BTilke

Yes, we rented a 2-bedroom, 2 bath apartment nearly sight unseen in the 16th arrond. some years ago. Web sites weren't as common. We rented it from a woman we'd "met" on a Compuserve forum. She gave us a good rate ($2000 for the entire month of March plus part of Feb., inc. uts and cleaning). We took a leap of faith and went. The experience was fine except that the apartment was on the ground floor, which mean rolling down all the security blinds every single time we left the apartment, even for a couple of minutes. Also, the washing machine died on us halfway through the trip. But we had a good time, the neighborhood was great, our friends and family loved having free bed and bath in Paris (we ended up having the apartment to ourselves for only three or the 40 nights we spent there).
I don't know if I'd do it that way again. It's much easier to find reviews, photos, etc. online now that I'd be a little wary. Also, last year I went and looked at some unreviewed apartments in the 7th arrond. of Paris listed in the classifieds of FUSAC magazine. They were all frankly horrible--no wonder the owners didn't post any photos or reviews!

SRS

Thanks everyone for the responses. We have decided to take the plunge and rent the apartment. The pictures make the place look really great - very new at the least - and the owner has been super to deal with.

We've asked ourselves bad could it be, and if it is, it will just become part of the memory!

Thank you to all who posted!

Sally

Statia

Glad to hear it, Sally. I think that if you feel good about it in your gut, everything will be fine. Be sure to post back and let us know how it goes.

letudo

Hi All,

I just rented an apartment in London through Great Trips Unlimited. They were fabulous - so helpful and responsive, I couldn't believe it. Now - here's what I learned: many of these apartment rental agencies in London represent the exact same properties! I had an interesting experience with one of these agencies when I selected an apartment on Stratford Road in South Kensington to rent. The day after they agreed to hold the flat for me and send me the paperwork, I was googling for info on the Stratford Road/South Kensington area, in anticipation of my trip, and, to my surprise, up came the same flat listed through another agency for what amounted to $500 less! I contacted the first agency to ask them if they would lower their price and, after they said they could not, I rented through the agency with the better deal. After this happened, for fun, I started googling some of the flat names and locations (for example, "Stratford Road" +Kensington) on many of the rental agency sites and could not believe how many duplicates I found! BTW, for flats represented by a variety of agencies, Great Trips Unlimited always had the better deals, regardless of which agency I compared their prices to.

rex

Apartment? no.... but villa? yes, four for four - - reviews are a fairly recent phenomenon. And very first villa rental (1998) was without benefit of any photos. I'm sure that this was the norm not so very long ago.

I think that the decription of the property itself can be as useful as anything - - of course, none of us knows how well (or how poorly) is our own radar to detect something that just doesn't quite ring true.

Best wishes,

Rex