Temporary Rent and Vacation Rentals in Buenos Aires: The alternative to Hotels
In the last years, and following the touristic boom in BA, there is a new way stay in Buenos Aires. Cheaper and more convenient than a hotel and that is the so called “temporary rent”. Lets see how it works.
What is Temporary Rent?
It is renting a fully furnished flat in the most interesting and confortables neighbourhoods of the city. It can includes it all: from the TV and all the dishes to the cleaning lady, like having a home outside home.
The most important neighbourhoods to find temporary rent flats are: Barrio Norte, Downtown, Palermo (In all its surnames: Viejo, SOHO, Hollywood, etc), Recoleta and San Telmo. There are some flats in other areas of the city but the big majority are on the mentioned neighbourhoods as they are the most interesting or confortables to use as headquarters to explore the city.
Why temporary rent in Buenos Aires is the alternative to Hotels?
There are a number of reason, here are some:
- If you are an family planning to stay in a hotel in Buenos Aires, you might be forced to book 2 rooms as the hotel rooms in Buenos Aires are usually smaller than in the US, and of course this gets expensive, so renting a flat is a better deal, specially for stays of more than three days.
- In a temporary rent flat you have all the elements you would need for cooking a home made meal, saving a big percentage of the travel’s budget, specially if there is more than one person staying.
- It lets you live and enjoy the city as the porteños (people born in Buenos Aires) do. That feeling of being part of it.
How does it work?:
- Most of the offer of temporary rent that you will find on the web are renting agencies. They reclut homeowner and offer their flats on the website. They make their money by adding from 10% (a few of them) to 20% (most of them) over the final price. No matter what they say, they all work in the same way. Ones you have hired them they will be in the flat for the check in to pick up their 10-20% commission and you rarely will see them again unless the landlord has paid them more to make the checkout. If you have problems you better call the owner of the flat instead of the agency, as all what they will do is to call the owner of the flat to help you, so you save time just calling the landlord directly.
So here is the big and obvious tip: There are a few flats owners with a website that can be contacted on the web. Hiring directly with them will save you the agency commission, hundred of dollars.
There is always the idea that agency are more reliable and that is simply a myth as we said before. They could be reliable or not as a landlord can be, you will never know until you are there: the same could happen with a cheap hotel.
Keep in mind that some agencies do not verify the information of the flats their are offering - Contract:
If the agency or the direct owner is serious they will make a contract. You can always ask for a previous copy so you can evaluate before making up your mind.
The contract is signed in he check in.
The stay cannot be longer than 6 months, if you need to stay longer you can sign another contract and make another payment ones your first period of 6 months is over. This is because by law more than 6 months stay is considered a normal rental and it has different regulations than temporary rent. - The payment for the complete stay is done in one time in the check in.
Some landlords will give you a discount If you stay more than 3 months. - Deposit:
There is always a deposit you need to make with the payment. The amount of the deposit depends on the property owner, the agency and the time of your stay. In most of the cases the landlord will keep the deposit until the end of your stay. If there is something broken or damaged, the owner of the flat is able to keep it totally or partially. Normally the owner of the flat will keep it in cases of a major problem, but some of them can claim even small ones as glass or dishes broken. - Many of the owners require a minimum stay of three days or a week, fair enough for travellers that use the city as a base to explore the region.
As you can see the Vacation Rentals in Buenos Aires is the best alternative to Hotels.
Mariano Rodriguez
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