My friends and I are traveling to Barcelona in May and are interested in renting an apartment from Friendly Rentals (www.friendlyrentals.com. However, since we have usually gone the hotel route in our adventures, have a few questions:
1. Has anyone ever heard of this agency before, have an insights to share? Their website says they are registered with Barcelona Business Registrar and Registrar of Companies of Tourism (#EB-00122) - is this something that is important?

2. The apartments they show look amazing and are in the areas we want to be in; but costs are low - E160 for 4 people in a 2BR/1bath. Is this normal or am I right to be concerned about "too good to be true"?

3. Finally, although the deposit can be made via credit card, the remaining balance is due in cash upon arrival. Is this normal procedure?

Thanks so much for any advice you can share!

Hello and welcome to the board!

You've done some excellent research and have some very good questions. Have you spent any time on our Slow Travel website? We have a page on What is Slow Travel? which includes great articles on how to search for a rental, questions to ask, etc.

I took a look at the Friendly Rentals site and the apartments do look lovely. I took a look at the rental agencies and reviews on Slow Travel but I didn't find any reference to this company. But don't worry. It just means that none of our members have used them and submitted a review.

It think it is great that they are list their business registration. I think they want to reassure potential customers that they are a legitimate business. I'm assuming this is a real business registration in Spain.

E160 per day is a good rate especially for a large city. I don't think it is especially low. Definitely look at what neighborhood it is located and the square footage of the apartment. These can both factor into the prices.

Yes, it is very normal to pay a deposit by credit card and the remaining balance in cash. In fact, you are fortunate that they will accept the deposit with a credit card. Some rentals will request a transfer which will increase the price due to bank fees. Credit cards are expensive for businesses and owners will want the balance paid in cash to save 3-5% in fees from the credit card bank. It can be a challenge coming up with the large amount of cash needed but there are different strategies such as taking multiple ATM cards for withdrawls, travelling with the cash, etc.

My opinion is these apartments look great and it looks like a good rental organization. You can also ask the company for some people you can contact for reference as a final assurance.

Thanks so much for the response - the info is really helpful and I am much more comfortable with the cash payment issue. The apt we want is located in the Old City, which is where we want to be (or the Eixample). There are four of us, so the E160 per night works out reasonably well for us when divided by four. I'll check out the slowtravel site a bit more as well.
Thanks again!

As a result of this posting several weeks ago, I ended up renting an apartment from Friendly Rentals in Barcelona about ten days ago. I just submitted my review and can't say enough positive things about Barcelona, the apartment where we ended up renting, and also this agency.

We rented the El Greco apartment-- a fabulous location, beautifully renovated and decorated, and a great price. We paid 126 euro a night for the three of us... a spacious two bedroom apartment. There was a three-night minimum on this particular apartment and our rate did include a 10% discount for Jan/Feb rentals.

I found the agency very helpful and the website represented this property very accurately. There were several apartments I would have been interested in.

We were much happier here than we would have been in a hotel-- and probably paid much less for comparable quality. For more details, watch for my review.

Kathy