Rome Apartment - looks too good to be true?
 

Our family of 5 adults (DH and I, my parents, my sister) will be in Rome for 3-4 nights in late November. We need to stay in as central a location as possible as my parents both have moderate knee pain and there is walking aplenty in Rome. If we stay at a hotel, I've zeroed in on Hotel Teatro di Pompeo. A double and triple room there will come to 420€ a night total. I also just came across this apartment and it looks beautiful, well located, and very inexpensive (330€/night).

http://www.rentalinrome.com/pantheon...ntheonview.htm

Am I missing something? Looks like the agency might not be very good (a few Fodors threads) and I can't find a review of the apartment anywhere. Is the street busy and loud perhaps?

The apartment is on the 3rd (European) floor and has no elevator. The bedrooms are another flight up. I wouldn't want to do that regularly even without knee problems.

Good point about the stairs. Although, it seems that the hotel I found also has stairs and the working condition of the elevator is iffy from the reviews I've been reading.
DH and I have always stayed in the Via Firenze neighborhood so the price shock of the true "centro storico" hotels is hitting home. I want us to stay somewhere very central... but without paying any more than 450€ per night as a group. Maybe that is just unrealistic. If so, please feel free to tell me :-)

My Husband and I are using "rentalinrome" for the first part of our trip in April. We found an apartment in Campo De Fiori for 100 euro a night. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we love it because as you well know, finding ANYTHING in the historic part of Rome for that price is unheard of.
I felt comfortable with them as there were a ton of pictures for each apartment as well as video.
I'll be sure to repot back on our experience.
Wish us luck!

We used Rentalinrome and the apartment was what we expected, and the booking went well. The roof of the bedrooms look low but that would not be a problem for me. We stayed in a small apartment near Campo dei Fiori and had to climb a ladder to the loft but this was shown in the photos. The stairs may be a problem for your parent's knees though. You may have to go with a larger hotel to be assured of a reliable lift.

BoogieBean- WE stayed in an apartment in Via San Salvatore near Campo dei Fiori.

I have no personal experience with RentalInRome, but you might want to check the SlowTrav reviews of the company. I was considering renting from them, but after posting questions there and on TripAdvisor, I reconsidered. There were several very unfavorable reviews, as well as some, like those posted here, that were fine. Basically, just be careful- I ended up going with RealRome.com because it had much more favorable reviews and they are easy to work with. Good luck!

If you do decide to stay at the Hotel Teatro di Pompeo, it is a nice hotel in a great location. The elevator was working when I was there but is one of those tiny european style elevators.

I don't think that deal is that unusual. Apartment rentals in the Centro Storico are a actually quite affordable, which is why so many people opt to rent rather than staying in a hotel. I just reserved an apt for 6 for August in Campo dei Fiori for E160.

I've seen a lot of negative reviews for rentalinrome. If you google "pantheon view apartment" you will see that many agencies handle that same apartment - which looks very nice to me - but I agree the steps might be a problem for your parents. In any event if you like the apartment would get it thru a better reviewed agency.

Hello LA Woman,

Thanks for the input. What apartment are you staying in? I love the Campo di Fiori area.

Hi, TexasAggie -

I'm staying in this one

http://www.sleepinitaly.com/files/apt_paradiso.html

I don't think it would work for your group, though.

Also - I posted too hastily. We are paying E160, but we only have 4 people. It would be E180 for 6.

I like the apartment you're looking at. It's pretty, and a killer location. The stairs could be a problem tho. I personally like apartments with lots of steps, because I don't mind them and I think it keeps the price down! But I know it would be a problem for my parents, especially after walking around all day.

Also like I said I have run into much bad commentary on the agency. And I'm using sleepinitaly, who have also garnered some complaints but nowhere near as many as rentalinrome. Have used sleepinitaly before & like them.

Have you rented in Rome before? The deals really are that good, especially when you are going. Suggest you look around some more, you have plenty of time.

Here's an apartment in CDF I inquired about, with 3 bedrooms for
E240 per day

http://comfortitalia.com/apartment_p...ino_photos.htm

The agency is well reviewed and there are a few reviews on Slowtrav for this apt, too. Just to give you an idea what's out there.

Would also look at romanreference.com and realrome.com

Good luck! I love looking at apartments online.

Thank you so much for all the tips! I am going to go browse your links right now :-)

Hey Jill!

I think the apartment looks lovely, and what an awesome location! I think my only concern, with the exception of the stairs for your parents, would be the noise level because as you know Piazza Rotunda and the entire area around the Pantheon tends to be on the crowded side. But I personally would like being upstairs because it could help keep some of that noise level down.

If it helps, we used sleepinitaly.com when we rented our apartment near Piazza Navona last time we were in Rome. It would be too small for your group, but we were happy with their service.

Good luck!
Tracy

That 1300 sq. ft. 3BR in the Campo area that LAwoman posted looks great and at only 290€ (for six people) - wow! Worth seeing if it's available IMO...

The only time the stairs to my Rome apartment were sort of a problem was when we were carrying up (and down) the luggage. Otherwise, yes, it is a hike but I think walking up stairs is good for you, if you are capable. Are your parents up to it? The high ceilings in our buiding made for more steps between landings too.

My biggest concern would be the type of rental agency, I would use realrome. Tim is very helpful and personable, speaks English.

Another suggestion: We stayed in the green apartment at Residenza Giubbonari (http://www.residenzagiubbonari.com/) and were very happy. We were 4 adults plus a 20 month old. There are only 4 beds (2 bedrooms), but there is a pull-out sofa if that's acceptable. The location was great (actually right around the corner from Hotel Teatro di Pompeo), it has an elevator (small, but okay for 2 people or 1 plus luggage), it was very clean, and the owner/rep was very friendly and helpful. We paid EUR 216/nt (240 for low season plus a 10% discount for booking 7+ nights), but for 5 it would be 265. We were also pleasantly surprised at how reasonable apartment rates were in Rome, especially when compared to two hotel rooms. (Of course, you also get a lot more space.)

Enjoy your trip,
Paul

We stayed in the Pellegrino apt. and I would basically agree with the slowtrav reviews: the rental agency was very good, the location is fantastic (although part of me wonders if being over by the Pantheon or Pizza Navona might not be 5 minutes in a better direction), and the apt. is perfectly fine (i.e., I wasn't wishing I lived there fulltime, but I wasn't wishing I hadn't rented it either). We really liked it as a base for seeing Rome. One thing to keep in mind is that it has one bath and although the bedrooms are pretty spacious, the living area isn't huge (you can see from the pix that the "living room" and "dining area" are really one largish room).

I also have looked at Rental in Rome, On 1st email to them they were prompt in their reply but any additional questions I asked have yet to be responded too. Also, received a very abrupt response to my email inquiry. I would be a little leary about them

TexasAggie-
I have a reservation for a rentalinrome apartment but have not stayed there yet. I looked at the one you're interested in and thought it looked great, but it was more than we needed.
I've been dealing with Anna from rentalinrome and she's been very prompt with her replies.
Yes, they have their fair share of negative reviews, but they represent over 600 apartments. I wonder what the percentage of complaints is in comparison with smaller companies?
Also, people who complain tend to be more "vocal" about it. I've read many the exact same complaint posted on multiple websites.
Still, I was nervous about them, but the apartment we selected was the best fit for us (2 couples) in our price range so we decided to go for it.

Hi Kristina,
Thanks for the post. When are you visiting Rome? I hope your apartment rental goes wonderfully and I look forward to hearing about it when you get back :-)