SMARTLY Book a Vacation Rental…
Whether you are looking to stay in a large city with only expensive hotels available or looking for a different alternative to staying in a hotel for a few nights, finding a vacation rental can be a simple task with the helpful information below.
While renting someone else’s home, apartment or bedroom may sound like a daunting task to some, vacation rentals can indeed offer you the comforts of your own home with unique personal touches. Often you will meet the owner of the property and learn life in a new neighborhood, with your own kitchen and front door key in your temporary home away from home.
I have stayed in many vacation rentals, here are a few of them. Certainly, I have learned from any mistakes and continue to learn from the evolving world of vacation rentals.
With these 8 tips below, hopefully, your next vacation rental opens your world of travel to a new dimension!
8 Tips For Using AirBnB and VRBO to Smartly Choose Your Next Vacation Rental
#1: SECURITY
- Most importantly, choose a vacation rental website that is verified and secure. I have primarily used VRBO (a.k.a HomeAway) and Airbnb. I personally find Airbnb the easiest to navigate but I still use both. On VRBO “Premier Partners” are owners or property managers that have taken a pledge and continually provided excellent experiences.
- On AirBnB look for superhosts and AirBnB PLUS, these hosts go above and beyond.
#2: PAYMENT
- Never pay the owner directly. There are some instances when property managers accept payments directly through their company. We have done this with success but not doing solid research on the property management or Real Estate company that is accepting the payment. On VRBO Look for the “Book with confidence. Guaranteed”
#3: REVIEWS
- Remember reviews are usually subjective. In the odd instance, one person out of 100 had something not perfect or that person may be particularly picky about something. For example, one of our last VRBO‘ stays was absolutely phenomenal. However, one person gave a horrible review because they could not find parking. In our case, there was always parking except for one day when we had to park on the 3rdfloor of the parking lot…
- I personally only stay in vacation rentals with only 4.5-5 star review averages I also tend to opt for a property that has more reviews than not. Think, one five star review is much less powerful than 50
- Note when the reviews were written. Recent reviews tend to be more relevant as owners make improvements.
#4: LOCATION
- Make sure your location is safe. Though the direct address is not displayed, a general location is. Do your research on the safety in that part of town. This is relevant especially in large cities with which you may be unfamiliar.
#5: PHOTOS
Look for quality photos showing each room and important details that you may want. If the photos are fuzzy and low quality, I personally would think their attention to detail with the rental unit could be similar. Also look for verified photos.
#6: AMENITIES
- Look at what amenities the property offers. Important inclusions are usually parking, wi-fi, full kitchen with all utensils, coffee maker, tv with cable, air conditioning, beach accessories, bikes.
- Check your personally important filters during your search.
- Price and other filters can help you narrow down if there are a lot of options
- If you don’t mind renting a room in a house that is shared with the owners then that is okay but if not, ensure you check off “entire place” under “home type”
- Instant Book is nice if you don’t want to wait for the owner to review your profile and dates.
#8: CANCELLATION POLICY
- Long made short, I would NOT personally recommend booking on either Airbnb or VRBO if there is a good chance you may cancel. Read the fine print. If you are not 100% certain about some aspects of your trip and you may want to cancel, make sure you know the owner’s cancellation policy. Even with AirBnB’s “free cancellation” a non-refundable service fee is usually charged.
- Refunds: We have personally had multiple matters with refunds using both Airbnb and VRBO. In all instances, the error was rectified after much patience.
- Canadian to US dollar. Canadians note!! In our experience credit cards are charged at our dollars lowest value, and refunded at our dollars lowest value.
If you are going to use Airbnb for your first time follow this link for a $45 credit on your first stay!!
Random Knowledge: Did you know that the Airbnb logo is actually a symbol called a Belo, a symbol depicting “belonging”? (Well so says google anyhow!)
Happy travels!!
