I have been hunting around for a decent rental company for an apartment in Buenos Aires. Apartments BA has some good reviews here and on the internet so, even thought they are a bit more money, I contacted them.

We are arriving the morning of the 24 and leaving the morning of the 31st. Apartments BA would charge us a an extra $100 for each of these "special" dates ($200 extra in all!). So far, none of the other rental agencies has said these dates would be a problem at all (as long as it isnt in the evening). Good FYI for anyone else traveling this time period.

So far I have had good communication from : Apartmentsbaires and Buenos Aires Habitat - any opinions, experience with these companies?

My opinion, not having actually used these companies but having heard reviews and knowing a little about owners etc ... ApartmentsBA and BAHabitat are good companies, their apartments all seem to be very nice and their complaints vs raves are low.
The biggest complaint I have heard , which is not really a complaint... is that ApartmentsBA is more expensive sometimes ... but I will say this, we live here, we have rented 2 apartments while our home was being renovated and we have family and friends who come here and rent .. Both of the apts that we rented were not as nice as the photographs, there were small issues that impacted our stay .. kitchens with equipment that did not work, no utensils etc and noise issues. I have never heard one complaint about this sort of thing when people used ApartmentsBA or BuenosAiresHabitat.

I know some apts are just managed by AptsBA and some are owned, it says on the website, I think. And those are major holidays.. Christmas Eve and New Years Eve, someone has to be in town and working in order to be there for your arrival and departure..perhaps this is the reason for the increase in cost?

My son had a terrible experience with ByTArgentina .. that is the only company that I personally would never use.
Good luck with your trip .. it is pretty wonderful here

Just one example, among many:

http://www.fodors.com/community/sout...ain-filthy.cfm

lol, since both people who have answered you have not used either of these apartment rental companies , I hope someone with actual experience can post something that will be more helpful to you.

Have you looked at TripAdvisors Buenos Aires forums?
There are a lot of people there who rent from various apartment rental companies and you can probably find out more ..

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowForum..._District.html

Scarlett, what was your son's experience with Bytargentina? We used them for five weeks and they were fine. Admittedly, the apt was a bit dingier than the pictures, but when we had a plumbing problem, they were there immediately. They met us (on time) when we arrived and departed and were fine with returning the deposit. We planned to use them again on a future trip. The price was reasonable for a two bedroom and we had a washing machine, too which was a great plus.

Hi annetti .. he was here visiting us and had a friend coming, so he thought he would rent an apt and they would stay there a month .. he went to ByT and asked, since he was here, if they would show him an apt, before he rented, they said no.. which was not unexpected and ok ..
So from the photos online and descriptions and location, he chose an apt in Palermo Soho.. one bedroom, sofa bed in living room, kitchen ..
We went there the day he was giving the agent the money .. we all saw the apt .. it was what I imagine a slum would look like .. the "sofa" bed was this filthy broken sofa .. the kitchen was a narrow closet like room, the bedroom and bath were miniscule and the entire place was filthy.
The agent was very late on arrival, he ran up first leaving us standing in the street, then we were "allowed " to come up .. We almost worried that he was not really an agent at all and some sort of con man.
They promised the place would be cleaned before they moved in... it was cleaned the day after they moved in.
This was last summer, the one a/c in the apt did not work very well, and in the course of 2 days, light bulbs blew, lights quit working and they moved back to our apt.
Even though the bathroom lights quit working and could not be fixed, making it impossible to use the bathroom, they did not do anything about it nor did they refund the days that he could not/did not stay there.

So I am happy to hear that other people have good experiences, this was just one of the bad ones.

I read enough bad things about ByT all over the internet that I decided not to use them...
I'm not using Apartments BA because I'm not willing to drop an extra $200 because of my arrival and departure dates.
So far, Daniel Huerta of Apartments Buenos Aires has answered all questions IMMEDIATELY and he recommended a brand new apartment that meets my needs. He also said that the rental agency - not the landlord - will hold the deposit.
BA Stay also sent email right away. Buenos Aires Habitat - which got a glowing review on Fodors forum - responded right away as well - but said it was a little early to book yet.
I have noticed that a number of the firms are accepting PayPal now - so that should offer some protection.

Sounds like you have some nice choices
I know BAHabitat gets great reviews ..
Let us know when you decide, which one you decide on ~

Sorry for the dual posts - but this is newer thread than the other so I thought it might be better:


drdawggy -

Found a couple of apartments I like - which "neighborhood" would you recommend between the two? We obviously want "safe" and not too crazy noisy where we cant sleep - but want to be near things (especially shopping ).

1) Brand new apartment: Cabrea and Gascon
2) aparment with very nice terrace : Guatemala and Arevalo

Thank you!

Thank you, Scarlett, for your detailed plans of what went wrong with Bytargentina. I love having an apt when traveling, it is much pleasanter than a hotel room if you are staying for a long period of time. Your son's experience makes me wary that it will eventually happen to us. So far we have been lucky, but I know a bad rental experience can happen to anyone, no matter how carefully you plan.

Annetti, he ended up finding a fantastic little artists loft in Palermo Chico for the same amount of money and everyone was very happy.
He found it through Craigslist

Scarlett, I am glad it worked out for him. Too bad, he had to have an unpleasant experience!

Yes, but the great thing is they just bounced right back, they were having such a good time here, enjoying the city and everything it offers as well as each other ( this was part of a year long honeymoon) ... a little glitch in the apartment rental wasn't going to spoil things too much