I received lots of valuable advice through this board to help in the planning of my recent 4 week trip to Italy and would like to return the favour.
We booked our Umbrian rental through Italian Itineraries and were very happy with the property. We found to our dismay, however, that by booking it through this company we ended up paying a third more than we would have by booking on the property's website directly.So please be aware and check this before you book.
Despite this we had a wonderful time and would highly recommend the two properties we stayed in:

1)I Mori Gelsi in Torgiano near to Perugia - www.spinolaonline.com

2)Casa Pettini in Chiesanuova, 8km south of Florence in Chianti country - contact details available through me

Both are for 6 guests and are well situated.

Penny

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kim,

Have you sent us reviews Penny? I have a few reviews waiting in the queue and they will be posted later this week. We have an online form:
http://www.slowtrav.com/reviews/vr.asp

Penny:

Glad you had a good time but sorry that you discovered after the fact that you were overcharged. I understand agencies taking a commission, but that sounds pretty steep. I had a look at Italian Itineraries and couldn't find I Mori Gelsi -- perhaps it's not an online listing, rather just in their catalog.

Thanks for sharing that info with us. It's a reminder that often different sources ask different prices for the same property.

Best,

We had also used Italian-Itineraries last year. Interestingly, the property we rented with them was over $300 cheaper than it was through another agency. Sorry it worked the other way for you!

What's frustrating is that sometimes properties are called different names by different agencies, which can make comparing prices difficult.

It's truly amazing!

We just put an option on a house in the Dordogne region in France for next year for 3 weeks. I just saw the same house listed through another agency for 250 Euros MORE per week!

How are you to ever know if you are getting the best price? What if we had booked with the more expensive agency first and never knew of the other agency?

Edna

All you can do when you find a place that sounds good is to Google the name and location and see if there are other agencies with it listed. When people send reviews to SlowTrav, I list the other agencies that list the place (if I recognize it). If, after booking, you find it cheaper elsewhere, tell the original agency to see if they will match the price. Many times they will not.

I place the blame for this on the owners - the ones who list with an agency but also run their own site. And I think this is one of the things that will change with all the agencies being online. If the owner lists a place with an agency, plus has their own website, they should both list the place for the same price.

Agencies get a percentage of a rental price to cover their expenses - time spend with emails back and forth when the client is booking, running the web site, taking the payment, sending out materials. It is my feeling from talking to many agencies that they work very hard for their money.

If the owner is going to list a place themselves, they should charge the same as an agency. A client should not be charged differently for the same place depending on who they booked with.

If an owner is going to list with several agencies, I guess they set one price and the agencies mark up as they see fit - there can be variances with that. But usually not such big differences.

It just feels strange to me to have wildly different prices for the exact same place and service - because once you get there, you are dealing with the owner.

I have found that agencies charge a 20% more fee as normal.
What happens is often that there are several agenices in the middle so you are perhaps getting a 10% on top of someone elses 20%

I also double check rates on the web using google and try to find the home page if the villa has one!

Renting directly from the owner vs from an agency? Hmm..

Would you be comfortable sending lots of money to a private individual in a foreign country?

What if something goes wrong? Who are you going to call?

How about if someone else is already there for the same week when you arrive? Or perhaps the owner has just sold the house and the new owner has no idea who you are? When your rental house has bursted its pipes and there's no water, who's going to find you another house on the spot?

This is all a bit like buying a ticket directly from an airline rather than from a travel agent, and when something goes wrong, who's going to work on your behalf and make things right?

You think 20% commission is a lot? Try 60% which is what one of the big agencies takes, yes, the one that changes the name of the house so you cannot compare.

I fully agree with Pauline, owners renting directly should have similar rates as the agencies they work with. Most owners cannot rent, or don't what to rent directly. Most owners don't have the time it takes, they may not speak English, or a million other reasons. Agencies provide a valuable service to both the owner and the client.

Would love to hear from some of the other folks in the biz!

I'm behind Zak fully.

If one doesn't want to deal with an agent, then don't. But don't try to go around an agent and negotiate for a lower price with the owner directly. Agents spend an enormous amount of time and money helping secure tenants for the owners.

And Zak is absolutely correct about just who are you going to contact in the event of some disaster.

I remember reading here a few months ago about one of the people who had their rental cancelled at the last moment, but the agent stepped in and secured them a higher quality alternate property at the same price. Go try that when dealing directly with the owner.

Not all rental agencies or real estate companies are bottom feeders - most really do earn every cent.

Great comments Zak !

Hi, sorry for chiming in so late on this one, but I completely agree with Zak's comments. Services like Zak's and ours do alot of leg work in order to assure that you are getting what you are paying for. This leg work includes developing a relationship with the owners, as well as (at least for us) several trips a year to meet with new owners, and review properties.
In our recent inspection trip, we dropped several properties due to cleanliness issues, as well as owner additudes that were not to our standards.
We were clients prior to starting our business, and through this we wanted to provide the type of service we weren't receiveing direct from owners or other agencies.

Sorry, I was not quite off my soapbox yet and hit the post button

I want to close by saying, it is prudent to shop around, and do drop an email to agencies and owners, it doesn't cost anything, and you can get a good feel for what they are offering and how they operate.

Ciao for now,

John Ferrari

Just in case some are lurking out there, looking at the horrific prices charged by agencies, and wondering if it's possible to escape them: yes it is.

In 4 longish stays in Italy, I've never rented from an online agency. Once (Todi, 1994) I rented from a very local agency, and the price was decent, i.e., comparable to the three other times when I went straight to the owner. Two stays (Spello, 1997, 1998) count as one because I went to the same owner, Walter Zurlo: after renting from him, I saw the prices online, quoted under several agencies: they were exactly double, and Walter himself told me they doubled his price. Last time (Fossato di Vico, 2000) I negotiated directly wih the owner, resulting in a monthly price in full season for a very adequate house -- no, no swimming pool -- that was about the price for one week for a comparable house via the online agencies.
   So it is possible to see the world in reasonable comfort without spending tons of money.

That being said, everything previous posters have said is correct. (a) The honorable proceeding, once you have found the property thru an agent, is emphatically not to try to skulk around and get it directly; (b) the value of an agent's services -- event risk, insurance risk, cancellation risk, exchange risk, lost opportunity, advertising (website), communications, and other overhead -- is considerable, and they charge legitimately for all that, although they then do make a very hefty profit to boot.

The conclusion is very clear: you can pay for service, or you can handle it yourself. By temperament, even when I had the money to do otherwise, I much prefer the latter; as will some of you. Others -- young people who are not made of money but can afford a bit more than backpacking and youth hostels, don't despair! Slow travel is not only for the rich...

Slow Travel is definately not just for the rich. There are many affordable places and it is cheaper than hotels - save on the per night rate, save on meals. Some agencies charge a big percentage, but many do not.

Those Spello apartments (which I also highly recommend) are one price from Walter, higher from Gorgacce Rental, and higher still from Vacanza Bella.

Right on Zak. You've hit virtually all the right points. Another point is the fluctuating currency exchange issue and the cost of making overseas payments if one rents directly from an owner. Each time we make an overseas payment there is a bank charge for the transfer plus the currency exchange cost. But the biggest issue, as Zak points out is service.

Martin

I agree with Zak, Bill and Martin. Going through an agency protects YOU. You can always shop around for the best price with different agencies.

BUT saying that, I do have to say that the company that Zak refers to as charging 60% more charges up to 110% more and they play games which I really do not like. I booked directly with an agriturismo down the street as I know them. The owner and I started talking about working together but she said that she couldn't go through an agency as she has signed a contract with above agency and cannot list with anyone else. I told her that I had searched in their book for a place here and never saw her listing to which she replied that the above agency changes the name and sometimes the name of the town (as in this case) so we cannot go directly for a cheaper price. This to me is just wrong and since I found this out I will not recommend their book.

Go through an agency, search around and see what other agencies carry the place, what other reviews say etc. If you find a place but find no other agencies etc. that carry it, check the agriturismo.it site and see if they are listed. If they aren't it just may be a name change and then beware.

I believe that a reputable rental company is a great protection and worth the price.

How can people be sure they are dealing with a reputable company?

I think that this site is great for confirming the reliablitly of certain agencies..and that speaks for itself.