A trend in the travel industry that continues to show strong demand is the vacation rental home segment. Not to be confused with time shares or partial ownership, vacation rentals are villas, condos, apartments, cottages, cabins and houses rented out by the owner or a professional property management company. The Wise Tourist advantage of renting over staying in a hotel vary from one person to the next but the ones most mentioned are privacy, convenience, having the ability to enjoy the area as a “local” and the number one reason is to save money.
There are some great websites out there that provide booking services, descriptions and images of the properties but be aware of a few issues to watch for while you begin you research. Here’s a checklist:
Renting directly through the owner or is the property professionally managed?
Talk directly to the owner/manager. If they are attentive during the first call your chances of having a great sty are increased.
Is all or some of your deposit refunded if you must cancel?
Get the terms in writing before you book.
Are linens provided?
Who does the cleaning?
Are there additional charges for electricity and water? These up-charges can add up fast. A friend of mine got slammed with a nearly $1,000 utility fee after a 2 week stay at a villa in Tuscany.
Read reviews, get references and referrals.
Insist on seeing pictures of every room. Also check to ensure photos and descriptions are recent.
Pay with a credit card.
There are countless websites claiming to be the best location for booking vacation rentals. I chose 3 generic sites for evaluation. These booking and review sites have no particular focus on any market segment such as “villas in Tuscany” or “cabins in the Rockies” although many sort combination features are present. They are intended to reach all segments and price ranges. (Stay tuned for evaluation of specialized site over the next few days.)
In order to get a quick idea of the speed of navigation of vrbo.com, homeway.com, zonder.com and forgetaway.com I chose to find lodging for a family of 5 in Orlando, as close to Disney World as possible.
VRBO – Vacation Rentals by Owner, a Homeaway company, claims over 100,000 private listings. As the names imply, vacation homes listed at VRBO are advertised by the owner. Click the Florida map on the home page and begin to drill down to Orlando properties close to Disney. Two description lines appear with all the relevant listings. You will see nightly rates, number of rooms, number of “sleeps”, bathrooms, pet friendly smoking/non-smoking options, etc. Click on the text and you’ll open a dedicated page with full description and up to 16 colors photos. Guest comments appear in this space also. A special section, “VRBO the Bear slept here”, added credibility to a few of the listings.
Homeaway – In this case, Homeaway.com claims a listing of over 118,000 listings. The first benefit that seems to distinguish Homeaway from the rest of the pack is its $5,000 Rental Guarantee. After reading the fine print I don’t see that the guarantee would be a benefit at all. It doesn’t cover refunds of security deposits, bait-and-switch, or any other travel costs. The coverage insures you if the property “is not legitimate” or you are refused entry. Not all properties are eligible. Navigation was a breeze and 5 featured Orlando images appeared after one click. Just as with VRBO, there are multiple search options. This site gets high marks for visual presentation.
Zonder – All homes, cabins and condos on Zonder.com are professionally managed. That can add an extra sense of security for some people, especially since Zonder holds the security deposit. Navigation is equally as fast but inventory is mostly for vacation home in the US.
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