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How to Find and Book a Great Vacation Rental
Whether you’re looking forward to a vacation during warm weather or cold, getting away and saving money while boosting convenience meld attractions into often unbeatable combinations. From costs of lodging to costs of food, finding and booking a vacation rental property makes great fiscal sense. Advantages over Hotels While the carpet color may be different on another floor or a different set of landscape painting replications may hang on a wall, hotel rooms are mirror-images or cookie-cutter rooms. You may have maid service, but you still have the high prices of restaurant meals or room service. Vacation rentals provide a unique, almost tailored living environment that affords more than a bedroom and a bath. Hotel suites also provide a living room and perhaps a dining room area, but it’s still a hotel room and costs even more. Vacation rentals provide more space, more rooms and the flexibility for you to save food costs by fixing your own meals. And dishes and cookware are often provided at no additional cost. How many times have you been disturbed by noise in the parking lot or across the hall or through the wall? Rooms are stacked against and on top of one another in hotels. Vacation rentals are often well-constructed condos or free standing houses—much quieter and much more private than hotel rooms. The cost of a discount hotel chain’s room might cost $50 per night if you’re not too picky about the room. Add food costs at an average meal rate at a buffet at $10 per person, and a family of four will pay $100 per day for two rooms and $120 per day for food—including tip and allowing for reduced prices on kids’ menus. Vacation rentals allow a third of the food costs with two meals per day there and often cost considerably less per week or per day than a comparable hotel room, often close to $150 or more per day in a hotel. Finding the Right Rental You know the area in which you wish to take your vacation. Review amenities, locality within the area, cost, and availability. Read user reviews. Check with the Better Business Bureau for the renter’s reputation—if there have been complaints filed, and definitely read the rental agreements and the fine print before you spend one cent. Things to investigate might include: 1. Contact Information: Is the rental agent a business or an individual? Is there a 24-hour contact number manned continuously? Is it local to the rental? 2. Cancellation Policy: If an emergency arises and you’re not able to make it or must delay arrival, what penalties, if any, are incurred and under what circumstances? 3. Safety or Damage Deposit: Under what circumstances is it not refunded in full? How is it prorated? How long of a delay is there? What are the appeal procedures? In what condition must the rental be left? Is there a cleaning fee, regardless, and if so, how much is it? How do you report less than optimal conditions when you arrive, and what are the rental agent’s obligations and time frame? 4. Safety Features and Environment: If you’re taking a pet, is there a pet deposit? If there are young children, are there parts of the house or property that might construe a safety hazard for them? 5. Reality: Is the picture you’ve seen actually what you’ll be renting? When You’re Ready When you have found the right vacation rental for the right price for the right time of year, it’s time to reserve it. If possible, contact the renter via telephone and ask all your questions. Ask that he or she grant a temporary hold on the property, pending receipt and verification of a recap email. Send an email to the renter immediately reviewing the information you were given and ask for either confirmation or clarification of missed points. In other words, get the answers in writing. When all that’s resolved to your satisfaction, click, enter, and book your vacation rental. Then smile. It’s allowed. About the Author Leave a Reply |
