Questions?

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) Use the Map View to search your apartments overimposed on the map of the chosen location so you can choose your property at an eye glance.
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 the confirmation email containing detailed arrival information and contacts. If you can't find it, please 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 Verified™, 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.

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.

Your deposit is not charged or immediately refunded in full if an On Request apartment does not confirm availability.

And, yes, you don't need to fill your credit card details in, 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?!'

Standard listing is free for owners and we only ask a fee to the traveler, you can see the details of the standard vacation rental listing commissions and of how easily travelers can get discounted commissions in Cities Reference's blog.

Since 2013 you also have the option to opt out from the standard commission and pay an annual flat vacation listing fee, details in our blog.

At a practical level instructions to list your apartment follow below.

1. Ensure your apartment's location is in a city we are already showing in our network or contact Cities Reference's support to add your destination.
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

When a traveler books your apartment you'll receive an email communication with the details and the booking will be displayed on your account.

Your guest and yourself will be given direct contacts by automated email and, unless you hear from each other beforehand, in most cases the guest will call you from the airport to set up an appointment at the apartment directly.

Your guests will pay you the rental fee in full as soon as they get the apartment's keys. We recommend handing out the keys to your apartment only after 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 write your own House Rules:

• Sign in
• Go to My Account's Dashboard
• click on your chosen apartment listing number
• Pick the Descriptions tab
• Use the scroll down beside 'Show' 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 (Homeaway, Vrbo, Homelidays, Tripadvisor, Flipkey, Wimdu, Holiday Lettings, Casamundo, Outpost and Tripping + Kigo and the Rentals United network which we are partner of: ApartmentsApart, Only-Apartments, Holiday-Velvet) and ranks much higher on search results.

The guest booking an Instant Booking apartment saves 25% on our commission (see more details on Cities Reference blog on how our commissions work) and you get to advertise 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.

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.