Just though I'd post to remind everyone that in many cases, the local tourist office in the area you want to vacation can be a superb resource for finding a place to stay.
I spent some time recently trying to help someone with a rental and all the places locally I know and like were already booked. Then it dawned on me to put them in touch with the tourist office in Apt and bingo, they came up with something...
I know from personal experience that the Tourist Office here in Apt visits every place listed on their web site and they have a huge amount of local knowledge, of course. The fact that they can give unbiased, objective assessments of a large range of places is a big plus.
I imagine other tourist offices operate in a similar fashion, so I just thought I'd post to remind people to use local tourist offices as another resource for vacation rentals.
Kevin, that is a great tip. In your experience, is it best to try to telephone the tourist office? Or would it be possible to get information via email?
Speaking for Apt (or Aix or Avignon or any of the other bigger towns and cities) I would think if you are trying to get info from overseas, emailing is probably best.
You'd need to be as sepcific as possible about what you are looking for and especially a price range and then see what comes back.
While the tourist office personel invariably speak English quite well, this type of discussion over a phone line can be trying. And even if you are fluent in French, it still might be easier by email, just so you can get contact info without having to write things down, etc.
Fine - I think we have everything sorted out. Decided to stay right in the center of both cities figuring it will be nice to be able to walk everywhere we want to visit and we plan on having some late evenings, so again it will be nice not to have to drive.
I just hope the noise won't be too much of an issue - I've become quite used to the peace and quiet of the countryside !!!
By the way, we are definately NOT going the rental route (sorry Pauline, still not converted)...
Given our jobs, we just can't stomach the idea of making our beds and general doing housekeeping while on vacation ! Also, can't imagine wanting to cook a meal in when we'll be visiting the center of Italian gastronomy...
Depending on where you stay in the center of Genova, noise will not be a problem. Much of the center is inaccessible to auto traffic. That said, what is accessible to auto traffic can be a real zoom fest, so I would ask for double glazed windows if there is traffic on your street.
Torino -- home of the auto as well as Slow Food -- has fewer pedestrian zones. Again, double glazed windows would be a necessity for me.
Even when I rent apartments on the road, I eat my meals out in restaurants, except breakfast, which I prefer to eat in peace anyway. Even if you don't have a kitchen, be sure to haunt some markets and take out joints and generally eat what you see that looks good, both in Genova and Torino. The Genovese are among the few Italians I ever see eating on the run -- because the finger food is good!
The only problem is that they do not have a record of small businesses like mine for instance, because you do not need a licence. So unless they are notified by whomever keeps track of taxes, they would have no idea.
I volunteer at the Visitor Information Centre at Queenscliff where I live. As Kevin says we visit every hotel, B&B, rental and local attractions about once a year. It could be more often if the accommodation is updated etc.
We only list the accommodation of members of the local tourist association and they pay a yearly fee to belong. This means that not all the accommodation in the area is known to us. The real estate agents also have some accommodation not listed with us.
I love meeting the people who visit the centre. Most visitors are just passing through the town on their way to The Great Ocean Road, but many are interested in seeing the heritage town and stay a night or two. In summer there is an influx of people staying for a week or more to enjoy the seaside town and we have day trippers enquiring about "what to do".
When we are overseas we always call in to the Tourist Centres to compare the facilities. If we are meeting friends it is always a good meeting place as most people know where the big "i" is located.
Jill
Posts: 202 | Location: Queenscliff Victoria Australia | Registered: 10 January 2005
but here in Italy it does not work like that at all. They do not visit any place and most of the time they are just seasonal workers. They receive lists of official businesses from the local town halls or provinces. It is not possible to be even considered if you do not have a registered business. This said, I do not want to say that they are not a useful resource. They are great and can be extremely helpful. I just wanted to point out one aspect of the situation and not to say that one should not go to them for rentals. On the contrary.
Probably depends on the "tourist office." In 1999, Loie and I used the tourist board offices to travel for two weeks in Scotland (Highlands, Hebrides, Orkney, Aberdeenshire, Edinburgh. Not Slow Travel, sorry, but an educational trip and very pleasant.)
We had one b&b reserved for our first stay, then used the tourist board offices to reserve for the next town each time we arrived. Excellent service: several good choices for each town, low fee of a few pounds for the service, the staff did all the phone calling right there in the office. Once an office was closed earlier in the evening than we had been told, and many were open only short hours. (We were staying in some fairly small, out of the way places.)
Other than that, our trip was a breeze.
Thanks! Bucky "Trying To Slow Down" Edgett
Posts: 749 | Location: Maryland | Registered: 24 April 2006
In parts of Germany, Austria and Switzerland where we have traveled, we've found that the Tourist Offices are often the best resource for rentals in the local areas.
In Garmisch, Germany and the Wolfgangsee (Austria) where we just spent a week each, both areas have searchable websites of available rentals. Sometimes there are links to a property's website, but many places don't have websites and just use the tourist office site. Both areas (as well as a couple of other areas that we've investigated) also publish great printed materials-- almost a catalogue-- of accommodations and often the possibility to use a booking service through the Tourist Office.
However I'm not sure about getting "recommendations" from the Tourist Office for one property over another. I think in many countries/areas there is a process for reviewing and classifying accommodations on some sort of "star" system. But I always felt like the Tourist Office needed to stay sort of neutral in making referrals?
Anyway, my point is that for Germany, Austria and Switzerland (at least the areas where we've spent time) the Tourist Office is often the best starting place for information on vacation rentals.
Its funny that was a given in the early 80's to find accodomation when you arrived in a city in europe, especially for budget travelers. Your right it didn't have lists of apartments but then the majority of people taking advantage of the tourist services were young people, backpackers etc., who no way could have afforded an apartment anyhow. It used to be a great source for hostels and budget hotels, maps, train schedules...sure it still is. It does differ by country as I remember thoug, some cities had great ones, some not so great.
Posts: 1366 | Location: Seattle - next is Isla Mujeres,MX in December, then its Paris in March, then hopefully England! | Registered: 02 May 2005
I agree. In the 1960s I spent holidays on the Continent with my parents where we always went to the tourist office to get accommodation at places we wanted to stop at. However, our local tourist office here in the village usually refuses to give any recommendation at all, which oftens really upsets visitors, especially if they are foreign, as the ladies who work there have minimal English and there is only a small amount of English in the village brochure and none in the accommodation section (we have tried to persuade them to let us translate more but they don't want to know!). Having said that, the village brochure is a good source of bookings for us - from the German market. The only time the tourist office actually puts people in touch with accommodation owners is at very busy times when only a few people have availability left. It does at least avoid accusations of favouritism but it is still frustrating for owners and those wanting to find somewhere to stay.
