markland

After spending more hours than I care to admit finding the perfect hotel, I've decided to try renting an apartment for 6 nights.

I know there are many, many agencies out there, but I like the looks of Sleep in Italy and Rental in Rome.

Do you have experience with these, either good and especially bad. Are the units they rent generally true to the adverts, generally clean, and are they responsive to the renters?

What don't I know to ask them?

Or is there a really premier agency that I just don't know about.

We're looking to rent in the Piazza Navone area, up to 120E per night. Did you rent a unit that you'd recommend?

Any and all advice or help would be greatly appreciated.

daveesl

I have been using Sleep in Italy for years and the quality and value of the apartments has always matched the description, if not exceeded it. I will use no agency other than them.

dave

kybourbon

I think you might have better results by listing how many people/beds as many here will have rented specific apartments they can suggest.

markland

Good idea

2 people, 100-120E per night.

Davesl, can you recommend any particular apartment. Piazza Navone or Campo dei Fiori.

Henry

markland,
Take a look at the Slow Travel reviews http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/vr/lis...wnumber&r=Rome

annhig

henry got there before me! slow travel has a whole section on rome apartments and recommended agencies.

but if you thought that finding a hotel was hard, finding the "perfect" apartment will drive you mad. one of the problems is that the search engines of some of the agencies do not allow you to do what you want - many will only let you look by the number of people, for example, rather than the no of bedrooms. others only let you search one area at a time, instead of several. my suggestion is that if you find one apartment you like, in the comment section that most of them havem set out what you want - 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a terrace, and ask what else they've got for those dates. very often they will make suggestions that weren't on their website - no idea why.

my other "hate" is agencies that don't post their prices on the web - this seems to me ripe for sharp practice.

after hours of hunting, we ended up in this [private] apartment, which is about 5 mins walk from piazza navona - www.lacasadiclelia.webs.com. although stated to be for 4, it was quite snug for three, and would be perfect for 2 and it is in your price-range. Catherine, the [french] owner, is very quick to respond, speaks excellent english, answered all of our queries, arranged a transfer for us, and didn't charge extra for cleaning [always think that's weird] or for a late arrival. the apartment was clean and very quiet, and had all the facilities you could want, with restaurants, bars and shops very close by.

good luck with your Rome flat hunting,

regards, ann

Leely2

I have rented from Rental in Rome, the following apartment but it's too big/pricey for your purposes:
http://www.rentalinrome.com/bramante/bramante.htm

I dealt with Michael Smith and had no problems whatsoever. In Rome the contact we used was a woman who works with the owners of the apartment--she was just wonderful!

Another time my sister and I stayed in a studio on via dei Cappellari; the agency was Real Rome. They were just a dream to work with and the apartment met my expectations (which were realistic given the price).

http://www.realrome.com/propcappellari.html

In both cases I did my homework, including reading Slow Trav's hints for renters, and made sure to confirm--and reconfirm--all details with the agency. When you have found some specific places that interest you, post them here because perhaps people have stayed in them.

Good luck!

Mallory

Yes, I've had a hard time finding reviews for Rome apartments in the central are (Campo dei Fiori, most specifically) and Slow Trav has dried up as a source of recent reviews.

One more piece of advice when renting apartments: After a bad experience, I will no longer rent apartments from an agency that does not have an onsite manager. You can have problems with your rental (I did with my last one) and if you are only dealing with a keyholder, you will get very little service without wasting a good deal of time.

annhig

hi Mallory,

i agree. that's why I liked the idea of the owner-run apartment. when the heating proved unequal to the unusually cold weather [the first snow of rome in 25 years] Catherine provided us with a fan heater and organised someone to sort out the heating - and she was always available by phone, text or e-mail.

daveesl

Markland, I can give you a couple of apartments that will work for you from Sleep in Italy. You may be able to negotiate the price to your liking.

1) Montevecchio Bis - 1st floor, easy walkup, loft bedroom (watch your head if tall), large kitchen, 2 baths, about 100 meters from Piazza Navona going down Via Coronari towards the Ponte Sant'Angelo.

2) Rondanini - This one is really nice. 1st floor, easy walk up. Large bedroom, with living room (wifi) and kitchen. Bathroom is very large. Nicely decorated. 2 blocks from Pantheon, 3 blocks from Navona, 2 blocks from Della Palma Gelato (my personal favorite).

3)There is another one that while it isn't in the area you asked about, it is called Castel Sant'Angelo, it is a two bedroom located on Via Borgo Vittorio. This is also a first floor walk up that is just drop dead beautiful. 2 huge bedrooms, king-sized bed in one, huge living room, very large eat in kitchen with all appliances. Here is what makes it work. It is 5 minutes from St. Peters square, 5 minutes from Castel Sant'Angelo.

There are 3 major bus and tram terminus locations within 5-10 minutes. Walk 5 minutes to Piazza Risorgimento, grab either the 19 or the 2d tram to the next stop, which is the Ottaviano metro stop.

The Porta Pia terminus for the 40 bus is 3 blocks away. Piazza Cavour terminus for the 87 bus is less than a 10 minute walk.

Worst case scenario, if you had to take a taxi from Termini, and we did several times due to either late hours or exhaustion, the highest cost was 9 euros.

In all three cases there are markets within 2 blocks of each apartment.

Tell Sabrina that Dave from the U.S. told you to get in touch, she can probably work a deal.


dave

SusanP

I have also used Sleep in Italy repeatedly with good results. And they do show their prices on their website.