives! It's the best rental option I feel because you feel like a local living amidst locals - we rented this flat in Campo di Fiori and went via venere.com. We were 4 of us so it was cheaper and it was a few seconds from the celebrated Campo di Fiori square and restaurants and from Piazza Navona, Pantheon etc.

Cons: hot water is not always available - for the 4 of us we quickly discovered we had better take 5 mt showers instead of longers ones...

the beds were a little saggy - actually very and a little uncomfortable.

Vacation03,

Thanks for the review of your flat in Rome but could you tell us what agency and what apartment you rented on your holiday?

Thanks! E

Was referred to this thread by ecat.

Suppose there IS a problem in your apt. Noisy neighbors, clogged sink, something broken. Is there a person to talk to? A hotel staff is at least there. What about Apts.?

Hi Screen,

Luckily in my experience with renting apartments I have not run into any of the situations you have mentioned, but I have always had contact numbers for both the owner and rental agency "In Case Of".

I consider myself a fairly hardy & low maintenance traveler, I choose to rent apartments because this works best for me. I also think apartment rentals are not for everyone.

Seems like your reviewing the experiences from others which is a good thing to do when trying to switch from hotel to apartment living.

Hope this helps!
E

I'm putting name of BLN's apartment in for future searches.

Via dei Pastini

BLN: If you're still around I have one more question about the "Pastini" apartment. Does one have to go thru the bedroom to get to the bath or water closet? We are two ladies...I get up much earlier than my friend. So I would sleep on the sofabed and try not to wake her in the morning. But that won't work if I have to go thru the bedroom.

Sorry, I've been incommunicado for a while.
We rented from sleepinitaly.com.
The woman who gave us the key lived upstairs, so we figured if something came up we'd go knocking. But the rental agency says to contact them (instead or as well?). Off hours in a pinch we figured they'd be helpful upstairs.
Jeanne, yes you DO have to go through the bedroom to get to the WC.

We're considering an apt rental for our last 3 days in Rome. If we do this, what is the best way to arrange a cab to the airport very early on New YEars Day if you don't have a front-desk to assist you?