How to rent an apartment on a trip, so as not to spend the night at the station

Experts say that the number of independent travelers is growing. Tourists prefer to do everything themselves, from booking tickets to planning excursions. Such a holiday has its pros and cons, for example, the risk of staying without a bed. I figured out how to book an apartment cheaply and not stay overnight at the station.

Apartment instead of hotel

I travel quite often and do not like to go to travel agencies. Such a holiday has many advantages: you do not visit unnecessary excursions with a crowd of tourists, but only see what is interesting. And it's profitable.

When it comes to budget tourism, you first think of a hostel. They offer for a small fee a bed in a 6 or 8-bed room, amenities on the floor and a common kitchen. Individual rooms with amenities are more expensive. But the hostel is the same dormitory, even if the room has everything you need. An excellent alternative to hotels was the daily rental of apartments. Here, the tourist does not need to wait in line for the bath, his kitchen and no neighbors. The apartment is calmer than the hostel. This is convenient for both large and small companies. You will have to pay for peace of mind, and there are no such services as “room cleaning” in the apartment. But you will not huddle in the room, but calmly settle in a multi-room apartment.

Apartments are a good option for independent travelers. But it's not that simple.

Looking for options.

Let’s say you decided to go to St. Petersburg. There are a lot of sites for finding apartments: Avito, Airbnb, gdekvartira.su and others. Everyone has their own rules and functions. For example, you need to call Avito, it is enough to leave an application on the website on gdekvartira, and the Airbnb website will require an advance payment. Yandex has a convenient service "Real Estate", which displays offers from 354 sites for finding apartments.

At the top, select the parameters we need: "to rent" or "to buy", "apartment" or "house", note the number of rooms and the area. In addition, we note that we need apartments for daily living. The site shows options. I'm more comfortable looking on a map. Here you can see the distance from the subway and attractions.

It happens that tourists rely on beautiful photos of apartments and do not look at their location. As a result, it turns out that the apartment is far from the center and the metro station. You need to understand whether you are willing to spend an hour or two on the road every day, or it is better to overpay and walk around the city. Apartments in the center are more expensive than on the periphery, but this difference pays off if you do not spend money on public transport. So we look at the map, look at the photos and choose the accommodation.

Reserve.

If your choice stopped on the site where the booking button is provided, then safely click on it and leave your contacts. But after that, you should call the owner and clarify whether he will receive your application. The site may require an advance payment, such as Airbnb or Daily.ru. Send advance payment to strangers is unfettered, so it is better not to do this. But if you trust the site and it has good reviews, then why not pay for the apartment in advance. Prepayment is taken as a guarantee that you will definitely arrive. In turn, the owners of apartments, having received money, will not rent the apartment to others. The same Airbnb site monitors the integrity of transactions and maintains communication between the host and the guest.

Most sites offer apartments without prepayment. You call the owner and negotiate. Both interested owners and completely indifferent people can answer. Unfortunately, not all sites write about who rents an apartment: the owner or intermediaries. It happens that you agree with one person, and the keys will pass another. Most often, we don’t know how many people will benefit from the deal.

Housing is usually booked a week before arrival. If the chosen apartment is occupied, then interested owners will offer another option. You agree in advance and arrive at the appointed time. Someone doesn't book at all in advance. Such owners are better to beware at once.

How to deceive tourists

The tourist is very vulnerable. In an unfamiliar city, it is easy to take a person by surprise. Travellers travel thousands of miles out of their comfort zone. Landlords know this and try to make the most of it.

The hosts may not pick up the phone despite the fact that you agreed and called the day before. There is no need to rent an apartment and they turn off the phone. If landlords respond, the apartment can be renewed by previous tenants or rented out to others.

Sergey: A week before the trip to Yekaterinburg, we found a person on Avito and called. The day before we left, the hostess said he was waiting for us. We arrived in the morning and called again and the answer was yes. Until the evening we walked around the city, once again called the hostess and drove to the specified address. We waited for her. He calls back in 10 minutes and says the apartment has already been rented out. They did not listen to her anymore, went to the nearest shopping center, charged the phone and found another apartment on the same Avito, with which everything worked out successfully.

It happens that the owners, instead of a booked apartment, offer another more expensive and farther from the center.

Tatiana: We agreed with a man about an apartment in the center of Yekaterinburg. When we arrived, he said it was busy. I offered another, which is two stops on the subway. Who knew the two stops were a sleeping area? Let's go, let's move in.

Alexander: We went to Kazan for two days. Booked an apartment. The day before arrival, they called and confirmed the reservation. We came, found a house. On the phone, the person we were talking to told us to wait for the owner. Waited an hour. Nobody came. We were given the owner's phone. He replied that the apartment was occupied and suggested another option. We agreed to meet him at another apartment in two hours. They waited under the door for about an hour. He arrived, but it turned out that here the day is 500 rubles more expensive than where we booked on the ad. We overpaid and lost most of the day from our short rest. As we were leaving the house with a busy apartment, two girls with suitcases approached him and began to wait for someone. I would not be surprised if there is no rented apartment in this house and they will also be offered an option more expensive. Such hosts put tourists in a desperate position to pay more.

There are many options, the result is always the same - the landlord wants to get full.

How to protect yourself

After stories about unscrupulous landlords, I want to take and book a hotel. But for independent travelers, owning an apartment for a vacation is better than a room in a hostel. Hostels are the same apartments, only converted. You can always provide several spare options and make it so that the tourist chooses, not the landlord.

First of all, carefully choose apartments. Advertisements must have photos. Otherwise, there may be no apartment, and you will be offered other expensive apartments. Pay attention to names and phones. Do not call the same hosts or agencies. If you book accommodation on sites that do not require prepayment, then nothing prevents you from booking several apartments. Call the owners who have apartments close to each other. Arrange for different times to get there. Do not answer one master, immediately go to another. The other one won't let you in, go to the third. Leave the choice to yourself.

A loaded phone and Internet connection will help any traveler. Take care of the favorable rate in roaming or find a cafe with Wi-Fi. Look for other housing options. If nothing works with the apartment, download applications for smartphones for booking hostels and hotels (Booking.com, Expedia, Ostrovok, Travel.ru, etc.)

Travel with your head, consider all options and make your holiday easy and safe.

Text by Victoria Lyadova

Photo: Victoria Lyadova, pexels.com