It's just 3 steps, taking an average 6 min. 20 sec of your time.

Read the instructions below if you have spare time or just start your apartment's search since the process is tutored by pop up instructions and you don't really need much instructions.

1) Apartment Search: We recommend you use the search box to save time.
a) Standard Search: input your date of arrival and departure, the number of guests and 'GO'. The resulting list will include all we have available for your timeframe arranged according to our own rankings, but you can also easily sort it (at top right of the page) by other criteria like the rental price, area, size, or guest ratings.
b) Advanced Search: using the results above, to your left you can Focus your search instantly, just check what you want: internet, phone, TV, washer, terrace, elevator, or ground floor and more criteria of your choice may narrow down your search, saving some of your precious time! Otherwise, top right, you can Sort by: Price, Size, Area, Guest Rating or Apartment Listing #.
c) Quick search: If you're here to find an apartment in a specific street input a one keyword search in the quick box search top right of the page. If you already know the listing number of the apartment you're looking for just input that in the quick search box.
d) Explore apartments: , if you're not in a hurry just use the Explore Apartments in the navigation and check them all out at your leisure
e) Favorite and Compare apartments: to compare recently viewed apartments use the appropriate feature see more details on Cities Reference blog.

2) Verify: Once you find the apartment of your choice, make sure the dates and number of people have been selected and are available, read the apartment description carefully. If you like it click on 'BOOK NOW'.

3) Book: Please check your email inbox immediately to find our confirmation email, otherwise look in the spam box, if you still can't find it please contact us.
a) If you picked an Instant Booking apartment your booking is confirmed and you've already paid our fee (including taxes) upfront via credit card or PayPal or will pay within 24 hours via bank wire. Either way you'll receive an automated email with your arrival information containing the full contact details of the owner/keyholder that will take care of your check-in. When payment is received and registered you'll get an invoice/receipt for your advance payment via email.
b) If you picked an On Request apartment a request is sent to the apartment owner to accept or decline. If they accept, it's the same procedure as above; if they don't you'll be offered alternative dates and a small rebate.

4) Travel: We recommend paying the balance in cash on arrival after walking through the apartment as part of the check-in process (unless otherwise noted in the House Rules). This way you know what you're getting before you pay. If there are major differences between the photos and description and the apartment itself you can deny payment and also get a full refund from us. In this case and/or if there are any problems getting in touch with the owner/keyholder, please contact us and we'll assist you. For any other issues that may arise during your stay you should contact the owner/manager directly and copy us in any email correspondence.

Your payment doesn't happen until after you've seen and accepted the apartment*. That means that if anything goes wrong you contact us and we'll offer you alternatives and solutions. If that doesn't work out, we'll refund you in full. We never hold onto advance payments if the booking is not completed.

Not least we verify apartments and meet their owners as soon as possible. When placing a booking you can easily see which apartment is Verfied™, in the Description tab, at the top of the apartment's description beside the label Apartment.

Guests are asked to review the rented apartment and its owner at the end of their stay. Use the Guest Reviews tab to read previous traveler's feedback.

We have over a decade of experience, working with vacation apartment rentals since 1997, and we can assure you that through our processes, scammers just don't waste time listing with us.

*Please note that some apartment owners do require payment in advance, when so you will find metion of it in the description and, more importantly, in the House Rules that you're requested to approve before booking.

A booking is secured when the advance payment has been successfully paid.

If you're booking a 'On Request' apartment you are required your payment method, but you are not charged before we get a final confirmation from the owner. If you don't want to give your credit card details in advance of confirmation just pick up PayPal or Bank wire as payment method. You can provide us with your credit card details after confirmation if you prefer.

Make sure to keep track of confirmations throughout the booking process. At every major step (booking, payment, reminder, feedback) you'll receive an automated email from the website. Not in your inbox? Check your spam filter after you book and mark as our messages 'not spam' to prevent this from happening again.

There are three types of discounts you can get and they can cumulate one on top of the other: Apartment Owners' Discounts, Exceptional Discounts and Cities Reference Discounts.

Apartment Owners Discounts: 

When you perform an apartment search you'll see if you're getting a discounted rate and by how much exactly on the search results. The full price will be shown in red and slashed and the discounted price is in black beside it.

Here are the specials most owners activate, these discounts can't cumulate one on top of the other

• Last Minute: most owners apply a last minute discount between 10 and 40% off the base weekly price, although some will only discount 5 to 10% and a few just don't do discounts. To see exactly how much you're saving you'll have to perform a search.
• Length of stay. This is crucial. In most cases a 3-night stay costs 40% more a night when compared to a 7-night stay; remember too that no matter your stay length fixed fees like cleaning, laundry, and check-in remain the same (usually €150-200). The longer your booking, the more fixed fees get diluted and the more discounts kick in. As mentioned, the standard discount for a week becomes even more with longer stays: a two week booking will get you an additional 10 to 20% off from most owners; over four weeks you can save an additional 25 to 40%. You'll be able to see exact amounts of discounts only for stay longer than two weeks in search results. For shorter stays you'll have to simply test prices and how much the price decreases with that extra night.
• Seasonal: For major tourist cities like Rome traveling in the off-season is usually the best way to save money. If you book in November, December, January or February prices are 10% lower by default; on top of that many owners add seasonal discounts. This won't show on search results, you'll have to test it yourself. Suppose you are flexible with your dates between the last week of October and the first of November. Well the latter will cost you 30% less than the previous, so check your flexible dates before you buy your flight tickets!

Exceptional discounts.

• In exceptional cases we may ask apartment owners for discounts in your behalf, but that's going to happen only for longer than a week lease and in very special situations

Cities Reference's discounts

Cities Reference applies a wealth of discounts for details on how Cities Reference's commissions work and what are the discounted commissions please see Cities Reference blog.

Here follow a few examples of discounts

• returning clients always have discount coupons, check your correspondence on your last booking with Cities Reference and you'll certainly find a discount coupon. Just input that as 'coupon' when booking.
• check our Facebook page, we always offer discounts if you're a fan.

The down payment is what secures the apartment for you. Depending on the apartment you're renting it can go from 10% up to 30% of the rental fee.

Before payment, on step 2 of the booking process, you clearly see a breakdown of costs that will look like this:

Total:€1,000 VAT included
Deposit:€150 Due Now
Balance:€850 Due On Arrival

Your down payment applies solely to your rent, and there are no hidden fees.

Payments can be made by credit card, bank wire or PayPal. Costs of bank wires, if applicable, will be on the sender. Otherwise, unlike many of our competitors, we don't charge any extra fees for down payments via credit card or PayPal.

As you can see in the review published on Roman Reference blog, our Cancellation Policy is one of the best in the market and in most cases (87.3%) down payments are refunded in full.

The balance most of the times is paid in cash upon arrival at the apartment after check-in is completed or by bank wire at least one month prior to arrival.
Some owners will accept paypal or credit card for the balance. Checks or travel checks are never accepted for the balance, may be an option for the damage deposit, which otherwise is most dealt with on credit card. When required in cash the keyholder should show you a valid ID and include the number in the receipt.

You will receive and invoice/receipt from us at the moment of booking and a receipt from the owner when you pay the balance. If you need an all inclusive invoice don't hesitate to ask we'll provide you with it via email after check out.

At check-in you will be required to pay a damage deposit. The amount is equal to half of the total rental price unless otherwise marked on the House Rules of the apartment. The deposit is meant to encourage you to take responsibility for any damages you may incur in the apartment you have rented

Where possible, especially in Rome and Paris, we take credit card deposits. You sign a credit card slip upon check-in and we destroy it immediately after check-out, provided no damage was done. If the owner doesn't accept credit cards this must be disclosed in the apartment's House Rules which can be found just above the standard Terms & Conditions that you have to read and accept to complete the booking.

Please also read previous guests' comments to judge an owner's practice on this. For rentals shorter than one month under no circumstance should you send a security deposit in advance of your arrival. In fact, please do alert us if a security/damage deposit is requested in advance.

Please note: If the owner asks for the damage deposit in cash on arrival he has to provide you with a signed receipt containing a valid identification number. Do double check his ID before paying. In case of problems with this procedure don't hesitate to call us

In the rare event that there is a dispute over a host holding some or all of the deposit, we will ask the host to provide pictures, receipts, and other evidence to substantiate holding the deposit. This being said, the host has the final say over the damage deposit. In our experience, owners perhaps keep some of a damage deposit for one out of every hundred bookings. We keep our eyes open for abuses and try to help both owners and travelers when possible.

Credit Card payments are always accepted for the down payment.

Some owners accept PayPal payments and/or credit cards for the balance payment. If you would like to pay by credit card, please do inquire if it's possible for your chosen apartment before placing your booking.

However if you don't feel comfortable paying the owner in cash on arrival most owners will accept a bank wire transfer for the balance provided that it is accomplished at least one month prior to arrival. Senders are responsible for any charges incurred with a wire transfer.

Paying cash on arrival gives you the opportunity to check and approve the apartment before payment. If you're concerned by pickpockets buying a hidden belt solves the issue or taxi costs will often be lower than bank fees for international wires.

VAT stands for Value Added Taxes and it's included in the grand total you see online.

Yes, prices posted when you book are all inclusive and you will not be charged any additional VAT or other taxes on top of what you see on the website.

Yes, just pick up bank wire as payment method when you boook. After the owner reconfirms your booking you can pay by credit card online if you prefer.

Hunting for discounts? Join our Facebook page where we always offer discount coupons and cash back options. Also see details on above question 'How do I spot the special offers and make the best of my money? Can I just get a discount?!'

When your booking is confirmed you receive and automated email containing Arrival & Apartment Information. In there you will find the exact address and the owner's/key-holder's phone number. You should call the key holder before you leave the airport or the station and set up a meeting time at the apartment. A tiny minority of apartments' owners/managers requires you to get key and instructions at an office before you go to the apartment you've booked. If this is an issue for you please make sure to inquire before booking.

Check in/out time in most cases check-in is at noon or later and check-out time is 10 am although many owners will close a blind eye to an early check-in or a late check out if they don't have other guests going out or coming in the same day. Again, after your booking is confirmed you'll be put in direct contact with the owner so you can arrange all the details. Remember: there is a Google map in the apartment description which contains directions, other useful information, and street views.

Traveling late? Most owners will apply a late arrival fee. Normally it consists of €20 after 8:30 pm and of €30 after 10:30 pm, unless otherwise noted in the House Rules.

Late departure? Most owners will require that your bags be packed by 10am so that service can come in and clean, however they will allow your luggage to be stored at the apartment until the next travelers arrive. In this case make sure to leave the key in the apartment before you leave and not to use the bathroom or any other facility if service has already been there to clean for the next travelers.

Once at the apartment, if you don't see the owner or agent, check your instructions. You may have to punch in an access code and proceed to the door itself or buzz the doorbell. All this information is contained in your confirmation email. The keyholder will let you into your rented apartment, show you how everything works, and get the balance payment. After the payment is given, you will be provided with a receipt and at least two sets of keys.

If the host doesn't show up at all, (this never happens, though sometimes they might be delayed) contact us. We'll help you as soon as we can and penalize the owner for the trouble.

If you travel with an international mobile phone give that number when booking or provide it to the apartment owner before you start your journey. This way you can be contacted in case of any delays.

Some owners provide air transfers however it is the responsibility of the guest to make airport and travel arrangements to their accommodations. Enquire with the owner for details after booking.

You can check in and out any day of the week.

Most owners accept bookings for a minimum of three nights; however you can also find some apartments available for two-nights rentals. It depends on the owners and their individual policies. Whatever shows up on your search results is available or tentatively available. Still bookings are best made for at least seven nights, because the price per night falls sharply. This is due to the fact that owners have many fixed costs like cleaning, checking in and out, the time it takes to organize each booking, etc

You can rent an apartment for however many nights you want; there's no fixed or standard time period. Nightly basis is, of course, very welcome also for more than seven nights at the discounted weekly rate and just remember that the best rates happen when you stay for at least one week. If you go over 14 nights you'll get a further discount (generally 10% off the weekly fee); stays over a month most owners grant very large discounts (up to 35% off the weekly fee). Discounts are shown on the search results when booking for two weeks or longer. For shorter stays you'll notice the nightly price difference if you test the calculation by imputing different date ranges.

The bottom line remains: the longer you rent, the less you pay per night.

Please also see Roman Reference blog  for how our Cancellation Policy compares to the competition.

The details of our Cancelation Policy are:

1- You cancel your booking and your dates are rented to another party. You will be refunded in full.
2- You cancel your booking two weeks or more prior to arrival and your dates remain vacant. You lose your down payment only (10 to 30% depending on the apartment).
3- Cancellations during the stay have no entitlement to a refund of any paid amount unless owner causes the cancellation.
4- Reductions of the number of nights are not allowed. You will be free to add nights only if the apartment is available.
5- Change in the number of People in your booking must be communicated at least one week prior to arrival. Please beware that the price of your entire rental is fixed on the maximum number of people you will have during any given period of your stay.

Prior to Arrival: Unlike many other agencies and websites we guarantee no over-bookings. Still, in the case of unpredictable events that would make the apartment booked unavailable, we will refund the entirely of your down payment or find a comparable alternative apartment.

During the Rental: Both the apartment owners and we will do all in our power to fix problems that may arise during your stay. The owners of the apartment you are renting are responsible to provide you with an apartment in working order and to provide their best help in case of emergencies. However they cannot be held responsible for problems that are out of their control, such as adverse weather conditions, interruption of water, electricity, gas, Internet, or other telecommunication, etc.

Repairable problems that fail to be fixed by the owners or their representatives within 24 hours of the first report of the problem, will entitle you – provided you're not responsible for the cause of the problem itself – to obtain from the owner a refund ranging from 10% to 50% of the rental fee for the number of nights spent with the problem. In case of refund we will do all in our power to claim the refund from the owner, but we are not directly responsible, so your direct contact with the owner may be required to expedite the process.

No. We ask owners to include all tax, service, cleaning and check in fees in the rental price.

The refundable security deposit is not included, but it is not charged or it will be refunded upon check out provided all is in order at the apartment. In the House Rules you'll see how the owner would like this to be paid. If you don't see any specification, it means that a credit card slip is the accepted method. Taking an imprint of your card, this slip will be destroyed upon check-out and verification no damage was done.

Extra services aren't included. Use of utilities above the stated allowance, apartments left in an unacceptable condition, services such as porterage, car service, extra trips, etc. are your responsibility to pay for.

As a general rule, changes on the terms of your booking will not decrease the rental fee.

If you inform the owner with a reasonable advance notice about a major shortening of your stay, this will be treated as a cancellation and fees adjusted accordingly. In that case you'll get a full refund if your dates are re-rented (see details about the cancellation policy above). If you want to extend your stay on the other hand you'll have to confirm availability and, if confirmed, the rental price will change in proportion to your existing booking terms.

Same goes for the number of guests. Additions to the number of guests, if approved and accepted, may increase the charges accordingly. If you decrease the number of guest after a booking has been approved you have no rights to a decrease on the rental price.

Said that about the terms, if one of the above changes does arise, you can always bargain with the owner directly to get a more favorable treatment, but that will have to be done after the booking has been confirmed.

Expect to find linens, towels, dishes, silverware, pots, and pans. We also ask owners to always include hair dryers, soap, and toilet paper as well.

Final cleaning is included in the rental price, although you will be expected to leave the apartment in decent cleaning conditions.

Remember that you can always ask the owner/manager before arrival what to expect and/or if possible to add some items, but that will have to be done after the booking has been confirmed.

As a rule of thumb we stick to the agreement terms and reimburse the owner for the empty apartment.
However, in exceptional cases such as the Icelandic volcano eruption and the September 11th terrorist attacks, we reimburse the travelers in full. It usually depends if we get communications from the government, as in the above two cases, recommending reimbursing travelers or not.

For peace of mind, you may want to consider travel insurance as a protection against a total loss of funds.

Vacation Rental Homes, are apartments set up for and rented exclusively to travelers

Sublets are owners' personal apartments which are vacant for a short period of the year, say for a owner's trip rather than a long-term work assignment abroad.

When placing a booking you can easily see which is which, in the Description tab, at the top of the apartment's description beside the label Apartment.

There are a number of considerations for you to make:

• Duration of your stay: Vacation Rentals are best suited for longer than overnight stays. Price per night drops dramatically (about 40%) when you compare a weekly stay to a three-night stay (for details see the Owners FAQ below)
• Cost: Taking the above into account, the average cost for a double hotel room in Paris last year was about 135 euro. Compare that to roughly 40 euro per person in our apartments. This means over a 40% savings, which grows to 70% per square meter (when you factor in space).
• Space & Amenities: Apartments will, on average, give you three times more space than a hotel room. They all come equipped with a functional kitchen and a dining area, plus any other amenities listed in the description.
• Services: With the space and flexibility of a vacation rental home, remember that it is not a hotel. Even with the most efficient owner you're not going to get room service, a 24-hour concierge, or a valet service. There are plenty of other features and reasons though that we think you'll prefer a vacation apartment rental though; just see what other travelers have said about their experiences.
• Privacy: Once you get the keys to your apartment no one else is entitled to access it except in case of an emergency.

Instant Booking means the owner of the apartment guarantees to update the calendar and you can therefore book instantly online.

On Request means that you need to make an availability request with the owner of the apartment before booking. You can do this in one simple click 'Request Availability' and you can do that on as many On Request apartments as you want provided that you specify in the notes that you'll book only one of them and that you are aware that you'll be bound to take the first one confirming availability.

Europe has a distingushed measurement system for mattresses, though still similar to that used in other parts of the world. Here is the typical range of measurements you'll find for beds in our apartment descriptions:

• Single or Twin Bed between 80 and 90cm large (ie max 35 in) and standard length of 191cm (75 in).
• Full or Double/Queen Bed between 140cm and 160cm (55 in to 63 in)
• King Bed 180cm (71 in).

Also see Wikipedia for bed sizes.

To the best of our knowledge we are the first apartment vacation rental website to apply an Eco Footprint Label to our apartments. Following criteria mostly based on each apartment's appliances' Energy Label, we rank the Eco Sustainability of each property on a scale going from A to C. 

Many of our Paris apartments follow this division.

A toilet is a separate room that only contains a toilet/water closet/wc.

A bathroom contains the bathtub/shower and sink.

Our listings give the full range of features in an apartment's bathroom, like if there's an included toilet/wc, bidet, or washing machine.

DSL Internet connection is a high speed/broadband Internet connection where you can connect your own computer to the web via an Ethernet cable.

To find out whether or not the apartment also has a WiFi connection, read the detailed description. At present about 95% of our apartments with Internet also have WiFi.

It is good practice to double check that everything included in the apartment description is present and/or in working order when you check in. The owner is responsible both for the inclusion and the working order.

In case of problems, please contact the keyholder/owner first. If you don't get a satisfactory resolution, don't hesitate to contact us and we will do all in our power to make sure the owner accommodates your needs

Yes, you can go ahead and book!

When you see the calendar dates half-booked it means that other clients are checking-out or checking-in that day. Therefore you'll still be able to check in after 12am and check out at 10am or earlier.

To retrieve your repeat client's 5% discount (34% discount on our commission, see details on Cities Reference blog) network of websites please use the booking ID of your previous booking as coupon code.

For example if you booked with Roman Reference and your booking ID number was 35ea234, input 'RR35ea234' as coupon code and you'll be credited the discount.

Foreign companies (ie: not Italian) based in Europe and the USA don't pay the VAT which will be refunded to you after the booking.

• The weight of VAT on the grand total is normally included between 2 and 5% depending on our commission on the apartment booked.
• There is no VAT added to the amount paid to the owner, VAT, in the measure of 21%, is only added to Cities Reference's commission.
• You will see exactly how much you stand to save in VAT on step 1 of the booking process, before you enter your company information and pay. Just put your mouse beside the down payment amount, where it says 'VAT included', you'll see an overimpression with the exact figures and more info.
• To ensure the refund include in the notes full information about your company in the 'Comments & Other Information' on step 2 (final) of the booking process: Name, full address, VAT or registration number of your company.

Instructions are below, but if you don't have time just go ahead and list your apartment because there are pop up instructions to help you through and you are free to stop and leave at any step in the process before or after you list.

1. Ensure your apartment's location is in a city we are already showing in our network.
2. Sign up and list your apartment in 3 easy steps (5 min) in the Owner's Page here.
3. Wait for approval and post 5 to 20 pictures of the apartment (recommended 10 or more), possibly have ready a video description and your weekly net price.
4. If you list as Instant Booking you will be immediately notified when a client books and the reservation is effective instantly.
5. If you list as On Request you will be emailed the booking request which you can accept or deny.
6. Cities Reference collects its fee from the traveler's credit card as down-payment when the booking is confirmed. In case of cancellation where your apartment stays vacant our fee will be paid in full to you (except VAT).
7. Cash payment to you is made in full upon the traveler's arrival at your apartment, after having verified the condition of the apartment and before receiving the keys to it.

Listing your apartment on our website is 100% free of charge and easy.

Still need help please don't hesitate to email us here: help@citiesreference.com

No problem. You can easily export your calendar with us (recommended if you're listing as Instant) or import your calendar from another vacation rentals' website to ours. It will take you the time of a copy and paste and you can always just contact us if you need help. Otherwise just log into your account with Cities Reference and block the dates on your calendar.

We don't work in exclusivity and welcome the owners that advertise on several other websites. We believe competition only works to our mutual benefit giving you fewer vacancies and us the incentive to constantly improve. 

Your guests will pay your rental fee in full to you or your agent at the start of their stay as soon as they get the apartment's keys. We recommend handing out the keys to your apartment only when the traveler pays the balance of the rent in full.

Travelers usually pay cash on arrival in the currency of your choice, but if you prefer other forms or terms of payment you can list them in the House Rules section of the apartment's description.

Here is how you implement it:

• Sign in
• Go to My Account
• click on Details beside your apartment 
• Pick the Description tab
• use the scroll down and pick Apartment House Rules
• Set your terms by clicking on English. If you can write other languages please use the appropriate sections.

The Instant Booker apartment owner guarantees to keep the apartment's availability calendar updated.  A reservation for her apartment will be instantly confirmed and the down payment paid at the moment of booking.

The On Request apartment owner has 24hrs to accept or deny a booking request. This option results on a much lower number of booking requests (up to 800%) since most guests prefer booking instantly.

The Instant Booking apartment is fed at no cost for you to the network (Flipkey.com, Homeaway.com and Tripadvisor.com + a dozen more affiliate websites) and ranks much higher on search results.

The guest booking an Instant Booking apartment saves 25% on our commission and you get to advertize your apartment's listing at a more competitive all inclusive price.

The choice is yours and you can switch your booking type at any time.

Remember that from a traveler's perspective an Instant Booking is a much better deal, and that 9 times on 10 on a scale she will rather book Instant than On Request.

Everything, except the security deposit, has to be included in the rental fee listed online.

You have the possibility of adding a cleaning fee and a check-in fee when posting the listing. Please contact us to implement this with the exact amount you wish to receive.

All taxes have to be built into the rental price.

The damage deposit is normally requested as a credit card slip hold. This avoids the client the bother of paying it cash. If you have a different preferred method, please mark clearly in the House Rules how you want to receive your security deposit. To implement it go to My Account, click on your apartment; Description tab; use the scroll down and pick Apartment House Rules.

Please note: if you require the damage deposit in cash you should provide the guests with a receipt including a valid identification number and show your ID to the renter for verification.

Not at all! You can use the Facebook sign in with peace of mind, that makes it a lot easier for you since you don't have to create yet another password and type it in everytime you want to log in.

When booking the information that is transferred is only your name, and email. However you can control what information is provided to us in your privacy preferences on Facebook.

Please tell us immediately! Email us on help@citiesreference.com we will certainly help you.

There are hundreds of tricks to fill the gaps on your calendar, many are listed here, but more can come if you ask for customized help.

It works in reciprocity:

When the traveler cancels she may lose the money paid in advance to us, which we will pay in full (except VAT) to you, unless the apartment is rented to another party for the same rate (in which case we'll refund the traveler instead).

When you cancel you should reimburse the traveler the money paid or pay it to us so that we can use that amount to offer an upgrade.
If you don't want to reimburse the traveler your ranking will decrease by 50% and our commission on your listing(s) will increase by 20%. You will also lose all Instant Booking incentives.
However, we understand that situations do arise and we will take into consideration proofs of good faith and efforts to solve the problem to mitigate the above measures. For example, if you list a new apartment on our website and offer it to the traveler as an upgrade at no extra cost, your listing won't incur into any penalties.

Only if you're listing in Rome or Paris we can help you with check-in/out and cleaning with one of our favorite partnered companies; why not let experts do the inconvenient work!

Please contact us for the details.

Here are some basic tips for creating a listing:

1. Keep your calendar updated! On a scale, nine travelers on ten won't even consider your property if it's not an Instant Booking apartment with an updated calendar. Keep in mind that our calendars sync with Tripadvisor, Homeaway and Flipkey automatically. This means you'll only have to update once for the whole network. To top it up if you choose not to use our online availability calendar, your property will rank below properties with confirmed availability.
To implement calendar updates see Q&A above 'What if I get a booking on my own'

2. Quality Photos: They're best taken professionally, in Rome and Paris we can tip you to good professionals for exceptionally reasonable prices. Set the stage for your pictures carefully (add that bottle of wine or flower pot). Take wide-angle, well-lit, high-resolution photos without flash. These techniques really make the difference to increase bookings. Post at least 10 good quality pictures.

3. Competitive Pricing: Most travelers travel with a strict budget. In the past we've seen occupancy rates grow threefold for a 10€/wk decrease in base price. Did you check the competition by sorting search results by price? Study rates of comparable properties on Cities Reference and make adjustments for location and property features.

4. Add your own apartment description:Do this in as many languages as possible (click on the language to input the text ie: English). Make sure the text you publish isn't already published elsewhere on the Internet. Sell the unique attributes of your property! Put together a well-edited text of about 250 words and you will get more bookings, this is statistically proven. List as many amenities as possible, it really makes a difference when travelers are considering their options. Talk about the area around the apartment and it's attractions.
To implement it go to My Account, click on your apartment; Description tab; use the scroll down and pick Owner's Description.

5. Get good reviews: it is proved that most travelers look at previous guests reviews before booking. Treat your guests well and invite them to leave a review on our website after they leave.

6. Don't forget the arrival information: How about your ck in procedures on guests' arrival. Did you input the arrival information (dropdown under 'Descriptions/Arrival & Apartment Information'), this is private and you can input phone number and exact address on it. It's received as a personalized email directly by the guest booking your property.

7. Think weekly! Probably the biggest success we've had with our website has been connected to the fact that we see vacation rentals as a weekly deal, not a daily deal. Many owners have thanked us for changing their mindset on this issue. Each new rental entails new challenges and expenses; a longer stay just can't be priced with the same nightly fee structure.
So what's the right way to go? If you've reasoned in daily terms until now, just take roughly 30% off your nightly rate, multiply by 7, and you have your weekly base price!

For instructions on how to create a good weekly rate please go below to 'Short Stay Rates'.

The first page in apartments' search results displays the top ranking apartments.

Your apartments and yourself determine the ranking of your listed apartments, you can get more insight about our ranking algorithm on Cities Reference's Blog, generally speaking there are two main ratio behind it:

1- New Bookings; Guest Reviews and Traffic on you listed apartment page with us
 
2- Your partecipation to the website activity and the community

• frequency of your login to our site
• calendar updates
• changes/adding of apartment's pictures
• posting well-edited, clear content in multiple languages to your apartment description
• participating to the community on our Facebook pages, Twitter and the Blogs.

Each time you perform one of the above actions your ranking earns new points and climbs up the ladder.

1. Facebook: Go to Cities Reference's Facebook page and post pictures of your apartment and a link to your listing with us. Add a few words about the strength points of your apartment. You'll gain exposure directly to our client base and earn more traffic to you apartment page which translates into more ranking.

2. Twitter: Use it to promote your listing on Cities Reference by copying and pasting your listing's URL to your Twitter account and describing your property, perhaps with a dedicated feed. Follow our Twitter page to gain rank.

3- Network: Activate the Instant Booking to have your apartment listed in our affiliate network, which includes Tripadvisor.com, Homeaway.com, and Flipkey.com. It's Free! You will only need to update your calendar with us. 

4- Promotions! See the section below with all details.

• We use a win-win payment model where we only make money when you make money.
• Our service is 100% free for your listed apartment(s),
• Define the rates that you want to receive and they will be paid in full to you.

See the details on how our commission works on Cities Reference blog.

To get the best commission rate you have to list as Instant Booking and therefore keep the calendars updated. Now you can export/import your calendar with us on third party websites', so you update onl one calendar also when listing on competitors' websites.

The traveler pays your rental fee in full directly to you. Most travelers will pay cash on arrival. If you prefer other forms and terms of payment you can add them to the House Rules which will be posted under your apartment's terms & conditions (see instructions above under How and when do I get paid? Can I use my own terms?).

Read this! If you list as 'Instant' you will get listed for free on Tripadvisor.com, Flipkey.com and Homeaway.com + dozen of other affiliated websites.

Also: coordinating and performing management services such as cleaning, laundry, check in/ check out, etc is not included in the above commission. We can help you with these services only in the cities of Paris and Rome at the moment. Contact us for more details.

Creating an account is very easy, you can either just log-in using you Facebook account or create a Cities Reference account with your name, email and password.

Once in the back end you'll see alerts and control everything from your Dashboard. The areas of navigation are

• Your Listings
• Your Reservations
• Your Trips
• Your Profile

Find more details on Cities Reference blog.

When managing your apartment listing you'll navigate through 7 main tabs:

• Details
• Calendar
• Pricing
• Descriptions
• Pictures
• Amenities
• Reviews

You can activate custom rates for specific seasons or dates.

• Log on to 'My Account'.
• Click on your apartment.
• You will see 6 different tabs: Details, Descriptions, Pictures, Amenities, Pricing, Calendar, Test Pricing.
• Under Pricing click on Create a "special rate" that occurs at certain times of the year.
• Insert the weekly rate for the given period
• Input the dates
• Specify if it reoccurs every year
• Click on Save Rate.

Always make sure to test under the tab Test Pricing.


If you activate the standard Seasonal Rates the software will automatically apply the following on your weekly price marked under Details above:

• Highest Season: New Year and Easter. Base price plus 30%.
• Higher Season: December 20 to 25. Base price plus 20%.
• High Season: April, May, June, September and October. Base price plus 10%.
• Middle Season: March and July. Standard base price.
• Low Season: January, February, August, November and the first half of December. Base price minus 10%.

This option allows you to increase the weekly net price according to the number of guests.

You can increase rates nominally or in percent when the number of guests booking your apartment is superior to 1.

• Log on 'My Account'.
• Click on your apartment.
• You will see 6 different tabs: Details, Descriptions, Pictures, Amenities, Pricing, Calendar, Test Pricing.
• Under Pricing click on Create an "extra guest" fee.
• Insert the percent or amount per person. We highly recommend to use a percent, 5% per person over two is the most most recommended
• Input the number of guests that should trigger the fee. For example: 3 if you want to add 5% on a group of 3, you can add another rate for the 4th person after.
• Specify it reoccurs 'Always'.
• Click on Save Rate.
• Repeat the above procedure for each single additional person.

Always make sure to test under the tab Test Pricing.

Weekly stays are ideal, which is why we encourage owners to set a weekly net price and do all the price math from there.

However, if you want to have shorter stays available, by activating this feature our system will automatically take your weekly net price, divide it by seven and make the per night price grow in inverse proportion to the length of the stay.

If you apply a 10% discount (see details below) our software does the calculations instantly and adds the following percentages to the nightly rate:

• 6 nights +5%
• 5 nights +12%
• 4 nights +22.5%
• 3 nights +40%

Here is how you implement it:

• Log on 'My Account'.
• Click on your apartment.
• You will see 6 different tabs: Details, Descriptions, Pictures, Amenities, Pricing, Calendar, Test Pricing.
• Under Pricing click on Create a "short stay fee" by applying a discount on the weekly net price.
• Insert the percent or amount per person. We highly recommend to use 10%, so you can obtain the above increase on the nightly rate.
• Input 'Always'.
• Click on Save Rate.

Always make sure to test under the tab Test Pricing.

You can also activate discounts for longer stays. The recommended discounts are:

• Longer than a 14-night stay, 10% discount on the weekly net price
• Longer than a 30-night stay, 25% discount on the weekly net price
• Longer than a 60-night stay, 35% discount on the weekly net price

The above are simply suggestions, so feel free to create your personal discount in relation to the number of nights and percentage.

Here is how you implement it:

• Log on 'My Account'.
• Click on your apartment.
• You will see 6 different tabs: Details, Descriptions, Pictures, Amenities, Pricing, Calendar, Test Pricing.
• Under Pricing click on Create a "long stay" discount.
• Insert the percent of discount for stays longer than xxx.
• Input the number of nights that will trigger the discount (14 for example)
• Specify 'Always'
• Click on Save Rate.

Remember to test under the tab Test Pricing.

Activating Last Minute discounts makes your apartment rank higher and gives you the possibility of being featured on the home page.

Recommended discount rates are:

• 10% one month prior to arrival
• 15% two weeks prior to arrival
• 25% one week prior to arrival

Here is how you implement it:

• Log on 'My Account'.
• Click on your apartment.
• You will see 6 different tabs: Details, Descriptions, Pictures, Amenities, Pricing, Calendar, Test Pricing.
• Under Pricing click on Create a "last minute booking" discount.
• Insert the percent of discount for bookings done xxxx days before arrival.
• Input the number of nights that will trigger the discount (30, for example)
• Specify 'Always'
• Click on Save Rate.

Remember to test under the tab Test Pricing.

We invite you to Think Weekly.

One of the biggest mistakes in vacation rentals is to compare to hotels and think per night.
The thinking normally goes like
'The shabby hotel on the corner charges 80 a night, I'll charge 100 a night!'.

This frame of mind will bring about a lot of vacancies and calendars filled with islands of two or three nights stay. A lot of work for you and a lot of stress to the apartment and neighbors. To top it up you'll get clients in search for hotel services and standards, which you're not necessarily able or willing to provide...

15+ years on the market have taught us that the right approach is rather:
'The shabby hotel on the corner charges 80 a night, I'll charge 450 a week!'.

There you go, this is the weekly net price, 7 nights, and here is how you implement it:

• Log on 'My Account'.
• Under 'My Listings' click on your apartment.
• You will see 7 different tabs: Details, Descriptions, Pictures, Amenities, Pricing, Calendar, Reviews.
• Under Details
• go to Weekly Net Price & Fee Info beside Weekly Net Price.

Before you contact us consider the following:

1. Did you activate the instant booking and join the network?
2. Did you add an unedited Owner's Description pointing out all there is good about your apartment and the area, listing amenities that we may have not included, etc
3. Did you invite previous guests to leave a nice, realistic review on the website, that will trigger an invitation from tripadvisor to leave a review there too.
4. Did you work your prices? Do an apartment Search and see the prices of your competitors' on our website.

• Guests: If you can sleep an extra person, do it, you could structure your price by person. For example: 2 people 600 instad of 650 euro per week and each additional person adds 10% to the fee.
• Nights. Make the weekly more appealing and increase the nightly. For example if you activate a 10% discount per night less than 7, a weekly price of 600 euro means 360 euro for 3 nights and 300 euro for 2 nights.
• Last minute. Do activate last minute discounts! Better earning less than having the apartment sit empty. We suggest 10% one month prior to arrival, 15% two weeks prior to arrival and 25% one week prior to arrival.
• Seasons: Are you sure the influx of tourists to your city is stable? Shouldn't you adjust your price with the seasons?
• Ranking: Last but not least, are you aware of the inner workings of our algorithm? Check Cities Reference blog post on it.

Need help to implement something of the above? If Cities Reference Help Page  is not enough, just go ahead and contact Cities Reference here.