Friendly Rentals Reviews

First the hit......We rented the Melia apartment in Rome for 5 nights. This was a beautiful apartment, even better than the pictures. It was clean and comfortable and everything worked. We were met on time by our contact person at arrival and departure and received our damage deposit back. This apartment is in a very nice building in a safe and attractive part of Rome. There are 2 metro stops nearby which makes getting around very easy. Now, for the miss.....If you read the reviews it seems to be a prevalent problem in Barcelona. I'm not sure why that would be other than they have an uncaring staff there. We rented the Padilla Terrace apartment for 3 nights (thank God it was only 3!!!) This apartment's AC did not work. As soon as we discovered it we called our contact person, John (we never saw John himself throughout our stay so I'm not sure why he was a designated contact person). He said to look for the remotes for the units. No remotes existed. He sent another person to verify there were no remotes which was ridiculous and a waste of time. He didn't want to contact the owner of the apartment for some reason and said he would contact the cleaner to see if they had put the remotes somewhere. We heard nothing further that day and in order to breathe we were more or less forced to sleep with the windows wide open. We got very little sleep during our stay because of the unrelenting traffic noise on the streets below. The next day I contacted John again (all the while my cell phone bill is going up, up, up from these calls and text messages. The final bill for these texts and calls was nearly $20). Hours later John replied that he had a call in to the owner and was awaiting a response. No further word that day and meanwhile whenever we are in the apartment (on the 5th floor) we are sweltering in the heat. On our final full day I texted John yet again and heard nothing back until after I emailed the friendly rental company to complain. John then texted back that he had talked to the owner, the AC unit on the roof was damaged beyond repair and needed replaced! I asked for at least a partial refund due to the apartment not having AC which I'm sure we paid a premium for and it is something that I always have at the top of my criteria list. John said he asked the owner about a partial refund and was awaiting his decision. I never heard another word from John or Friendly Rentals. Now, for the other problems with this apartment. The shower, quite frankly, is disgusting. The grout is moldy and gross. The shower has one of those glass partitions which allowed the water from the shower to splash out onto the slick tile floor. We had to use one of our allotted 3 towels on the floor to catch the water. The towels, which are described as "fresh" in the listing are anything but fresh. They are worn and smell musty when damp. The apartment has very poor lighting. I felt blind in there after the sun went down. There was a burned out bulb (one of the only 2) in the bathroom. The bed? Forget about it! This was the worst bed in the history of forever! We could not sleep together in this bed because every time one of us moved even slightly the bed would squeak. I ended up sleeping on the sofa while my husband used the bed. The listing states there is a "drying machine". There is not. Be prepared to set up the drying rack and use that if you do any laundry. The outdoor terrace could be lovely if the sunshade were not destroyed. You will be in the full sun for the majority of the day so pack your sunscreen! There is a 1/2 bath off the hall which would be a big bonus if only the door wasn't broken and you could close it! And to add insult to injury we were forced to leave the apartment earlier than planned on our last morning because the power was going to be shut off to the building, the elevator would be inoperable and there was NO way we could carry all our luggage down 5 flights of stairs. I suppose that really isn't Friendly Rentals responsibility but it was just further aggravation. One positive note from this experience was Julie. Julie was the lovely lady who met us at the apartment at arrival and returned early to give back our deposit before the power was shut off. Kudos to Julie! Interestingly, I wrote reviews on the Friendly website for both of these apartments. The one for the Rome apartment, which was a glowing review is published but the one for Barcelona is not. As other reviewers have stated they don't publish the bad reviews, so beware! I feel this is very unfair and because of this I will not use Friendly Rentals in the future. We will go back with and stick with VRBO in the future.

Das Appartment Müller in Berlin war einfach klasse. Wir waren zu vierte dort. Sehr gut gelegen, sehr ruhig, super U-Bahn verbindung 3 Minuten Fußweg. Bett und Sofa sehr gut, kleine Terrasse sehr angenehm und dir Küche hat alles was man in solche Reise braucht. Grazie mille Patrizia.

In Granada, our modern apartment was near the charming and shady Trinidad Plaza in the Álbicin (circa 1400) quarter, and our narrow street had a outdoor restaurant/café. Although the cafe's customers partied every night, we slept well every night. We rented an apartment because eating and sleeping times are REALLY “different” in Spain. In Spain, everything closes late, late, late. Restaurants close after lunch and don’t open again until 8 or 9 o’clock in the evening. However, as northern Europeans our main meal is the lunchtime meal. We are older now, and often are too tired to go out for the late Spanish meal, so every evening, we had salads, artichokes, steak, cheese, ham, and bread courtesy of our apartment refrigerator. We sat in plaza-cafes during the day, but used our Granada apartment kitchen almost every night. We have been in Spain before so we knew the people were courteous, friendly, and helpful. Spanish children were with their families at every event or restaurant even late at night. The little girls with tiny gold earrings AND always in proper girl-clothing, with matching-colored socks and pink- or red-leather "mary jane" shoes! In my opinion, the special tourist street car/train is a rip-off. My headphones did not work and the carts we were crowded into had no springs and hard wooden seats. The entire ride on cobble-stones was uncomfortable. I found several bus stops after that and only used safe, cheap, modern buses or taxis up and down the steep hills to the rest of the Álbicin quarter and the Alhambra: wooded hillsides, water fountains, castle, and mosque for the rulers [caliphs] of Arabic Spain [Al-Andalus].

The apartment was well-maintained and when we had questions, we received a response in a very short period of time. It had everything we needed and was very close to restaurants, stores, sightseeing, etc. Would not hesitate to stay there again!

We had an enjoyable stay, very close to the metro, bus and shops. Will definitely book again.

Love this unit and would return again if I come back to London. I think that a fresh coat of paint and new carpet would enhance the overall appeal.

We could not have been more pleased, every thing as it should be . The owner was very helpfull.we will be useing you again.

Excellent séjour à Venise, nous étions 6 et la location correspondait parfaitement aux descriptions, la terrasse était même plus grande qu'annoncé. Friendly rentals et ses conseillers ont été parfaits, donnant quelques jours avant toutes les explications pour les différents modes de transport de l'aéroport à l'appartement Aucun reproche à faire

In may we went with five students to Milan. The trip was fantastic, also because of the appartement. The appartment was large and on a perfect location. Friendly Rentals does honor to its name, because they are very friendly and also well organised. I would recommend this company and the appartement to anyone!

Ficamos hospedados no Ap.Michelangelo, em Barcelona. O prédio é modesto, mas em uma localização perfeita, próximo à Praça Catalunya, há restaurantes, mercados e bancos próximos. O transporte também é facilitado. O apartamento é muito confortável, com aparelhos eletrodomésticos em perfeito estado, os móveis em perfeitas condições. Os quartos e os banheiros também são bons, o que colabora para a boa qualidade do sono. Há elevador no prédio. Wi-fi disponível. O único porém é o estacionamento - não há no prédio, e se você estiver de carro, terá que ter sorte para haver vaga na rua, e esta é paga. Recomendo o apartamento e os serviços da Friendly Rantals. Não tive problema algum, e minha estadia em Barcelona foi perfeita.

Location - very well connected to city center through L3 and L4 and great local ambiance of calle de verdi, literally walking to park guell ! Decor - very well furnished, modern and comfortable. . . very clean bed linen and towels etc. Well equipped - toiletries, electric appliances, kitchenware etc. all perfect! Customer service - very friendly staff at the reception (where we got the keys from) and they were also very patient with all our queries and help requested over email before we arrived.

We stayed in the Ribes Apartment in Barcelona for two nights in early May. The apartment was really spacious and spotlessly clean. The location was excellent, very local, close to the Born area and right beside the metro. Carla and Laura from Friendly Rentals were very helpful, even printing out our boarding passes and taking care of our luggage. We shall be returning to this apartment and wish to say a big thank you to Friendly Rentals for the wonderful service we received.

Regarding my previous rating about an apartment in Barcelona here is a section of what Friendly Rentals answered which proves that they don't really take much notice of customers' feedback. They said: "We strive to give our clients an authentic experience by providing the best apartments in the most desired neighborhoods. Many of our apartments are in historic areas and we can’t guarantee that you will be the only person accessing apartment building or the only tourist enjoying the surrounding area of apartment. We have no control over the noises in the street". I NEVER COMPLAINED ABOUT STREET NOISE. What I said was that the building door was making a lot of noise every time someone opened it. It was very annoying at night as this kept us awake. The apartment was on the first floor just above the noisy door. It was a horrible, loud, squeaking noise. When we reported the problem somebody could have come to put a bit of oil on the door hinges and mechanism and the problem would have been fixed easily. BUT NOTHING WAS DONE!

I would like to preface this review by saying that I have never felt compelled to comment on such poor service. The experience with “Friendly Rentals” was anything but. I consider myself a seasoned traveler, as I travel over 100,000 miles a year and stay in hotels all over the world. I decided on this trip to try renting a condo from “Friendly Rentals” for my partner and my family on our recent trip to Barcelona. I flew people in from all over the world to be together and it ended up being an extremely embarrassing situation. The company represented to me a 4 bedroom apartment with a number of amenities that just did not exist. One of the bedrooms was really a loft, where you literally hit your head when you try to stand up, (that is if you can actually negotiate the stairs). The stairs were so steep and dangerous that we could not use the space. The piece of information provided on their website that eluded to the stairs and loft bedroom was on a portion of the page that was not viewable from the site. The worst part of the whole experience was that when I called to ask how we could fix this, the office manager would not speak to me and the girl on the reception desk was totally unfriendly and unhelpful. They made no attempt to fix the situation, or to even apologize. We brought 6 people to Spain from the US and other parts of the world for this vacation and the stay was a really bad experience. I would recommend contacting Vacation Rentals by owner to get a better rate and a more truthful picture of what you are getting.

You know that saying, "too good to be true"? That was my experience with Friendly Rentals. The description and the pictures were fantastic, but... well, the reality was different: what you see is not quite what you get. Even worse, they manipulate the reviews: they ask you for both positive and negative features of the apartment, and then they only post the positive part. So if you look at the reviews, it seems that they are positives, even when they were not. Clever or unethical, you decide - but for sure misleading. I said in the review I would never recommend that apartment to anyone - they didn't post that part, or any other issues I wrote about... only the positives (which I thought it was fair to mention). And if you don't say anything good, they will just not post your review. Everyone presents some better sides of themselves, of a product, or a service, in order to sell. But the disappointment or discomfort that comes with an apartment that does not suit your needs or preferences for sure will kill your vacation... and there is nothing you can do, you're stuck. They made the sale, you wasted your vacation... I would definitely not go with them again. Never.

This is a very professional company with great customer service. We have used them a few times to book accommodation in Italy and find their website and advice clear and concise. We have also found that they are very clear regarding what is in the accommodation and its location which is very important as we hate having to hire a car. But one of the best things about this company is the service you get if things go wrong. It is often the case that a company seems fine when things go right but the minute something goes wrong they wash their hands of their responsibility. This couldn’t be further from the truth with Friendly Rentals. We booked an apartment in Florence that was supposed to have a view of the Ponte Veccio and river Arno but actually had a view of scaffolding covered in tarpaulin! We left the apartment immediately and found a hotel. I then phoned Friendly Rentals local office in Florence and explained the situation. I was phoned back almost immediately from their Rome office with the offer to assist with finding alternative accommodation – this was not needed but was most welcomed. On our return was again in touch with the company and they explained that the owner of the property had not advised them of the work being done, were apologetic and sorted out the return of our deposit, etc., immediately. At no stage did they try and fob us off by hiding behind the fact that they are the agents and not the owner of the property. It was very refreshing to not have to fight a protracted battle to resolve this issue. We had already booked a further property with Friendly Rentals in Rome for next year and are pleased and confident with this company. All in all a first class company with a great attitude and friendly staff - special thanks to Angela for her help. Would recommend without reservation.

Dear Friendly Rental Team, everything was very good from the check in untill our last day. We were totally satisfired with a flat, everything was very clean and we had everything we needed. A Friendly Rental reception was very friendly as well and helped us by any questions we had. By our next stay in Barcelona we will definitely choose your service again ;) Best Regards

The apartment was great and friendly rentals were very helpful in relocating us to a more suitable place.

Truly the best apartment we have ever stayed in. Everything we could wish for. Fabulous location,great reception,beautifully clean. Even washing powder and dishwasher tablets included! We will be looking at other apartments around the world to stay from this company. Thank you for making a great holiday!

Que limpio el apartamento. Tenia todo lo que uno desea. Limpio, comodo,cerca del metro, cerca de todo, muy seguro. Lo unico malo - muy dificil caber en la ducha por manera en que construyeron la puerta.