Grrrrrrr... LOVE italy, LOVE italians, HATE how slack the customer service is. Can anyone help Aitch find an apartment to stay in for a week in Rome at the end of May?

[AitchTwoOhelicopterfraek]

sorry about that, it's naff when you put your own name in a title but i'm a bit desperate.

anyhoo, i know, i know, i'm rubbish, i always go to Rome but you know a holiday is about me having a nice time and i know the city so well.

so i'm looking for CHEAP accommodation (under 100 euro per night) in Rome for between the 27th May and 4th June.

i've found some great places on a website but when you email they just try to upsell you to more expensive accommodation and so far have taken 72 hours to get back to me anyway so it's most frustrating. i've phoned and emailed etc but they couldn't care less really...

does anyone have any recommendations? (at this rate i'll be forced to ask my Italian mates which would be fine were it not for the fact that they would instantly invite us to stay with them, the generous bastards, and it would be awkward refusing but all i want to do is potter around just the three of us).

really it needn't be nice, just fairly central. dd can sleep in our bed if necessary so we don't need a lot of space, i'd rather spend money in restaurants than on accommodation that we'll just be flopping into anyway.

areas? navona, colosseo, spanish steps, trastevere, campo di fiori, anywhere really. preferably not st p's as it's a bit antiseptic round there.

if anyone can help me that would be FABULOUS. i've looked here www.rentalinrome.com and here www.homelidays.com mostly so far, so any good websites (with some actual fookin customer service) would be really helpful.

I have stayed there by the way!

oh thanks tmmj, that's really nice but the nuns frighten me around St Peters (it's fooking miles out unless you're really loving the catholic stuff) and the other one seems to be over-budget.

i feel most ungracious... now i know what it's like to be Franny on a skirt thread.

oh bum, it's not available. am i also being a twat if i say that san gio is too far out? colosseo's as far in that direction i want to go, i think... but perhaps that's just cos i normally walk everywhere?

sorry tmmj.

really it needn't be nice, just fairly central. dd can sleep in our bed if necessary so we don't need a lot of space, i'd rather spend money in restaurants than on accommodation that we'll just be flopping into anyway.

areas? navona, colosseo, spanish steps, trastevere, campo di fiori, anywhere really. preferably not st p's as it's a bit antiseptic round there. and the nuns...brrrr.

We managed to get to all those sights from San Gio- I had a 3 month old in a pushchair so walked most places (we did use the bus a bit too though, in fact a nun helped me lift the buggy on the bus once ).

lol, that is the thing tmmj, because i do i know what lying gits they're being a lot of the time. rome is actually really teeny, at least the bit you want is. the furthest out i've ever stayed is colosseo, on the morning of my wedding (while my fake tan was developing, ooh, the memories) me and my mum walked up the hill to san gio... cannot be arsed pushing a two-year-old in a crap lightweight buggy up there i think.
[franny skirt icon]

and WHO exactly are you referring to when you say we? yep, he's got to be home, it's work for him.

i'll find somewhere, deffo, just maybe over budget. but i'd rather than for the convenience. thing is, if you ask about a place for 80-90-100 euro quote you for higher anyway, so i'm still in the right segment iykwim?

i don't know if half-term is going to be that awful, though, in the one bedrooms, is it? presumably you'd need minimum two bed if you had a school age child?

Hello aitch - this any good?

ghetto

That site has a few other likely sounding places...I did an availability search for the last week of May and they came popping up. Of course you may get the same reality gap problem when you actually get in touch with the owners...actually, the flat next door to ours right next to Colosseum (but not in skanky bit)in Celio is empty at the moment - landlady looking for long let but has just gone off to Sardinia for a month without finding anyone. Could ask her for a rate? It's perfectly nice-not-fancy...

oooh i love both the ghetto and colosseo (one of my fav restaurants is at col). deffo ask your friend, that would be fab. tell her i'd take good care of her plants. i'm off to look at the ghetto one now.

sadly landlady's agent thinks she needs to keep it empty to be flexible if a long-term tenant comes along. of course she might change her mind nearer the time but that won't be much use to you. my father-in-law stayed next to forum in an apt at xmas - will ask who he booked through...

...he says this site had some nice stuff. I see one in San Giovanni in Laterano overlooking lovely san clemente church at 90 euros a night. BUt may not be free. Durrr

Do tell me, btw, if you're sick of being bombarded with possible apartments!

oh yes, thanks, they do. but LOLOL they're the ones with the unbelievably shitey service. emailed them on saturday, they cocmpletely ignored my request and sent me a load of ones for 130E per night and STILL hadn't checked the dates. i've phoned and emailed again but to no response.... gits.
actually, that website that spub posted is REALLY good. i'm going to come up with a shortlist and let you all see.

Thanks, Aitch.
Hope you find something (you are looking for some very specific things.....) (Spub runs and hides )
Any luck with a flight from La Belle Ecosse yet? Wrong language, I know but I can't think how to say it in Italian - La bella scozia?

oh yes, flights aren't a problem (well, so long as i book them afore they disappear...) actually i don't think accomo is goiing to be either, now that i've got your magnificent website. i've asked 27 places for info, most are booked, yes, but a few aren't and they seem fine.

and i'm not looking for specific, it's just location location location (and money money money, as abba once sang).

so i went to book the flights and

Aaaah. does that mean you're not coming?!

ryanair not too bad with us. let us on 1st after priority passangers and other passengers really nicwe too. agree soft holdalls best for hold bags.

if it's any use i can prob lend you quinny buzz when u get here.

apols for one-handed bf typing.

Any news, Aitch? Have you a home in Rome?

i've got loads, thanks. but i still haven't booked the sodding tix because i am officially Not Well with a gastro thing. the kind of gastro thing that has you puking for two days and, er, scared to fart.

it's such a minefield, that site, you go to pay and it tells you you've taken too long and timed out. vomming and form filling incompatible it would seem.

oh poor you Aitch

this holiday better be a farking good one given all the hassle it has taken to book it lol