Help with Rome Accomodations
 

Our family of four, traveling to Italy late
March, early April, will be ending in Rome, last leg of 18 day trip. I had planned on renting an apartment for the four of us. I am feeling now very discouraged after reading some negative possible things that have gone wrong, particularly with the agency I had planned to use. It seems not too uncommon for apt owners to back out, sometimes last minute. If it were just my husband and myself, we might gamble that everything might work out. With children in tow, I sure would hate to be scrambling to find other accomodations day of rental. I don't know how often this happens, I have read good reviews here as well. Hotels are out of our budget, looks like minimum $800-$1200 for 3-4 nights. My other affordable (and safe) option, which I am considering, is using the new Holiday Inn Express San Giovanni and traveling into town with the locals by metro or bus. Yes, it is out of the way, but I have read some good reviews. Would appreciate any feedback and possibly some encouragement!

Hi Tiller,

Don't stay outside the Centro Storico and expect to commute in! The inconvenience, time and cost will far outweight the savings!

I'm sure you can find a hotel in your budget. Have you tried venere.com? You can sort by stars, cost, location.

I've never done the apartment route, but most people here seem to have good experiences. I'm sure the company you choose will have a lot to do with how well things turn out. There have been many recommended here. Look also on slowtrav.com.

You'll love Roma

Buon viaggio!

You might be able to stay as cheaply as 100 Euros per night or even less for all four of you in a convent.

Look at some recommendations on this board for books on this subject. Also look at these recommendations here:
http://www.santasusanna.org/comingToRome/convents.html

I've been researching affordable hotels for an upcoming summer trip to Rome. Two to look at are: Hotel Lancelot ( very good location near the Colosseum) and La Residenzia ( off Via Veneto, close to the Spanish Steps). I don't think it should be that difficult to find affordable hotels if you look now. Good luck!

I agree about the apartment idea. Check with other sites as well as this one & do a search for apartments & see what others recommend. Go to slowtravel.com or tripadvisor.com. You not only might save money on a place to stay, but you will be able to have meals at home & save.

Try www.rome-accom.com they are a reputable company with a good website. We have stayed in apartments in Rome, Venice, Paris, Florence etc. and it has always been a very positive experience, especially with a family. It's a lot cheaper than hotels and it allows you to live like the locals for a few days. My only concern is that you are leaving your bookings a bit late to get exactly what you want. Apartments really need to be booked well in advance still it is worth a try.

http://homelidays.com/EN-Holidays-Re...ROMSEARCH=TRUE

tiller - We are staying here (cut and past link) in May 2006. There are 3 of us and the rate is 310 euros for 4 nights. I have corresponded several times with the owner and feel confident about staying here. Maybe something like this would work for you? It's basic, but with good reviews. We also booked our Paris apartment through this site (Homelidays).

I am confused, Tiller. What agency were you going to use? What are the negative reports?

I have stayed very successfully in a number of apartments in Rome. It is in any agency's best interest to make sure that apartment owners do not "back out" and a reputable company with positive recommendations will not be hard to find.

If you go to Slow Travel's website as recommended above, you will find listings and reviews of apartments and agencies.

Off the top of my head, I can think of Sleep In Italy, Comfort Italia and Rome Power, all of whom offer apartments large enough for your family.

Good luck and enjoy your vacation!

Hello Faredolce!

If you search SleepinItaly on this forum one will find both positive and negative experiences and until yesterday had only come across the positive. What could go wrong and has happened is to find out last minute when no one shows to let you in to the apt you think you have rented that you may be scrambling to find accomodations elsewhere or take what is offered and available last minute. One poster suggested booking a back up hotel room??? SleepinItaly has several apts where we would LOVE to stay in our price range, just don't know if we want to chance it falling through at the last minute especially traveling with children. Agencies that act as brokers for the apt owners have little control over this, so I have read here on this forum. Since we won't be renting a whole week, only 3-4 days, I wonder if we could get bumped later for someone renting a full week? Would love to hear some positives from those who have used this agency renting for 3-4 days. Thanks!

Tiller:

Here's a trip report and an apt review for an apartment my family of 4 rented in Rome in June.

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34645892

http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/vr/review.asp?n=1530

Maybe that will help you.

Tiller, I appreciate your trepidation. There is no way around the fact that there is indeed the chance that your accomodation will go awry, in any situation.

You may also find many reports of travelers arriving at their hotel and finding that the front desk says that they don't have that reservation! An equal nightmare that will leave you scrambling for accomodation. If you are looking for horror stories, you can indeed find them easily, because this can (rightly) be a place to vent frustrations, post warnings to other travelers, and sometimes feel vindicated for such wrongdoings. Such negative experiences seem to pop out and capture your attention more than those that report that everything went fine as planned.

It is great tool to be able to see negative experiences, but at the same time it is easy to become unecessarily alarmed, and wonder if there is more risk involved than reward.

If you have doubts about Sleep In Italy, then don't use them. There are plenty of other rental agencies and opportunities.

For balance, and I think, more reassurance, go to the Slow Travel site, www.slowtrav.com.

There you will find listings for rental accomodations that are often quite detailed. The questionnaire that one must answer to post a review covers all the bases. Some rentals will even be labeled as Slow Travel "favorites," meaning that they have received so many positive reviews across the board, they are in a class by themselves.

Some of the owners of certain rental agencies even post on their message board, which I think, is an incredible show of good faith. By putting themselves on the line like that, it shows that they are willing to stand behind their service.

I wish you good luck in your research! Alas, since I have only rented small apartments for one or two people, I can't offer a direct recommendation for you. There are some very good tips already in this thread, such as the idea of the convent accomodations and the warning about staying too far away from the central district.

Try Nicolas Inn. www.nicolasinn.com