Booking apartments through booking dot com in peak season in Europe

[Anonymous]

We stayed in a 2 bedroom apartment owned by a Seville boutique hotel and it was amazing. Centrally located, housekeeping, and we got the free breakfast at the hotel a few blocks away. Hotel de la Poeta. On their website look for their apartments or if you look for a room for 4 people their apartments will pop up. It’s booked directly through the hotel so not a third party booking.

But we have booked apartments through booking.com in Italy during the summer with no issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I mostly book through booking in Europe. They have more options in some locations. Just keep in mind, it’s like finding ads in newspapers. The newspaper is just the medium. Same booking com. So read carefully the reviews. Check the website of the hotel / apartment when available. I so far had great experiences with booking.

I'm seeing some reviews on booking for one that I like (just over 100 reviews) and another (500 reviews) - and reviews are mostly positive. Could these be faked?

Some of these listings day genteel home. I also see a website:

https://www.genteel-home.com/seville/?

Is this legit?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mostly book through booking in Europe. They have more options in some locations. Just keep in mind, it’s like finding ads in newspapers. The newspaper is just the medium. Same booking com. So read carefully the reviews. Check the website of the hotel / apartment when available. I so far had great experiences with booking.

I'm seeing some reviews on booking for one that I like (just over 100 reviews) and another (500 reviews) - and reviews are mostly positive. Could these be faked?

Some of these listings day genteel home. I also see a website:

https://www.genteel-home.com/seville/?

Is this legit?

looks fine to me

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We stayed in a 2 bedroom apartment owned by a Seville boutique hotel and it was amazing. Centrally located, housekeeping, and we got the free breakfast at the hotel a few blocks away. Hotel de la Poeta. On their website look for their apartments or if you look for a room for 4 people their apartments will pop up. It’s booked directly through the hotel so not a third party booking.

But we have booked apartments through booking.com in Italy during the summer with no issues.

Hotel de la Poeta looks amazing. Outside our budget thought at $700 per night.

[Anonymous]

Be careful - booking has become less trustworthy

[Anonymous]

Airbnb has become so undependable in recent years. We just stay at hotels now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mostly book through booking in Europe. They have more options in some locations. Just keep in mind, it’s like finding ads in newspapers. The newspaper is just the medium. Same booking com. So read carefully the reviews. Check the website of the hotel / apartment when available. I so far had great experiences with booking.

I'm seeing some reviews on booking for one that I like (just over 100 reviews) and another (500 reviews) - and reviews are mostly positive. Could these be faked?

Some of these listings day genteel home. I also see a website:

https://www.genteel-home.com/seville/?

Is this legit?

Yes, seems fine. You could book either through booking or through their site directly - site directly works better sometimes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Try to figure out if the listing is through a local rental agency and book directly with them. Same goes for something you might find on airbnb.

One counterpoint to this- I recently booked an Airbnb in a different European city that was managed by a local rental agency. I actually considered booking with the agency directly but stuck with Airbnb, I can't remember why but may have been because the reservation process on Airbnb was more straightforward. Anyway, it was definitely a legit rental agency and they had numerous properties listed on Airbnb and overall positive reviews. And then shortly before our trip I learned the agency went bankrupt and closed without warning- travellers were stranded and everyone who booked through the company directly were out $$. With Airbnb I was still within the cancellation window and cancelled and got the refund automatically. Maybe it would have been more of a process to get the refund if that weren't the case, but I was glad I had gone through Airbnb for that reason.

[Anonymous]

In Europe I would definitely use booking.com for apartments. They are based in the Netherlands and are 3x there size of Expedia in terms of revenue. Just read reviews and only pick apartments with more than 25 or 30 review and at least 9 out of 10 rating.

For hotels though, you could use B.com to search, but then if you find one that has the room you want, book the hotel directly. Cheaper and better that way, because you have more control of the booking if you want to cancel or change rooms or if there is a problem.

Source: I work in the hotel industry

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We stayed in a 2 bedroom apartment owned by a Seville boutique hotel and it was amazing. Centrally located, housekeeping, and we got the free breakfast at the hotel a few blocks away. Hotel de la Poeta. On their website look for their apartments or if you look for a room for 4 people their apartments will pop up. It’s booked directly through the hotel so not a third party booking.

But we have booked apartments through booking.com in Italy during the summer with no issues.

Hotel de la Poeta looks amazing. Outside our budget thought at $700 per night.

When are you going? The apartments are about $450/ night for a bunch of nights in June.