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Scared
of being ripped off when you Let Romebuddy do the checking for you! |
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We’re your buddy in Rome, so we know some of the pitfalls and traps that await unwary tourists looking for holiday accommodation in Rome. Can
you trust They
probably think you're stupid Romebuddy
will act on your behalf... For just $29 US Dollars, (or £15 GB Pounds) Romebuddy (being based in Rome) will check up to three different apartment advertisements for you and compare their wording with the truth about where they really are on the map. Choosing apartments can be a real headache, it can get confusing after you've waded through several websites, but with Romebuddy, you'll have an extra head on the case, and we'll also give you other relevant information, such as location details, and the kind of stuff which only an inhabitant of Rome could intimately know about the area, which will help you firm up your choice. We'll give our opinion on whether the flat rental seems good value or not. This service can help verify (or not) the validity of the claims of the advertisements. We'll then email all this info directly back to you, so that you can make a better informed decision before booking your Rome holiday apartment online.
Local
character Is
our service worth it to you Romebuddy
is on your side For example, the company described in the right-hand column of this page charged 180 Euros PER DAY for the first apartment advertised, and 140 Euros for a different one. A client booked the 180 Euro apartment and was then told it was unavailable, and they would have to have the 140 Euro apartment instead, However, the company still wanted to charge the same amount as the first apartment, (ie 180 Euros) for the cheaper one! Go figure that - The client could be spending an extra 40 Euros a day - for no fair reason... Not only does this incident give us a startling insight into the peculiar business mind that often predominates in Italy, it also shows how much money you could lose. On
a bum deal you could lose Worried?
Email
us now! We'll
check it out for you Nothing
to pay in advance - Let's
clean up the Together, I believe we can help raise standards for fair business advertising practice in the tourist industry, and in the long run change things for the better. So... Email
Romebuddy now for your holiday apartment advertisement assessment.
Romebuddy... |
For example, here’s a holiday apartment advertised by a large ‘reputable’-looking Internet holiday apartment booking company: It's full of inaccuracies: Firstly, they divide their apartments up on their website into areas around Rome. Their link to the webpage in question implies that everything on that page is just next to the famous Spanish Steps. It’s what they call a ‘Spanish Steps Apartment’. But in fact, this apartment is nowhere near the Spanish Steps. Secondly,
here’s how they describe the apartment: "Elegant apartment located in Via Sardegna at 50 meters from Via Veneto and 400 meters from Piazza di Spagna, (Spanish Steps)" In fact, the actual walking route you’d need to take to the Spanish Steps is about *950 metres, (almost a Kilometre), considerably more than double the distance they claim. Also, Via
Sardegna is at the top of quite a steep hill, and there is no bus in
that direction from Spanish Steps. So at the end of a hard hot summer
day tramping around Rome, you’d have a breathless, sweaty walk
of well over half a mile uphill back to your holiday apartment. Obviously,
the ad doesn't mention this. Remember, you’re not buying a house
here – You’ll be in Rome to have fun, not to get lied to and
ripped off and overcharged and exhausted.
But
here’s another example: “Apartment
in Largo Sant Alfonso” Sounds
good doesn't it? Heck, this one even glows in the dark! But it ain’t
“200 meters from the Colosseum and Foro Imperiali”. Again,
it’s actually 900 meters away, almost a Kilometre, nearly five
times the distance they claim. Also, on the most direct walking route from this apartment to the Coliseum, you’ll have to pass through a large patch of land which has been completely taken over by hundreds of homeless eastern European immigrants. It’s
kind of a shanty-town. These men are all over the sidewalk and the nearby
park, and at night they burn campfires, drink, barter stuff, and play
cards on the street. They’re probably okay guys, but they don't
look very safe or savoury to have to walk through. Secondly, the ad says that this apartment is “in the most ancient area of Rome”. That’s like saying that an apartment on Canal Street in New York, or on Tooley Street in London, is in the most ancient part of those cities… So what? It doesn’t look ancient now. Largo Sant' Alfonso and the area around it looks pretty much like any other modern, built-up city street. The statement that it’s “in the most ancient area of Rome” is absolutely meaningless. It conjures up picturesque visions in your head that simply don't exist. Today, because of twentieth century building development, the address looks almost like any other modern city street... In other words, yes, it's an ancient area, but no, it doesn look particularly ancient anymore. See how words (like 'ancient') can mean different things to different people? The advertisers are simply fleshing-out the dreams inside your head with the words they think you want to hear. But Romebuddy doesn't just read between the lines of an advertisement: Because we live here, we also often have an idea of the area the rental address is in. This can help give you a better overall idea of what you'll be getting for your money. And we can report this back to you. Makes sense, doesn't it? The alternative is for you to hire the apartment from the other side of the world, without any background knowledge, then weeks later arrive in Rome with all your party and baggage to find you've bought yourself a bum steer. You're tired and jetlagged off the plane, you're vulnerable and off your territory. And by then, it's too late. Thirdly, they say “Nearby the major public transport is the subway stop ‘Cavour’ and the ‘Termini’ train station.” Again, nearby, (well, closer than the Coliseum, wow!), but in reality, not particularly close. Furthermore, this location is already fairly central, and, unlike London or New York, almost no subway trains actually run through or stop at most of the most central and historically interesting places of Rome, apart from at the Colosseum and the Spanish Steps. So you’ll find that you’ll mostly be walking everywhere to see stuff in Rome anyway. And by the time you’ve made the ten-minute walk to Cavour station, you may as well keep walking into the centre. Bottom line is, you usually won’t ever need Cavour station, or even Termini, except perhaps when you first arrive from the airport. So what was described in the ad as a useful feature is actually not much real-world use at all. Cavour station might be useful for Italians who actually live in Rome to commute to or from work right across or outside the city, but from a tourist-site point of view, it's a practically redundant station because it's not near anything much worth looking at. Finally, they claim that the apartment “is in front the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore”. No it’s not – It’s over 200 yards away. They say
it "offers a wonderful view from its windows.” Probably, yes,
but not necessarily directly of the Basilica. Email Romebuddy now to have us check what you'll be spending your money on... Think we're exaggerating? Ask around. You'll hear plenty of horror stories of holiday apartment and real-estate agents in Italy being less than economical with the truth. Sebastian Cresswell-Turner, the British Daily Telegraph columnist based in Italy, writing on the subject of property dealers here, says: "Many
Italians despise ignorance and innocence and feel only contempt for
anyone who is in a weak position or who doesn't know the ropes. For
such people, foreigners are 'polli da spennare': One woman who emailed Romebuddy was on the point of renting an apartment over the internet and by phone (ie, unseen). She had been told the apartment was very central, just by Piazza del Popolo. We checked and told her that in fact, it was ten blocks away, halfway up Via Flaminia. So she saved herself some money and found somewhere else that really was central instead. Read also this email we received from Kate, a British expat living in Rome: "I
found the Romebuddy site this afternoon for the first time, and wish
I'd and
finally... Sergio
Scicchitano
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why chance it? email romebuddy apartment check |
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