Tripadvisor is a great travel guide where you can check on flights, restaurants, things to do, and any travel related item along with reviews from people that have actually experienced the particular topic you are checking out. They have expanded this great resource to now offer a vacation rental site called FlipKey, where you can find condos, bungalows, town homes, or whatever other monicker you want to slap on an apartment style or home rental.
Most of our Spanish students stay with host families while studying abroad and some opt for a shared apartment or onsite student residence, but others would like the privacy that comes with housing that does not include other residents sharing the same common areas. Some schools have private apartments while others simply do not have an alternative to host family, so if you don't want this arrangement then a more pricey hotel could be your only option. However, with FlipKey we can set up your courses and you can find an apartment rental in the area to best suit your housing situation.
FlipKey not only gives you the ability to find local rentals available for a given city in Latin America or Spain, but also provides you with availability, description and amenities, pricing, photos, and most importantly customer reviews from previous visitors. Likes and dislikes of another person can be a big distinguishing factor in you choosing a rental that is right for you. Obviously if there is nothing negative to say, then it could be the right choice for you as long as the photos look good, there are similar praises from other customers, and the price is right. Of course negative factors may not be a deal breaker either.
Perhaps there are certain aspects that irks some people that are not a big factor in your consideration. Some locations simply may not have A/C, which can be expected for a lot of cities outside of the US, but a traveller may have not expected this and complained anyway. Perhaps an apartment has a lot of foot traffic in the area which could be a bad thing for someone looking for a more secluded residential area, while another person could love this since they want to be where all the action is. In simpler terms one man's trash is another man's treasure.
Here is how we would select an apartment:
1. Does the description, amenities, and photos cover what you are looking for? If it doesn't have enough space or the aesthetic does not fit your comfort level, then you can quickly move along to other options.
2. Is there availability for the dates requested. If not, are you willing to consider other dates.
3. Is the location desirable? Once we book your courses we will send you a school information sheet with the address of the school. This way you can see how far the apartment, condo, house, etc. is from the school as well as other points of interest on googlemaps.com or a similar mapping resource.
4. If the previous factors bode well then check on pricing. Are you getting the best bang for your buck? Are there alternatives that are more cost effective.
5. Finally, look at the customer comments. See if the description of the accommodations, photos, and other details match up with the actual experience of previous residents.
6. Book your stay and make sure you understand all of the policies involved with the rental and receive confirmation on your booking.
Obviously you can mix these steps. Perhaps you check out customer comments before the pricing aspect to save your time. Most likely you will end up comparing different options to see what is best, which is why we suggest this process of steps to help easily provide a process of elimination. It is important to book far in advance so as you go through these steps no aspect of quality is compromised by the fact of it not being available.
FlipKey also provides a refine search option so once you get to an individual location, you can quickly change different criteria including: location from a point in the city, pricing, size, availability, and rating, so you can quick narrow these steps down to simply picking your preferences and finding what meets those terms. Here is where you may need to tweak your selections to find something that is actually a reality.
Spanish Abroad is happy to provide price quotes for courses only if you do not want to choose any of the accommodations options included with our programs. You can simply give us a call at 1-888-722-7623 or shoot us an email to jsmith at SpanishAbroad dot com. We think FlipKey is a great option for those that want a customized housing arrangement with ease of use and the ability to choose options within your comfortable price range. Check out their options at FlipKey Vacation Rentals and be sure to visit their parent site Trip Advisor for a whole world of information on travel.
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I like the fact that when you rent a place you can cook your own meals and you do not have to wait till the dinner is ready (as in hotels). Besides, hotel food is not usually the best, because they prepare it for a lot of people. When I travelled to Argentina, the good thing was that I was able to learn how to cook pasta. I got a apartment in buenos aires and it came with a homemade pasta machine so I learnt a lot!
ReplyDeleteJules