European apartments usually have several important differences compared with apartments in the United States:

• Europeans, as a rule, don’t use window screens. In most, but not all places, there are fewer bugs than in the United States. In any event, most Europeans don’t like screens on their windows, period. Unless otherwise indicated, while your apartment may have every convenience, it probably will NOT have window screens.

• Towels and linens are provided. A clean set is provided to you halfway through your 2-week stay. Maid service is not available in Untour apartments. Some of our accommodations have laundry facilities in the apartment — usually a washing machine and a clothesline for drying – but there are also 3 self-serve laundromats within a 10-minute drive of most of our accommodations.

• Reading lamps leave a lot to be desired all over Europe. We’re not quite sure why, but rather than try to reform the whole continent on behalf of our customers, we simply tell our customers: If you like to read in bed, you may want to bring a small battery-powered reading lamp like those sold in bookstores everywhere in the States.

• Most, but not all of our apartments are adjacent to, or near, the host’s home. Furnishings vary widely and according to the custom of each country. Many of our apartments are furnished with family possessions, antiques, etc. This gives a very different feeling than a typical "vacation rental" property in the States; it’s often warmer and more homey, with all the pros and cons that "warm and homey" imply.

• Most of our apartments in Provence are actually 1- or 2-bedroom cottages, usually set on the larger property of the owner, a few minutes outside of the nearby town with which they are associated. Most of the owners live on site or nearby and our staff person lives within 20 minutes of all our accommodations.

• Most Provence apartments do not have phones; however, there are pay phones in nearly every village. In the case of an emergency, our staff has direct contact with your landlords via phone and will relay any messages to you immediately.