The view from the author’s Rome apartment.
This week’s print cover talked about renting apartments in Rome. I asked the author, Robert Rorke, to walk us through the process, step by step. Tomorrow, I’ll be posting an account of my own experiences with nearly a half-dozen agencies in Rome, where I recently tried to rent for a short stay.
After researching nearly a dozen different agencies, I chose to work with Rental in Rome. With lots of english speakers on staff, the agency offers several kinds of accommodations, from studios to three-bedroom apartments with views of Romeâs terracotta tile roofs and church campaniles. The Web site offered high quality images of the apartments as well as the neighborhoods where they are located, as well as the rooms themselves. Daily and weekly rates were quoted.
While the goods are definitely appealing, I quickly learned that actually getting an apartment can be as difficult as trying to find a rental back home in New York. The trick is to stay in constant touch with your liaison. Mine was an American named Michael Smith, whom I emailed every morning at seven-thirty so that he would have time to respond before the end of his workday.
I quickly submitted a request a palatial property just off the exclusive Via Giulia. At less than 200 euros a night for what looked better than a suite at the Hotel de Russie, I was thrilled. Until Michael contacted me to apologize that it had been booked out from under him for another client.
I asked Smith for some new choices — preferably that morning before I left for work. Within an hour or so, he had a new list, and forwarded me the links. In the same neighborhood, he offered me a two-bedroom apartment, just off via Monserrato in the Piazza de Ricci.
The cost would be $246 per night, an incredible bargain, considering that with my mother along, we would have had to pay for two separate hotel rooms. Rooms are hard to come by in that neighborhood, which is largely residential, and even if we had found an affordable place to stay nearby, my costs would have been doubled, surely.
I told Smith to go ahead. He sent me a formal application form that I could fax back to Rome. He would then charge a percentage of the total cost for a week (you get the best apartments if youâre willing to rent them for seven days) to my credit card. The balance of the bill could be paid, in Euros, when we arrived. I hoped for the best, and we got on the plane.
For ease of access, I’d booked a transfer from the airport through the rental agency — a whopping but worthwhile $100 each way. I’d do it again, if only because the driver calls in to the office to make sure your apartment’s ready, and that there will be someone there to meet you before he drives you over. That’s service.
— Robert Rorke