The winter is a time when things slow down enough for us that we can focus on adding new properties to the site (and weed out some that we don’t think represent the best options to our guests). Over the years we’ve a seen a bit of a pattern emerge where an individual who does well renting their apartment scales up, adding other people’s apartments too and becoming a small property manager. On some sites, like Airbnb, this can seem misleading to guests, when you expect to stay in someone’s house, and instead are staying in one of many vacation rentals that are operated as a business. For us, however, we welcome this, partly because we want to only work with professionals (whether renting 1 apartment or 10 – being professional is a key element) and also because if people are good at what they do, and doing well, they should grow and expand. In some ways, it easier to manage 10 properties well with a small team who can do checkins, clean, repairs, and divide up the time so someone can always be on call, than to manage 1 apartment by yourself.
In the case of these new apartments in Florence, they are all managed by a local company called Etesian, founded by a former personal trainer in 2012. They manage 16 properties on the site (a number that is constantly growing) in the center of Florence – divided between the Oltrarno, the San Lorenzo market and Piazza Santa Croce – in other words, all in the center and close enough to each other that between them, they can manage check-ins, maintenance and emergencies quickly and efficiently. We’ve worked with them for years and have always found them to be fair, efficient and professional, and their apartments are all recently restored and well thought out so that they combine the amenities people want, a good sense of design that’s pleasing visually but also functional.
Keep in mind that their availability is all synched in real-time so when displayed on our site in a search, they are definitely available.
Prices published are for high season (April through October) for the entire flat, regardless of the number of guests, and discounts are offered in March, August and between November 1st and February 28th (excluding Christmas and New Years).
Appartamento dei Neri near Piazza Santa Croce – 1 bed / 1 bath – sleeps 4 guests – €131 / night
Il Magnifico near San Lorenzo market – 2 bed / 1 bath – sleeps 5 guests – €144 / night