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.

Oh, poor you. Had something like that a few weeks ago. Not fun at all. I've had a bad day too - look here and bring me sympathy...

habs you poor wee poppet.

okay... for those of you still interested...
thanks to spug's Completely Excellent Website i have quite a few offers. it's coming down to these two. there's a hundred quid's diff in price but the more expensive one is slightly more central. and when i say slightly, i really mean it, for Rome is teeny-tiny.

for your consideration...

550 quid the week

450 quid the week

what would you choose, ladies? esp Roman ladies. my pals live in balduina and and trastevere, which is where the cheaper one is. i've challenged them both to provide a travel cot as a way of deciding. dh wants to live near the piazza navona for a week, i'm quite taken by the tras one, because i am mean and i think, well, that £100 is two really nice lunches potentially.

and yes, i am mean. do not underestimate how mean. neither dh or i are paid for hols so if we take time off we are unpaid AND spending money, which is not a great feeling ime.

Aitch I hope you find something

FWIW - I always check out the site first. Where are the contact details of the domain holders (who is behind the website). Where are the T&C's etc. I am sure it is all above board and looks like a web hotel portal for private owners.

But couldn't find 'about; us page and sitemap doesn't work. Ask LL the web wise woman to have a look.

well, that's another thing that's in favour of the trastevere apt, it's on another site with more photos etc. i do have email addresses for both flats now, however, and have emailed each of them a couple of times. they seem nice... am i being like a lamb to the slaughter here? can you see why i so rarely take holidays?
tbh i don't really care about where we sleep, so long as it's clean. i'm not a luxe sort of gal...

sorry just to clarify, nora, i have had prices and emails from about ten apts, and these are the two i most like (ie , the best location/price) sooooo, help me choose. and i'll ask lapin about the site too.

Like the cheaper one better. Narrow spiral staircase plus small child poor combination in the more expensive one, I think...

ah. you make a good point, habs. i will point that out to dh, the idea of a hair on dd's curly head being harmed rather sends him runnign from the room. el cheapo may win out yet. (mind you, they're both good value, wouldn't you say? i don't think we're being robbed for Rome.)

another of the cheaper one more photos. hallway looks sizeable but they may be doing it with mirrors...

although i freely admit to dreading that sofa downstairs. me and dh will just have to play cards on the floor.

oh well, the expensive one has just pulled their offer as they've had more people offer them more money. fair dos, imo. unfortunately, however, i now have to wait for the cheap one to get back to me before i can book, it's the one down side of that site imo.

Maybe they were trying to bump the booking price up. I might avoid that one!

OK, now I'm probably not helping, but found recommendations for this on the Guardian website. There seem to be a lot of good prices, and the owners of the website live in Rome and rent out their own B&B and apt. True lentil-weavers...

Habbibu the site looks good, contact details, T&C's etc

aargh. no, it was a rogue email sent by mistake. alessando from la dolce vita (expensive) has just written to say a travel cot will be no problem. let's hear what the monte fiore lot have to say, then. and who else was it wanted a half-term break in rome cos if they want to email me i can give them all the details of the other places as well...

oh FFS, habs. that site does look good. just when i thought it was sorted.

. Just think of it as a backup if things don't work out with the ones you've found, and ignore it until then.

phew, cancel that. the prices they charge are all per person per night so it's more expensive than what i have already. thank the lord, i lost heart totally there for a bit. will bookmark it for future ref, though, as i like american tourist sites, they're pickier.

should i be untrusting of the other site's lack of ts and cs, then? spug said they were great.

Oh - I wasn't counting dd in the cost, as i assumed she'd go free...

Aitch, I haven't read through all the posts, but me, DP and DD stayed in a fab place in Rome for a week in February this year, it was through the Bed & Breafast society, the comms were great and the accomms couldn't have been better. Looks like you're well on your way to getting somewhere, but here's the bed & breakfast society - Rome link in case it helps.

By the way, DD really loved the Children's Museum, and we spent loads of time in the Villa Borghese park, with the zoo, boating pond, cycle hire, etc.

We stayed 5 minutes (subway) from Termini, along the Via Appia, it was a lot cheaper for accomms for not that much more hassle TBH, we were right beside a tube stop, and tended to be going to places mostly on that line anyway. We also had a supermarket and a chemist across the road and a load of wee pastry cafes and pizza shops.

You probably know this but, get a Roma Pass, it's really cheap, does you for travel for 3 days and gets you in free to a few attractions and then discounts loads. It also allowed us to jump a 45 minute queue at the Colosseum (I literally kissed the card).

Happy Roaming!

aye, but dh is a person and they might chisel about dd, so it allows me to score that site off my list for now. allow me to score it off my list, will ya? give a girl a break... i've not eaten anything since monday night and am feeling faint. (especially having booked the tix and been charged 72 QUID for the privilege of checking in a case each, fffffffs).

that b and b site is fab, thanks. it's what my mum and sis use when they're over, last time they stayed in some crazy old ex-duke's apartment (ex-duke also intermittently present, which didn't appeal to dh).

bugger, i now see that they do apts. why didn't i know that before now? oh well...

just choose between the two i have, ladies, i beg of you. unless you think i'm getting ripped off for the three of us.

You'll get some financial protection for making a bookings on your cc from the credit card company. I expect you won't be able to do this direct, and have to use a cheque etc. Ask them to email the booking policy. When do you need to pay the full amount. Do you need to leave a security deposit. Get some of the details off the other sites FAQ"s to give you an idea.

TBH the only time I booked through a portal with the owner, was when I booked a weeks accommodation in the same village in Spain my sister lived in, and I had her go and check it out. I had the UK contact, email, mobile and home number and address of the owner.

Remember the golden rule of booking online:
If it looks to good to be true, sometimes it is.

I am sorry if I am making any one feel concerned and I'm sure that it will be OK.