THE RENTING EXPERIENCE

We are frequently asked why renting a vacation property in Europe is better than staying at a hotel. The answer is a simple one: It isn’t necessarily better, it is just different, and it is not for everybody.

Who is it not for? Those who need to have a concierge, fluent in six languages, available at all hours; those who have a craving for a hamburger and fries from room service at 2 in the morning; those who feel secure with a Sheraton banner flying over the entrance of where they are staying. This is not to demean the hotel experience; it has worked well for millions for many, many years. Renting an apartment or house in Italy, France, or elsewhere in Europe is very different from the hotel experience.

We, of course, believe that it is “better”. Better because it allows you to experience the country and the people in a very different way than you would if you were one of the dozens on a programmed tour flocking to the hotel coffee shop in the morning. If you’ve rented a house in the countryside, you have two breakfast choices in the morning; either figure out how to work that funny looking non-electric coffee pot, or get in the car, or better yet, on your bicycle, and go into town to hang out with the locals at the bar/café with a steaming cup of coffee, a nice little pastry---very little and thus minimal calories---and watch re-runs of yesterday’s soccer matches on the huge television that dominates virtually all of these places. After 3 days, you will be a regular and the barista will nod as you walk in; he may even remember what you have had the past two mornings and automatically present you with that cappuccino and bit of pastry filled with something just a bit unidentifiable but amazingly delicious nonetheless---and what makes all of this, quite simple, breakfast taste so good is that you have now immersed yourself in the culture and the rhythms of life in the country where you have, by now, bought into the fantasy that you and they are---your fellow coffee-drinkers in that café---are part of the local landscape.

You will repeat this experience dozens of times in your week or two; of course, globalization has made things a bit more homogeneous and Europe is looking more and more like America, but there are still enough differences to make it an adventure. If you are traveling with children, the convenience of having a kitchen, with their favorite stuff in the fridge, the advantage of a living room where everyone can just hang out, playing a board game, discussing the previous day’s adventures, reading a book on a day where rain is threatening. What would you do if you were in a hotel under these circumstances? Particularly if it was one of those hotel rooms where the bed reached nearly to each wall, and with the added armoire and television cabinet, there was barely enough room to swing the proverbial cat.

If we are going someplace for a week or longer, hotels are no longer an option. We like, in fact we revel in, the slower pace, the becoming part of the ebb and flow of daily life, the ability to believe, if only for a short time, that we are not tourists, but locals.

When you phone us with your request, we will tell you if we think that renting is right for you. Although we are capitalists, we don’t want you to rent if you will be happier in a hotel. Are we always correct about assessing our potential clients? Of course we are not, but I have to say that over the course of nearly 26 years, the number of converts to the rental experience are many; those that have tried it and found it wanting are very few indeed.