Rent a holiday apartment
A holiday apartment is a furnished, self contained flat let to guests by the day or the week. A kitchen and a bathroom belong to it. It is part of a larger building, and that is exactly what separates it from a holiday house, where the whole building goes to the guest. Sometimes the host lives in the same building, sometimes the flat belongs to a complex of twenty identical ones. Whether there is a shared stairwell or a door of its own to the outside is stated in the details. What mainly separates it from a hotel room is the kitchen, because here you cook and tidy up yourself.
What to check before booking
- What kind of building is it in?
- An old town house in the middle of a city and a purpose built holiday complex at the edge of a village are both called holiday apartments. Whether permanent tenants also live there changes the tone in the stairwell. The map in the listing says more than the title.
- Which floor, and is there a lift?
- Without a lift every suitcase becomes an issue, and under the roof it gets warm in summer. The title rarely says so. The details almost always do.
- Own entrance or shared hallway?
- Some flats have a door of their own to the street, others share the hallway with the neighbours. With tired children that makes a difference.
- Kitchen or kitchenette?
- A kitchenette often means two hotplates and a kettle. A full kitchen has an oven and room to chop. Anyone staying longer studies the photographs.
- Where does the car go?
- A parking space is not automatically part of it. In old towns and spa resorts parking is the scarcest commodity, and the fee for it comes on top of the rent.
- What comes on top of the rent?
- Final cleaning and bed linen are often billed separately, and in many places a visitor levy is added. On a short stay that weighs more heavily.
Who it suits
Made for
Couples and families who stay longer and want to cook. In cities a holiday apartment is often the only way to sleep with children in two separate rooms without taking two hotel rooms. It also suits work stays that run over several weeks.
Less so for
In most buildings there are neighbours, sometimes long term tenants, sometimes other guests. How close they live is not always stated in the listing. Groups who get loud in the evening therefore run into trouble with the other residents, and anyone staying a single night carries the final cleaning for that one night.
Where it comes from
The holiday apartment goes back to the summer retreat. In the nineteenth century city dwellers moved to the countryside for weeks at a time as soon as the railway took them there, and those who could not afford a villa rented from locals. The room in someone else's house later became a self contained flat with a kitchen of its own. Since 1994 the German Tourism Association has awarded stars for them, one to five, according to fittings and service.
Good to know
Stairs are part of it
Many holiday apartments sit on an upper floor, and not every building has a lift. Step free means only what is explicitly advertised as such.
Dogs less often than in a house
In a building with several parties the host rarely decides alone, and the house rules often have something to say about it. Asking before booking is easier than arguing on arrival.
A washing machine is not a given
Some flats have one of their own, other buildings have a shared laundry room. On a longer stay it is worth a look.
