deposit for an apartment in Rome
 

Hi everyone,
We're in the process of booking an apartment in Rome and we were asked to either wire transfer or do a cashier's check deposit of 30% of the total price into an account. Is that standard?
thanks!!

It varies from apartment to apartment. I have been asked to use Paypal, and asked to do a wire transfer. It is always wonderful when they will accept a personal check...but personally this has only been the case when I have dealt with agencies based here in the U.S.

I have had the deposite range from 10% to 50% (ouch!)

Are you dealing directly with an owner or an agency?

Yes, we were asked to send a wire transfer for our upcoming trip to Rome staying at the Residenza Giubbonari Apartments. Our deposit was 40%. It went pretty smooth - we went to the bank & told them what we wanted. Of course there was a service charge & the euro exchange rate wasn't great. But the apartment received it & confirmed back to us. We will then pay the balance in cash when we get there. It isn't the best way to send a deposit for us, but it is not unusual.

Agree - standard operating procedure.

30% is fine. I often have to send 1/2 for a deposit.

One time the owner went on a 3 week vacation right after I sent the deposit.

This was when I first starting going the apartment route. Imagine my frustration: we had emailed on a regular basis and then once I sent a deposit, I didn't hear back for three weeks. I sent some pretty embarassing panic emails I wish I could have retrieved!

Thanks everyone, it's our first apartment booking so we're not used to the whole deposit thing.
It's with Comfortitalia which is a slowtrav favourite so i'm assuming it's reputable :)
Bardo1, your story made me laugh, I'm glad things were ok in the end