BQUARTO
This one is for the ones who want to search for a home in Portugal. Fortunately they changed the website, so now it looks good and it's very easy to use even for a foreigner, not like before. It leaves you with an option: you can look for a specific flat or you can just fill out some details about yourself and get the offers via email/phone. Out of the three options, their fee is the lowest at about only 7.99 euros. This is the site which saved me and my roommate in the last semester, and honestly I would say it's the best one so far. This conclusion is quite surprising since this is the platform that seems (or at least seemed to be) the least professional of them all.
SPOTAHOME
I actually do not have any experience with this site, although I surfed on it a lot. It contains some of the flats available at Uniplaces. The service fee is a lot cheaper than the site's but the costs of the room tend to be slightly higher to balance out the difference, so they basically end up near the same price. Interesting thing I noticed that there are hostels who rent some rooms for student for the semester and while you can clearly see that it is the same hostel they seem to be in different locations - I guess because Spotahome has a limited rooms to rent policy.
UNIPLACES
Honestly I have mostly bad experience using this platform. While it's extremely easy to use, the rooms they advertise are often portrayed in a way better way than they actually are. Some places are lacking basic stuff like a washing machine, a normal sized mirror, trash bins in the room, curtain on the window, the list goes on. Also, the service fee is ridiculously high being at 160 euros for allow me to say it: nothing. Their team often abandons you with "you should speak to the landlord about it" or saying they can't do anything because the first 24 hours are over. This is BS because there are problems that cannot be recognized in one day. Often the students who move in are arriving from long trips, exhausted, unable to pay attention to everything that might go wrong. For example, last semester I moved into this hostel then got a really bad allergy from the black mold that was on the walls. I emailed them about this and asked for their assistance so I can move out and my money back since there's no way this room passed the checking, it should be illegal to rent a room that made not just me but my roommate to go to the hospital with severe symptoms. Also, some flats have ridiculous rules. Like, if I'm paying you 300 euros I want to be able to bring over guests at night without having to ask the landlord for a permision. After all, I am not a minor anymore.
They really don't deserve to ask for this much money for them barely helping the students who turn to them.
