While the location of the property is fantastic, situated just minutes away from the Spanish Steps and other historic sites, and while the building itself is beautiful and historic, we found an abundance of issues with the space and its “amenities.” Unfortunately, if you book this apartment, you should be prepared to encounter the following: an inability to comfortably take showers (as the water constantly changes from ice-cold to boiling-hot in a matter of seconds); a kitchen that is small and crowded; air conditioners that do not function; toilets that leak; and a lack of space to gather in. Moreover, we were taken aback when one of the hosts arrived late to the property for check-in and apologized for her tardiness by laughingly stating that she did not make an effort to be punctual given that she thought we were foreigners (we are Italians living abroad).
Despite this, perhaps the most frustrating and unprofessional aspect of our stay was the fact that we received a message from the host via the Airbnb app the day before our check-out in which we were directed to pay the host in cash for the “tassa di soggiorno,” or the Roman tourism tax. While we verified with our colleague in the Italian Guardia di Finanza (a national police entity which controls taxation and financial regulations, among other things) that the tax was indeed legitimate, the host made no mention of the tax on the apartment’s Airbnb page—not in the details, not on the receipt, and not in the house manual. The host requested that we leave 40+ euro in cash along with the keys at checkout. Our colleague in the Guardia di Finanza spoke with the City of Rome, which confirmed that upon payment of this tax, the recipient (host) is legally obligated to provide a receipt to the payee (guests) to ensure that the money is paid accordingly to the City of Rome. Knowing well that failure to provide a receipt can lead to penalty under law for both parties, we reached out to the host and asked if we could have documentation of payment, but were told that documentation could not be provided and that we should try to go through Airbnb to it. Not only is this illegal according to city law, but as we now know, any payments conducted outside of Airbnb between guests and hosts are a violation of company policy. Guests beware, especially if you’re not Italian! I do not mean to denigrate these individuals—while I do not know them personally, I am sure they are good people—but I would hate for another family to book this place and encounter similar issues (and expenditures) without foresight of what to expect.