I'm already planning a trip for myself and my husband to Tuscany for 2 weeks in early Oct. 2007. I have several good possibilities in mind off of the rentvillas website - anyone here have experience with them, good or bad?

Thanks much; next Oct. will take way too long to get here!

Rentvillas is a Slowtrav favorite.

Have a look at the vacation rental reviews on Slowtrav.

Our experience 5 or 6 years back was great, but we soon discovered that many of the prices were not. Dealing as directly with owners as possible can save you TONS of dough. The first thing the owner did was give us his business card and ask us to contact him direct if we returned at "half the price" ... tells you what their "cut" might be ...

But for first timers, it's a very, very safe option ...

I used them two years ago on a rental in Florence. They made everything go smoothly, even when a hurricane scrambled my plans at the last minute.

I wouldn't hesitate to use them again

pete

Dear Gabriele,

It is worth shopping around because some agents do put on large markups, this can cause problems on occasion because you pay one price and expect a level of service and the owner receives half the price and offers a different level of service, my advise would be to shop around, however using agents does give you security, assistance in english (many owners do not speak english) and someone to turn to if you do have a problem. Enjoy your trip to Italy it is truly a great experience.

Matt

quote:

Originally posted by Marco Ohio & Fano:
Our experience 5 or 6 years back was great, but we soon discovered that many of the prices were not. Dealing as directly with owners as possible can save you TONS of dough. The first thing the owner did was give us his business card and ask us to contact him direct if we returned at "half the price" ... tells you what their "cut" might be ...

But for first timers, it's a very, very safe option ...

Our experience was very similar to Marco's. We used them for our first trip and enjoyed very much where we stayed. They were very helpful in making that trip stress free, but I do think there are cheaper options.

Yes, my sister and I had a bad experience with them 3 years ago. The villa we rented had no water for 4 of the 5 days of our stay. The owner kept lying about "aquifer" problems. As it turned out their water did NOT come from an aquifer. We tried and tried to get a refund. We even had to cut the stay short and move to Florence. We were dirty and tired of the empty promises. I would neve rent from them again.