FAQs

Here are the steps from start to finish:

1. Making your reservation

   Have a look through our apartment pages to find a property you like. Enter your dates and details, and click on ‘book’, which will take you through to our booking form. You will see the full and final price due to be paid both at the top and at the foot of the form. Just fill out all your details, including your payment details, and select ‘book now’ to complete your reservation.

2. Making the pre-payment

   When you book your apartment we’ll ask you to pay an initial amount, called the ‘pre-payment’. You can pay this by credit card or by PayPal.

3. Your booking confirmation

   We will send you an email confirming your booking, with all the details you need. In the GowithOh APP you will find all the booking details as well as a map with the location of the apartment.

4. Paying the outstanding balance

   In the majority of cases, you will need to pay the outstanding rental and security deposit in cash (and in local currency) when you check in to the apartment.
   
   In a few cases, apartment owners require full payment (the pre-payment and outstanding rental) 45 days in advance of check-in. If this is the case, we’ll request the outstanding rental from you 45 days before you’re due to arrive, which you pay as normal by credit card or PayPal.
   
   Please bear in mind that whichever of these scenarios applies to your apartment, you will always need to pay the security deposit on arrival, in the local currency.

5. Getting the keys

   Please get in touch with your contact person (whose details are included in the confirmation email we send you) four days before your arrival at the apartment, to confirm your check-in time. Your contact person will then give you the keys at the same time as you pay the outstanding rental and/or security deposit.

Yes, we send you an instant online confirmation of your reservation. In some cases, we will need to verify the availability, but we will also inform you of this immediately.

If you find that you need to change your accommodation booking, you can do this within the 'manage your booking' section of the client area, or by letting us know via our contact form. When you get in touch, please be very specific about what it is you need to change (dates, number of guests, or apartment, for example).

For reservations of apartments If you would like to cancel your apartment booking, please let us know by entering the client area directly or filling out our contact form. When we receive your message we will confirm that your booking has been cancelled (our office hours are 11am-8pm (CET) – Monday to Friday, 11am-4.30pm (CET) - Saturdays).

In terms of refunds, the amount that you will get back will depend on the specific terms and conditions of the apartment which you had booked. When you check the amount for an apartment, you will know which type of cancellation y applied to this apartment. By clicking on this link, we will explain the existing policies and the rules applied to them. Cancellation Policies. For reservation of hotels:

If you need to cancel your hotel booking, please get in touch with us and not the hotel itself, by entering the client area directly or filling out our contact form. When we receive your message we will confirm that your booking has been cancelled (our office hours are 11am-8pm (CET) – Monday to Friday, 11am-4.30pm (CET) - Saturdays).

The conditions concerning the refunds depend on the tariff that was on offer when you made your booking. You will always be able to see what amount would be refundable in the case of cancellation at the time of your booking. For reservations of apartments If you would like to cancel your apartment booking, please let us know by entering the client area directly or filling out our contact form. When we receive your message we will confirm that your booking has been cancelled (our office hours are 11am-8pm (CET) – Monday to Friday, 11am-4.30pm (CET) - Saturdays).

In terms of refunds, the amount that you will get back will depend on the specific terms and conditions of the apartment which you had booked. When you check the amount for an apartment, you will know which type of cancellation y applied to this apartment. By clicking on this link, we will explain the existing policies and the rules applied to them. Cancellation Policies. For reservation of hotels:

If you need to cancel your hotel booking, please get in touch with us and not the hotel itself, by entering the client area directly or filling out our contact form. When we receive your message we will confirm that your booking has been cancelled (our office hours are 11am-8pm (CET) – Monday to Friday, 11am-4.30pm (CET) - Saturdays).

The conditions concerning the refunds depend on the tariff that was on offer when you made your booking. You will always be able to see what amount would be refundable in the case of cancellation at the time of your booking.

If you’d prefer to make your booking over the phone, our customer services team will be happy to give you advice on how to choose the accommodation that will suit you best.

It’s not possible to make a reservation by email seeing as we will need the details of your credit card and communication via email is not a secure way of sending this information. You may send us an email and we will call you to help you make your reservation.

To help you find what you are looking for, we have created various categories of accommodation on our website. For example, you’ll find family-friendly apartments, pet-friendly apartments, luxurious apartments and more economical apartments.

When you’re searching for accommodation, you can also use the many filters available to help you find exactly what you’re looking for.

For the purposes of the booking, adults are classed as everyone other than infants younger than two years’ old (who go for free). Please include the total number of people in the search box when you’re carrying out your initial search. You don’t have to account for any infants less than 2 years old at this stage, but we will ask you for the ages of everyone on the booking later, so that the property owner is aware of this information in advance.

No, we don’t charge either, nor do we charge you any credit card fees.

You can see proof of this in our lowest price guarantee. If you find the same reservation cheaper elsewhere online, we will refund you double the difference for apartments and 20 euros plus the difference for hotels.

When you book your apartment we’ll ask you to pay an initial amount, called the ‘pre-payment’. Please see the question below for accepted methods of payment.

In the majority of cases, you will then be required to pay the outstanding rental and security deposit in cash (and in local currency) when you check in to the apartment. A very small number of owners will accept credit card payments at this point - please check with your contact person beforehand to find out.

In a few cases, apartment owners require full payment (the pre-payment and outstanding rental) 45 days in advance of check-in. In this case we’ll request the outstanding rental from you 45 days before you’re due to arrive, which you pay as normal by credit card or PayPal.

Please bear in mind that you will always need to pay the security deposit on arrival, in the local currency.

We accept PayPal transfers, VISA, Eurocard/MasterCard and American Express credit cards and all types of debit card. We don’t charge you anything extra for using your credit card, nor do we charge a booking fee.

You can make the pre-payment by PayPal or any of the cards mentioned above.

In most cases you will then pay the outstanding rental and security deposit in cash and in local currency to the owner when you arrive at the apartment. Some owners also accept bank transfers beforehand or credit card payments on the spot. If you’d prefer this, please check with your contact person (full details will be provided in your booking confirmation email).

The confirmation email that we send you is also a receipt/invoice for the pre-payment you’ve made online. This is also the case if you’re required to pay the outstanding rental online.

If you need a receipt for the payment you make on arrival (the outstanding rental or the security deposit), please request it in advance when you organize the handover of the keys to your contact person.

We take every precaution to protect your information, both online and offline. Our website is certified by Thawte and VeriSign.

Sensitive information is encrypted and protected with the best encryption software in the industry – SSL (128 bit encryption). When you’re on a secure page of our site (the booking form, for example), you’ll see that the padlock icon in your browser’s status bar appears locked, as opposed to open when you’re merely browsing the site.

Offline user information is equally secure; all sensitive information is restricted in our offices, and all employees are kept up-to-date on our security and privacy practices. Find out more information on our security policies

So that you can get a clear idea of the location of the apartment, we include an interactive Google map within the description. You will also find there the name of the street and details of the floor the apartment is located on.

Once you have completed your booking we will send you an email confirming all the details about your stay, including the full address of the apartment.

Your apartment will be cleaned thoroughly before your arrival so that it’s in walk-in condition when you pick up the keys. It will also be cleaned after your departure, although please help us out by leaving it as clean as possible when you check out.

It’s possible that you may need to buy things like laundry detergent, toilet cleaner, personal toiletries and so on.

Yes, all the apartments we offer have towels and bedding included.

All of the apartments we offer come with the pots, pans, dishes, cutlery and cooking equipment essential for preparing your meals. To find out more about what’s included in the specific apartment you’re interested in, have a look at the detailed description of the apartment and inventory of its equipment.

No, we don’t own the apartments we offer. We work very closely with owners to make sure we can offer our clients the best range of accommodation - providing online reservations and dedicated customer service 365 days of the year.

When you check in to your apartment, the owner will ask you to pay the security deposit, which is held as a guarantee in the event that any damage is done to the property during your stay. The amount due varies from apartment to apartment. You’ll find it detailed within the breakdown of costs once you have entered your dates and details.

Please be aware that in most cases, you will be required to pay the deposit in cash. In some cases, the owner may ask you to provide your credit card details instead. What happens then is that your credit card will be ‘blocked’ for that amount rather than actually charged.

Having checked the apartment and found that everything is OK, the owner will refund you your security deposit when you check out of the property. If you’ve given your credit card details for the deposit, the ‘block’ previously applied to it will be removed, so no actual money needs to be refunded to your card.

As a general rule, check- in happens between 4pm and 8pm, and check-out is no later than 11am. If there are any exceptions to this for specific apartments, you’ll be able to see this information under ‘Extra’ on the web page describing the apartment.

Please remember that you need to confirm your exact arrival time with your contact person (whose details you’ll be given after you make your booking) four days before your arrival, so that they know when to expect you.

In most cases, the owner or contact person will hand over the keys to you when you arrive at the apartment. Sometimes, however, they might ask you to go to a central location such as an office to pick up the keys rather than straight at the apartment. All of these steps will be outlined clearly for you when you get in touch with your contact person directly to agree on a meeting time.

Normally guests will be asked to leave the keys in the apartment, although in some cases you might be required to return them to the owner’s office within the city. Once you’ve made your booking you can get in touch with your contact person to confirm the procedure for your specific apartment.

Unfortunately this isn’t possible. Our apartments have a very high occupancy rate, so you can appreciate that we don’t want to disturb current guests during their stay.

We want you to have every detail you might possibly need to help choose your holiday rental. That's why we include a written description, photos, a floor plan, an interactive Google map, an inventory of equipment and previous guests' reviews of the property to help inform your decision.

If you've got a question about a specific property, you can ask it on the individual property's webpage as well as phoning or emailing us at any time.

As a leading company, we work to provide our customers with the best product, and we maintain a relationship of trust with the owners that allows them to keep us informed of every detail that serves to make your stay unforgettable.

Our commercial department selects only apartments that meet certain quality requirements and allow us to guarantee our product as a leading product in the market. We also perform periodic quality checks of the apartments that appear on our site with the stamp of exclusivity.

On the other hand, all client comments are transferred to the owners so that they can take action on the improvements suggested by customers to improve the quality of our product that increases day by day.

For all of these reasons, our customers have valued us 9 out of 10 for the overall quality of our service.

You should get in touch with the owner or contact person directly within a period of 24 hours maximum from the occurrence of any incident that may arise during your stay. If you are unable to contact that person, you must contact our Customer Service Department during your stay in order to serve you as an intermediary, as soon as possible.

They come straight from the horse’s mouth – directly from our clients. The first-hand insights they provide are invaluable both in helping you choose your accommodation and in helping us identify and correct any issues so that they don’t affect guests’ experiences in the future.

They also give us the chance to demonstrate the care we take over the selection and management of the properties on our website. Please note that if a property's review score consistenly falls below a certain standard, we will remove it from our site altogether. That's why it's unlikely that you will ever find a property with a truly poor score.

Only previous clients are able to leave a review and then only in conjunction with a completed booking. False reviews are therefore not possible.

We’re eager to know what you thought of your vacation rental, so after your stay we’ll send you a follow-up email asking for your review. Under our policy we publish ALL client reviews of our accommodation - good, bad, unfounded, outdated, incorrect or glowing. The only exclusions will be for the rare use of swear words or insults.

Open House Group was established in 1997 by Claudia Eleuterio, with the aim of giving her family and friends a reliable way of finding accommodation in Barcelona. What started as a pioneering idea quickly grew into a leading online booking enterprise, and today offers accommodation in destinations all across Europe. For detailed information about who we are and what we can offer you, take a look at our ‘about us’ webpage.

Our headquarters are in Barcelona city center, at the following address:

Open House Spain S.L.U. Pelayo 42, 3, 3 08001 Barcelona, Spain

Please have a look at the “Contact” section of our webpage for full information on the different ways to get in touch with us.

It is an exclusive and free App which will allow you to make the very most of your escapade: information about the apartment and your reservation, offline maps, places of interest, touristic routes, local discounts… Everything you need to enjoy even more your trip.

It is very easy. When your reservation has been confirmed you will be able to go to Play Store or Apple Store and download the GowithOh APP. Following this, you will only need to introduce your reservation number and the email used to complete your reservation. At this stage, you will need to be connected in order to download the contents of the APP. Once it has been downloaded, you will be able to access the information at any place and without the need of an internet access.

Our Customer Care Department is at your entire disposal 365 days a year. You may call us between 11h and 20h (GMT +1) or send us an email through our contact form.