parisattitude.com - please share your apartment rental experience with them
Oct 6th, 2006, 07:42 AM
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parisattitude.com - please share your apartment rental experience with them
My family's planning to rent an apartment from this rental agency. Does anyone have any experience with parisattitude.com?
For our upcoming trip, I've booked apartments in Madrid direct with the owner and in Rome through an agency (sleepinitaly.com). I am about to book our Venice apartment also through an agency(veniceapartments.org). So far, all bookings have gone smoothly. We'll see about our final stay, I will try to post reviews.
For our Paris apartment, it seems Paris Attitude has a different way of doing things. After they replied about apartment availability and I confirmed I wanted to book the apartment, they emailed me 2 contracts, 1 in English and 1 in French. I'm supposed to sign the French version and fax it back to them together with my credit card details, photocopies of passport, and authorization to debit the "agency fee". (Total rental = agency fee + rental rate direct to the owner as stated in the contract, the french one I'm supposed to sign). No problem with the figures because the initial price quoted for the apartment includes the agency fee. Its just a different way of doing things (as compared with my previous experiences with apartment rentals) because we're splitting the total rental cost between the agency and the owner, and its the first time I have to sign a lease contract with the owner - and in a foreign language. It states in their email that after they receive the signed contract, credit card authorization and details, together with clear photocopies of our passports, they will send us a confirmation of our apartment rental.
On top of this,the contract states that before check in, I have to pay a refundable deposit equivalent to the total rental for the period of our stay (so I pay them double initially). The contract doesn't state when the refundable deposit will be returned. I am assuming at the end of the stay.
I am prepared to trust them and just sign everything especially given that they seem to be very nice people, by email and on the phone. And I really like their apartment and the rate is reasonable for a week's stay. But I learned long ago not to put my signature on anything I don't understand completely.
I would appreciate any feedback and experience booking an apartment with parisattitude.com.
This board has been so helpful in my planning of our much awaited Europe trip. Thank you.
P.S.
BAILEY, are you still there? You gave me some good advise regarding my Venice apartment selection and I LOVE your photos. I saw your old post inquiring about parisattitude.com. Did you get to book with them? Experiences? Thanks again..
For our upcoming trip, I've booked apartments in Madrid direct with the owner and in Rome through an agency (sleepinitaly.com). I am about to book our Venice apartment also through an agency(veniceapartments.org). So far, all bookings have gone smoothly. We'll see about our final stay, I will try to post reviews.
For our Paris apartment, it seems Paris Attitude has a different way of doing things. After they replied about apartment availability and I confirmed I wanted to book the apartment, they emailed me 2 contracts, 1 in English and 1 in French. I'm supposed to sign the French version and fax it back to them together with my credit card details, photocopies of passport, and authorization to debit the "agency fee". (Total rental = agency fee + rental rate direct to the owner as stated in the contract, the french one I'm supposed to sign). No problem with the figures because the initial price quoted for the apartment includes the agency fee. Its just a different way of doing things (as compared with my previous experiences with apartment rentals) because we're splitting the total rental cost between the agency and the owner, and its the first time I have to sign a lease contract with the owner - and in a foreign language. It states in their email that after they receive the signed contract, credit card authorization and details, together with clear photocopies of our passports, they will send us a confirmation of our apartment rental.
On top of this,the contract states that before check in, I have to pay a refundable deposit equivalent to the total rental for the period of our stay (so I pay them double initially). The contract doesn't state when the refundable deposit will be returned. I am assuming at the end of the stay.
I am prepared to trust them and just sign everything especially given that they seem to be very nice people, by email and on the phone. And I really like their apartment and the rate is reasonable for a week's stay. But I learned long ago not to put my signature on anything I don't understand completely.
I would appreciate any feedback and experience booking an apartment with parisattitude.com.
This board has been so helpful in my planning of our much awaited Europe trip. Thank you.
P.S.
BAILEY, are you still there? You gave me some good advise regarding my Venice apartment selection and I LOVE your photos. I saw your old post inquiring about parisattitude.com. Did you get to book with them? Experiences? Thanks again..
Oct 6th, 2006, 09:12 AM
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good luck with that, I haven't rented from them, but do seem to recall some posts on here about them. I suppose you searched and found those.
But as for the contract, what they are doing is not typical of French agencies, but that doesn't mean there is anything wrong with it. I'm just saying you would likely not run into such an agreement with other places. I've rented directly with two Paris agencies, and they didn't have two contracts, only one with them. Perhaps this arrangement with the fee added on is the reason -- many agencies set the rental and, of course, they are making a profit on that over what the owner gets, but it's not done that way. I have seen some online websites that are more taking a commission from the owner.
I would not rent from them given those circumstances, myself. I have never paid the entire amount as a security deposit, that is a very large security fee. I'm not sure how long you are staying, though -- if you are there only a couple days, I can see a security deposit might be about the same amount as the rent. However, it sounds like you are saying they just have a formula that they are equivalent. I would want something that states when a deposit would be returned, although I suspect a lot of agencies do not specify exactly in the contract when that will be. I have only rented from ones that did things a little differently than that, so I didn't have to worry about it (I paid a small fee for insurance instead, in one case).
These people aren't really much of an agency, and it sounds like if you have any problems or don't get the deposit back, they are not claiming responsibility. That's the problem when you are signing a contract with the owner, not them. NYHabitat agency in New York does the same thing, which is why I wouldn't rent from them. They take about a 25-30 pct fee and then don't do hardly anything but FAX papers back and forth and say it's up to you and the owner regarding the deposit.
If you'd be willing to rent from a private owner, though (like on VRBO) it sounds about the same situation.
But as for the contract, what they are doing is not typical of French agencies, but that doesn't mean there is anything wrong with it. I'm just saying you would likely not run into such an agreement with other places. I've rented directly with two Paris agencies, and they didn't have two contracts, only one with them. Perhaps this arrangement with the fee added on is the reason -- many agencies set the rental and, of course, they are making a profit on that over what the owner gets, but it's not done that way. I have seen some online websites that are more taking a commission from the owner.
I would not rent from them given those circumstances, myself. I have never paid the entire amount as a security deposit, that is a very large security fee. I'm not sure how long you are staying, though -- if you are there only a couple days, I can see a security deposit might be about the same amount as the rent. However, it sounds like you are saying they just have a formula that they are equivalent. I would want something that states when a deposit would be returned, although I suspect a lot of agencies do not specify exactly in the contract when that will be. I have only rented from ones that did things a little differently than that, so I didn't have to worry about it (I paid a small fee for insurance instead, in one case).
These people aren't really much of an agency, and it sounds like if you have any problems or don't get the deposit back, they are not claiming responsibility. That's the problem when you are signing a contract with the owner, not them. NYHabitat agency in New York does the same thing, which is why I wouldn't rent from them. They take about a 25-30 pct fee and then don't do hardly anything but FAX papers back and forth and say it's up to you and the owner regarding the deposit.
If you'd be willing to rent from a private owner, though (like on VRBO) it sounds about the same situation.
Oct 12th, 2006, 07:00 PM
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Thank you Christina and Hejno for your replies.
We've decided to proceed with our apartment rental with ParisAttitude on the basis of: they are very nice to talk to and and seem sincere in their service. Plus we really liked the apartments we were renting with them since we needed 2 apartments beside each other (another family is travelling with us) and there were very few of this kind available.
I will surely post a review when we get back next year for everybody's info. I hope all goes well
We've decided to proceed with our apartment rental with ParisAttitude on the basis of: they are very nice to talk to and and seem sincere in their service. Plus we really liked the apartments we were renting with them since we needed 2 apartments beside each other (another family is travelling with us) and there were very few of this kind available.
I will surely post a review when we get back next year for everybody's info. I hope all goes well
Oct 13th, 2006, 04:30 AM
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I tried renting apts through NYHabitat in NY twice without any luck. They never answered one time and the second time right before we left to come over to NYC they emailed that the place wasn't available. We went to Boston to my family instead.
And in Rome we rented a place through them that we called "The Hole." I have never stayed in such a disgusting hole in the wall in my life! It was in a great area, near Piazza Navona in a really old building but the apt was probably a supply closet at one time. There was one room a kitchen about 10 feet long and four feet wide and absolutely disgustingly filthy. Then there was a ladder leading up to a mattress. There was a water pipe along side the mattress that sweated so everything up there was damp and covered with dust. The only window was a transom above the entry door. And it was a transom to the hallway. Really horrible. I am still surprised that my husband didn't hop back onto easyJet and leave after that one!
And you know, it's still listed on their site - it's called Fiore, about as much NOT like a flower as possible!
And in Rome we rented a place through them that we called "The Hole." I have never stayed in such a disgusting hole in the wall in my life! It was in a great area, near Piazza Navona in a really old building but the apt was probably a supply closet at one time. There was one room a kitchen about 10 feet long and four feet wide and absolutely disgustingly filthy. Then there was a ladder leading up to a mattress. There was a water pipe along side the mattress that sweated so everything up there was damp and covered with dust. The only window was a transom above the entry door. And it was a transom to the hallway. Really horrible. I am still surprised that my husband didn't hop back onto easyJet and leave after that one!
And you know, it's still listed on their site - it's called Fiore, about as much NOT like a flower as possible!
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