How to rent an apartment cheaply and safely?
Apartments for rent, especially in the passing era of the coronavirus pandemic, have become very popular. Due to their complete isolation, they offered much more security than hotels, even if they followed all safety standards. While spending the vacation in the apartment, we were completely self-sufficient - we could prepare a meal ourselves and no one from the apartment staff had to have personal contact with us at our request.
The booking and check-in itself was basically completely online. Many people have become convinced of this form of spending their holidays, putting renting apartments much higher than using hotels.
Below we will describe the three main channels through which Poles make apartment reservations.
BOOKING.COMThis is one of the most popular so-called OTA, or Online Travel Agency. It is an intermediary portal between those looking for accommodation and those offering accommodation. Depending on the contract signed with the booking.com apartment representative, it either takes the entire rental process completely, handling the booking, collecting the payment and settling it with the apartment operator, or only acts as an intermediary in the entire transaction, and the payment is made on the spot.
As one of the world's largest brokers, this portal enjoys great trust and takes special care to ensure guests' safety and when booking an apartment through it, we are sure that the apartment we rent has been previously verified.
Of course, booking.com does not provide its services for free. This global player spends hundreds of millions of dollars every month to promote the offers displayed on it. It charges a fair commission for its actions, which is covered by the owner of the apartment. It can almost be assumed with certainty that the price of the apartment is therefore higher if we want to make a reservation through this channel.
AIRBNBIt basically works the same as the booking.com portal mentioned earlier. The difference is that more attention is paid to the impressions of the guests and their actual evaluations of the apartments. In principle, this portal was intended to sublet vacant rooms to tourists, but it was quickly adapted to the needs of the tourism industry.
The procedure for renting an apartment using AirBnB is simple and fun. We will complete all formalities online (including paying for our reservation). In order to meet the expectations of visitors, this portal also partially verifies the offers that appear on it.
Contrary to booking.com, it is not always possible to rent an apartment immediately - some offers require the consent of the landlord first.
The second important difference is the commission, which is also collected, but jointly and severally from the landlord and the guest. As a result, the operators list apartments at a price slightly lower than on the booking, but we still incur an additional cost related to the remuneration for the booking portal.
OPERATOR'S WEBSITEThe price will undoubtedly be the strongest argument for choosing this booking channel. It has been known for a long time that eliminating intermediaries has the greatest impact on it. The operator offering the apartment directly to the guest does not incur additional costs and is more willing to lower the price. An additional advantage is also direct contact with the person on site who will answer our questions and with whom we will have the opportunity to arrange unusual details, which is very difficult to do through schematic OTA portals.
However, there are a few rules that we should follow in order not to risk extortion. First, verify the operator well. On the Internet, we can easily find answers to a few basic questions:
- How long has the operator been on the market?
- What is its legal form - does it operate as a company?
- What are the opinions of other guests about the operator and through him?
- Is the apartment we want to rent also available on booking.com and AirBnB (this way we can be sure that it is a verified place)?
If we have trouble locating the above information, this will be a wake-up call.
Usually, we can book directly with the operator either on their website, by phone or via e-mail. When it comes to payment, usually an advance payment (up to 30% of the booking value) is enough, paid by bank transfer, and the rest of the payment is made on the spot.
Note! Finally, a warning that is worth taking to heart - you should not rent apartments through portals that do not verify the identity of the person issuing the offer. This applies in particular to OLX and Facebook - if you wish to make a reservation, we advise you to carefully verify the landlord on your own if you wish to make a reservation.
We invite you to take advantage of our short-term apartment rental offer: