Need help with agency for apt. rentals in Italy
 

Has anyone had any experience, good or bad with Roman Homes? We are considering a rental through them in Rome. NYC Food Snob and Eileen wisely advised me to be careful of extra charges such as electricty which can really run up your costs. I want to find a rental that is all inclusive, and Roman Homes has several that will accommodate our party of 6.

I'd like to know of personal experiences any of you have had renting apartments and agencies that you would recommend in Rome and Venice.

Thanks!

This probably will not help you - - it more or less pre-dates my four-plus years here - - but there was a time when Roman Homes, and Dr. Mauro Abate, in particular, had a bad slam campaign in full force here. It had less to do with the properties, their value, service or upkeep -- andore to do with a perception for "using" this forum inappropriately to solicit business, or perhaps at least post "review" information about Roman Homes.

And then it seemed that Dr. Abate becane pseudo-legendary in a game (here on this forum) of "sightings" by one person or another - - and maybe even questions about whether he existed or not.

So you will find a lot of talk about Roman Homes here, and not much of it useful.

You might find info you can use on www.slowtrav.com

Best wishes,

Rex

I haven't been to Rome, but I can highly recommend Venice Rentals in Venice. (venicerentals.com). Several posters here have good reviews of them, as well as posters on slowtrav.com.

I know one poster here on Fodors recently had a "not so good" experience with them, but the good far outweigh the bad, IMHO. We were thoroughly delighted with them.

Good luck in your search.

Hi Jayne,

Me again... I have used Roman Homes once before on my first trip to Rome. It was ok and I don't have any real horror stories to tell but was not thrilled. However they do offer some nice selections. My dealings with Dr. Mauro Abate was a hot & cold mix. Sometimes good sometimes not so good.

This all lead me on a search of other agencies. I did alot of investigation, and still, do after feeling better equiped and getting to know the areas around Rome.

If you click on my name you'll find many of my posts are about Rome apartments and apartments offered through Sleep In Itay. www.sleepinitaly.com Personaly I have found them to have a great selection and their rates have tended to be better than some other sites with the same apartments listed. I am again renting two apartments in May 2004 from them. I'm anxiosly awaiting for another poster to report back because last week she was staying in 1 of the ones I am renting.

Something to keep in mind when searching for rentals is what floor the apartment is on and if they have a lift. Also as you know now the whole utilities should be included in the rate.

Here are a couple other sites to browse which I think are very good, but I have no first had experience with them. I'm always looking for good apartments in Rome.

www.realrome.com

www.guestinitaly.com

I hope this helps in your search and I bet others will share their favorites too.

Glad that I asked. Dr. Abate has been very responsive and thorough in answering my questions. However, I was left feeling like he was pitching his properties a little too hard. Lots of adjectives--"superb, fabulous" etc. Then lots of cautions to "watch out" and proceeded to list negative practices of other agencies. This is in a 4-PAGE email--no kidding. He made his properties sound "superb and fabulous" but my gut tells me to steer clear. That's why I love this forum--with a group like this you can't hide if your well-known for questionable service in the travel industry.

I'd love to have some more recommendations.

If you are going in the winter be sure to ask about heating charges. Gas-olio is very $$$.

No, we're going in July, so I'm just as concerned about the $ for AC if it isn't included!

Does anyone have any information about Rental in Rome and their "Julia" apartment? It is located on Via Rosella between Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps and Via Veneto.

Since you are re-examining your options (for Rome, maybe Venice too?) - - I would put in a modest plug for www.domani-usa.com - - I think that they do NOT over-describe places; they puill places where features or service is spotty (I stayed in one such place of theirs which they had on contract on a "trial basis", and I didn't think it was all that unacceptable, but they dropped them anyway), and the owner will discuss what you are seeking, by telephone with you.

His name is Larry Haase. Feel free to say that I referred you.

I haven't reviewd what they are carrying for Rome (nor Venice) before posting this. Don't know if their offerings will be a match for you or not.

Rex,

Thank you for the name. They do not have any properties in Rome and the Venice properties are too small. However, they have some very interesting properties in Tuscany that I am checking out. We know that we are starting in Rome and ending in Venice. I think our kids would enjoy the Tuscan coast in between. Any thoughts in that regard anyone?

Iam in the same predicament,now sometime after your 2003 holiday plans.
Had contemplated Roman Homesbut like you got a full length report.
Who did you eventually pick,we are a party of six also but that is inc of 4 kids,So any help you can give is welcome,this will be first time abroad in Rome and with the kids!Have you heard of Italy.accom run by australians called Krammer.

I have an uncomfortable set of emails with Roman Homes. The verbose Dr. Abate does not put clear pricing on his website and when I asked for a price, it seemed like he was gouging, quoting me a price higher than the highest price in the range on his website.

He was very didactic and unpleasant in telling me why we could not arrive on the day we requested, implying that we were ignorant for even asking.

The apartments appear lovely, but I got such a creepy vibe from this fellow, I dropped him and moved on and found a nice place elsewhere.

Best regards,
Totally

We just returned from Rome last week and we used sleepinitaly.com to find our appartment. It was a fantastic apartment near the vatican and there were no extra charges. I couldn't have been happier with their service and communication.

We also used sleepinitaly.com for our trip in April. Giulia was terrific! We had a great apartment by the Pantheon and things really could not have gone more smoothly.

I sent an inquiry this week to Roman Homes and got back a very terse reply since I didn't provide my address or phone number on the inquiry form. I use Hotmail for my personal business and Dr. Abate said that he would not respond to inquiries such as mine from Hotmail or Yahoo accounts due to the number of scam emails he received. His language was quite strong and insulting, starting out with "As any informed person would know..." and it only got worse from there. Thankfully a friend told me about Fodors and I was able to get useful background on Dr. Abate and www.RomanHomes.com, to the point that I will look elsewhere to book a Rome vacation rental apartment. Thank you Fodor-ites for steering me clear of this strange and abrasive man!

Just wanted to provide an update on Roman Homes. As reported by other members, Dr, Mauro's responses are so full of venom and rudeness that one can only conclude that he must be unstable. We put a deposit on one of his apartments and later discovered this message board. What I read caused me some concern and I contacted Dr. Mauro to confirm that the apartment we had secured was indeed quiet and clean. I also asked about his cancellation policy. His response was suspicious, wondering where I had heard about noisy apartments and he also made it clear that they do not refund deposits. I sent another email asking for a reference of someone who had stayed in this same apartment. I will include highlights of his response below.
"Your umpteenth message with doubts, clearly indicating that you are still undecided whether finalizing the rental of the apartment, passes the landmark of normality and entails big potential damages for the proprietors (last and not least to the agency)."

"(1) "REFERENCES":

References in Europe are not considered due diligence but possibly borderline illegal.
It is rather a North American habit, maybe also British. In Italy,
it is the potential tenant who must supply references (in other words, in North
America tenants think that the ones renting should convince them, in Italy
it is the opposite: tenants should convince the agency or the proprietors,
as homes are very expensive and the Italians care a lot about their homes
and about manners). We do not follow both criteria for the
same reason (they are not international criteria, but rather regional).

- references can be organized dishonestly by bad people in cahoots, telling
you all they want."

And Finally:
The potential damage of your behaviour:We are giving you FIVE BUSINESS DAYS to send another 50% deposit.- If you don't agree, then we will consider yours as a de facto cancellation, for which you will lose the (modest) deposit you sent.

Needless to say we secured another apartment with another rental agency where the prices are much cheaper and the people are actually friendly and easy to deal with. We had to eat the the $650 that Mauro calls "modest". The other company only charged 1/3 of that amount to put a deposit on their apartment. Go figure. If you want more info on the company we are renting from feel free to email me.